Justice secretary Ken Clarke yesterday warned lawyers to prepare for changes as far reaching as the ‘big bang’ proved to be for the financial sector.

Clarke told members of Birmingham Law Society that alternative business structures (ABSs) would herald a ‘whole new world’ for lawyers. From next October, ABSs will allow firms to move away from traditional partnership models, to models where there are non-lawyer stakeholders and external investors. ‘It could be the legal sector’s equivalent of the big bang,’Clarke said.

Clarke was addressing Birmingham Law Society after his speech to the Conservative Party conference.