The Solicitors Regulation Authority surveyed 1,500 organisations and concluded:
- Alternative Business Structures (ABSs) have succeeded in promoting innovation and diversity; ABS Solicitors are 13-15 per cent more likely to introduce new legal services.
- Solicitors are, on average, more innovative than other regulated legal services organisations in terms of both managerial and organisational changes.
- 80 per cent of legal services organisations feel they have a leadership and culture which supports the development of new ideas.
- The major effect of innovation in legal services has been to extend service range, improve quality and attract new clients.
- Regulatory and legislative changes emerge as both a barrier to and driver of innovation. Regulatory and legislative issues were seen as being a significant impediment to innovation by only one fifth and one quarter of respondents respectively.
Solicitors Regulation Authority. “Innovation in legal services.” July 2015.