LAWYERS have long considered themselves a breed apart: highly educated professionals, not dim-witted businessmen who think a “whereas” is a man who turns into a small member of the horse family when the moon is full. Many countries bar business types from owning even a bit (much less all) of a law firm. But in Britain, that law changed in October.Companies are queuing up to form new “alternative business structures” (ABS). The Solicitors Regulation Authority, the biggest legal regulator, has received at least 65 applications. The first ABSs should be approved in February.The “alternative” possibilities are many. Irwin Mitchell, a big personal-injury firm, may float its shares. Slater & Gordon, which in 2007 became the first Australian firm to go public, has since bought some smaller firms and nearly tripled its revenues, to A$182m ($194m).Another new structure will be that of the Co-operative, a membership organisation best known for its supermarkets, but which also runs a bank and buries and cremates more people than any other entity in Britain. The Co-op already has a legal arm for its members. Approval as an ABS will let it sell the same services to the general public. In anticipation, it plans to add 150 people to its current legal staff of 400.Liberalisation will make lawyering cheaper, say its boosters. Tech-savvy entrepreneurs may buy or start law firms and offer…

Original post by The Economist: Business