All articles by Robert Bourns – Page 2

  • News

    ABSs - unsettling times?

    2012-01-12T00:00:00Z

    The new year begins (as 2011 ended) with a discussion of the impact of alternative business structures (ABSs) on the profession. At last, the Solicitors Regulation Authority is authorised to accept applications and license ABSs. It is reported that 10 firms have submitted applications so far. ...

  • News

    Innovation in the profession

    2011-07-27T00:00:00Z

    Lawyers speak in dramatic, almost biblical terms, of threats currently visited on the profession in England and Wales. Momentous change. The changes in regulation and potential ownership are dramatic and will have a significant impact, not on all firms and practitioners at one time ...

  • News

    Decision to support SRA structures regulation shows leadership

    2011-04-28T00:00:00Z

    As announced in the Gazette, the Law Society has voted to support the Solicitors Regulation Authority's (SRA) application to the Legal Services Board for approval as a licensor of alternative business structures. In doing so the Law Society demonstrated an element of the leadership that ...

  • News

    Properly rewarding and promoting law support staff is overdue

    2011-03-03T00:00:00Z

    The advent of ABS and the personal opportunities that will follow throw into focus the skills required to manage and promote a successful law firm. Over many years, firms have invested in a robust and in many cases excellent management team, bringing together a full range ...

  • News

    Expertise, experience and efficiency – the outsourcing dilemma

    2011-01-11T00:00:00Z

    A strong feature of 2010 was the growing debate about legal process outsourcing (LPO), offshoring and commoditising. To some practitioners this is anathema: a deskilling and cheapening of the practice of law. Others see it, more positively, as a separation of the repetitive, low value ...

  • News

    Corporate social responsibility and community engagement

    2010-12-07T00:00:00Z

    Some while ago I attended a meeting addressed by a Pro Bono officer. We were advised that the government would be pleased to think that the profession had demonstrated its community spirit by making good the shortcomings in legal aid provision by offering services free of charge through a pro ...

  • News

    New solutions should deliver access to justice

    2010-11-12T00:00:00Z

    by Robert Bourns, senior partner at national law firm TLT Those charged with promoting regulatory change – the government, the Legal Services Board, the Solicitors Regulation Authority and other regulators - are clear that access to justice is not only a primary regulatory objective but also ...