Data collection comprises two parts, reflecting the two parts of the study. Part one comprises a database of 400 or so ABSs licensed by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) in which their key characteristics are recorded. This includes: name of firm, location, legal status, sector origin, total number of people in firm, total number of managers approved by the SRA, total number of solicitors in firm, external investment. Part two comprises transcripts of 18 interviews with ABS firms and a small number of investors. In 2007, the UK government introduced the Legal Services Act 2007 in England and Wales, which removed historic restrictions relating to the financing, management and ownership of legal practices. Breaking with normative tradition, the Act permits non-lawyer ownership and management of law firms through the introduction of a new organizational form – ‘Alternative Business Structures’ (ABS). Despite generating extensive international commentary and controversy, academic research on ABSs is virtually non-existent; an oversight that is particularly intriguing since ABSs symbolise a radical departure from the professional partnership – the traditional structure through which lawyers organize themselves. This mixed-method study addresses this gap and represents the first study examining the ABS population and its impact on the legal services sector. Phase One: The study was undertaken in two phases. Phase one entailed compiling a database of 400 ABS firms which were licensed by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority between 2012 and 31st August 2015. As well as presenting a detailed profile of the key characteristics of these entities, Phase one examined the degree to which ABSs has resulted in a change in the solicitor firm population and the degree to which non-lawyer providers have entered the sector. It also explored the extent to which the ABS population has adopted the two innovations that differentiate them from the traditional professional partnership: the appointment of non-lawyers as owners/managers of law firms and the ability to raise external investment (e.g. from private equity firms, stock flotation). In exploring these innovations Phase one assessed the degree to which proposals considered to be radical are producing radical change. Phase Two: The second phase entailed qualitative interviews with ABS firms that had accessed external investment and a small number of private equity investors. Eighteen interviews were conducted and they explored motives for accessing investment and ways in which management practices had changed.

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