The Law Blog notes that the UK’s Legal Services Act goes into effect today. When all the regulatory structures are set up, lawyers will be able to practice in “Alternative Business Structures” such as publicly traded law firms and supermarkets.
According to The Lawyer, the law firm Everyman Legal says it will be “first in line to * * * convert to ABS and seek a stock market admission early next year.” The BBC also reports.
For the sorts of things that may be coming down the pike, see my Death of Big Law and my and Kobayashi’s Law’s Information Revolution.
Of course this won’t affect the U.S. legal services industry because there is, after all, an ocean in the way, right?