Research conducted by the Co-Operative Bank of Britain’s wider small to medium-sized business sector shows that law firms fall in with the trend of cautious optimism across the board.
According to the researchers, 33 per cent of those surveyed expect to take on new staff and 21 per cent plan to invest in their business.

Cautious optimism

Keith Alderson, the Co-op’s managing director of corporate and business banking said: ‘SMEs and entrepreneurs are widely acknowledged as vital to Britain’s economic recovery so these results are good news as we head in to 2013. It seems many legal SMEs are now looking forward with a cautious sense of optimism about the challenges for their businesses next year.’
The survey – which took in the views of 512 decision makers from SMEs last month – also found that 75 per cent of those asked cited the economy as their major concern, while red tape regulation and cash flow also figured highly.

Undercutting fears

However, the survey results run contrary to anecdotal experience and reports from smaller law firms across the country, with many deeply concerned that the advent of ABSs will undercut their fee structures and drive them from Britain’s high streets. Indeed, the irony will not be lost on many firms that the relative optimism of these findings come from a survey conducted by a corporation that last year became one of the first to receive an ABS licence from the Solicitors Regulation Authority.