Up and down Chancery Lane

Leverhulme goes to Chancery Lane to chat about alternative business structures with legal practice guru Stephen Mayson ... Bold new ways of running law shops take effect in October ... Parallels with NSW's structural adventures 

We meet in the high-ceilinged grandeur of the Law Society's Reading Room in Chancery Lane.

The good professor is waiting for me although I am careful to be on time.

The first thing that strikes me is his appearance. It hasn't changed since I met him 15 years ago. He had grey hair then, but he still looks young.

To call Stephen Mayson dapper would be to sell him short, yet it's an accurate description.

He speaks clearly in carefully-crafted sentences and surprises you now and then with a boyish laugh. He exudes authority but is utterly without side.

Mayson is like one of those test batsmen who seem blessed with loads of time to play elegant shots to the fastest deliveries.

Not that he received any rearing bouncers from me. He was my witness and I was there to examine him on Alternative Business Structures, the radical new models that will change the face of legal practice in this country.

The legal profession in Britain these days has more new bodies than a Californian Pensioners' Club. Acronyms, which are best avoided, trip off the tongues of those who love to call themselves stakeholders. 

Linda Lee: Yes/No - most important decision of her year as Law Society presidentThe scheme is due to come in on October 6 and the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA - you get the picture) is keen to be the police officer.

The President of the Law Society, Linda Lee, recently wrote about the most important decision of her presidential year: whether the Law Society would vote "yes" or "no" to allow the Solicitors Regulation Authority to apply to hold the regulator's licence.

Stephen Mayson heads the Legal Services Institute (LSI) which keeps an eye on the legal services market and helps government and regulators to keep the market ticking effectively.

He has had an incredible career, which for the past 26 years has taken him around the world advising hundreds of law firms and sets of chambers on management, mergers and making money.

He is a barrister with a PhD and has written several authoritative texts on company law and law firm management.

He's currently sitting on various advisory groups for the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), the Bar Standards Board (BSB), the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Legal Services Board (LSB), which seems to oversee everything.

I begin by asking him how the Alternative Business Structure (ABS) is going to work.

"Law firms who choose the model will operate like companies and be able to float on the stock exchange and raise capital. People attracted to this structure might be non-lawyers, like heads of finance, consulting engineers and economists.

The ABS must be licensed and have at least one lawyer manager and one non-lawyer manager.

An ABS has to deliver at least one reserved activity such as rights of audience, litigation or probate and that reserved activity must be performed by a legally qualified person.

The sting in the tail is that a manager means a director and not a shareholder. The business could be wholly owned by non-lawyers, but if the non-lawyers own or control more than 10 percent of the business they must be approved by the regulator."

Mayson: not for the faint of heartMayson says the new world will not be for the faint-hearted.

"Some say it's de-regulation but it is definitely not. It won't be a free-for-all."

I ask him who else might be interested in these structures.

"Well they might be attractive to banks, supermarkets and entrepreneurs like Richard Branson."

Law firms will be able to attract capital and retain other skilled non-legal professionals. They will be run much more like a business, which is something their commercial clients will understand.

"Many major companies don't understand the concept or structure of a partnership."

So what has led to these structures being introduced? 

"There are two drivers: the level of complaints against lawyers and the restrictive practices of the regulators. For example, there was no access to external capital and the law firms could not have non-lawyer owners. All this seemed to stifle improvements, quality and innovation. 

Clients with large volumes prefer to deal with corporate entities. It's a structure they understand. But that's not to say partnerships are doomed."

Lawyers have strict rules of professional conduct. How, I ask, will the public be protected from unscrupulous business practices? Those in business think the customer is always right. Good lawyers know that this is not so.

"Non-lawyers are forbidden by statute from interfering in the work of the lawyers in the ABS. The ultimate sanction is that the ABS will be stripped of its licence or individuals may be forbidden from working in the law again. The head of legal practice has a positive legal duty to report to the regulator if unethical activities are taking place in the ABS."

But what if the head of legal practice is fired before the whistle can be blown?

"This person is approved by the regulator and the replacement will be too so questions will be asked."

How will this affect the bar?

"Chambers are not entities under the current framework so the regulations would need to be changed. The threat to the bar is the consolidation of sources that refer work to barristers, so fewer barristers will be briefed."

Finally, I want to know how this affects Australia. Mayson is a senior fellow at the University of Melbourne.

"There are lots of parallels with the system in NSW, which spread to other states. Slater & Gordon took advantage of it to create a war chest for the purchase of other firms. But it seems supermarkets, insurers and banks in Australia have not been attracted by the model."

I raise the news of Clifford Chance which swallowed up two Aussie firms recently. Mayson worked there about 30 years ago when it was Clifford Turner.

"It was only ever a matter of time before Australia became really interesting to the global law firms. The wealth of energy and resources and the proximity of the Asian market make Australian firms an attractive proposition."

It is time to go. I thank him for his time.

The waiter clears away the professor's cup, which I notice had contained green tea; clearly the elixir of youth

And Stephen Mayson's busy day has a long way to go.