Alternative business structures will bring more work for high street and other firms as the big brands educate the public that they need to make a will, solicitors have suggested in a recent report.

However, practitioners also indicated that the cost of regulation is driving some lawyers who do non-reserved work to cease to be solicitors.

The report, which was based on a survey of 284 members by the Society of Trusts and Estates Practitioners and a seminar with 28 members, shows a degree of optimism in relation to Legal Services Act reforms. Lawyers predicted that the advent of ABSs will bring new entrants into the marketplace that are differently structured, managed and financed. A majority of respondents saw this as an advantage, with ‘Tesco Law’ increasing awareness among consumers of the need to have a will, lasting power of attorney and death benefits in trust.

One respondent commented that there would be a ‘bigger cake’, although ‘there will be an awful lot more people to cut the cake’.

The report, titled Trusted advisor – The future, points to an increasingly specialised market, as family relationships become more complex and more people divorce or cohabit outside marriage.

There are more cross-border estates, the research indicated, as more clients buy properties or live and work overseas.

Respondents said they felt clients were increasingly educating themselves by finding information on the internet – so-called ‘Facebook law’ – and this was leading to downward pressure on pricing.

Solicitors also suggested that proposed tighter regulation will have cost implications that make it harder for them to compete. One respondent commented: ‘There is likely to be greater regulation of firms, rather than necessarily products or services. Specifically, those of us who are in the legal profession are concerned that greater regulation would make it difficult for us to compete. I think we’re seeing that the increasing number of solicitors who are offering non-reserved work, are in fact ceasing to be solicitors’.

Imogen Brown, a wills, trusts and estates planning associate solicitor at Cambridge firm Birketts, said: ‘There is a sense of optimism among practitioners rather than doom and gloom. ABSs are a challenge, but they are not the end of the world and they could be the shot in the arm the profession needs.’

Helen Clarke, chair of the Law Society’s wills & equity committee, said: ‘The biggest challenge we face, in my view, remains unregulated will writers. They have only been an issue for the last 15 years and there has been a time lag before the problems began to emerge. Regulating them is definitely on the Legal Services Board’s agenda… We can only hope that something is done quickly before more consumers suffer.’