The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s failure to meet the 6 October target date for licensing alternative business structures was branded a ‘shambles’ by a leading market commentator this week.

Professor Stephen Mayson (pictured), director of the Legal Services Policy Institute, told delegates at a Westminster Legal Policy Forum event that the delay represented a ‘significant blow to credibility’ in the eyes of new market entrants and existing sceptics.

He said: ‘It might be formally correct [for the SRA] to say that 6 October was never set in stone; but the weight of expectation and momentum around that date was openly encouraged, and it would be disingenuous now to hide behind such a regulatory sleight of hand.

‘Nor is it an adequate response to say that the delay will only be a matter of weeks, because we still don’t know for sure that this will be the case. If a week is a long time in politics, three months is an age in the world of business and the movement of capital.’

He added: ‘At this point, the implementation of ABSs has become - I say with deep regret - something of a shambles.’

The SRA’s plans to become an ABS licensing authority were hampered by the need to obtain legislative change to allow it to examine the spent convictions of potential ABS owners. Delay was also encountered in obtaining agreement from the Ministry of Justice to ensure that the cost of appeals against SRA licensing decisions will not be borne by the profession.

A number of firms have told the Gazette privately that they were angered by the hold-up. But SRA chief executive Antony Townsend told delegates: ‘We planned throughout for the introduction of ABS at the same time as the release of the new handbook [in October].

'I recognise for those planning to become ABSs that it is hugely frustrating and it will muck up your plans. I can only apologise and assure you we’re working flat out with the MoJ to bring in licences for ABSs as soon as we can.’

Townsend told the Gazette separately that he hoped the SRA will be able to license ABSs ‘by the turn of the year’. He added that the regulator has had ‘in-depth’ discussions’ with 50 firms looking at becoming ABSs, some of which were not law firms.

‘[There have been] a few very big players, and the Co-op is the big public one, but others are less public about it,’ he said.

Meanwhile, in her first public speech as new chair of the Legal Services Consumer Panel, Elisabeth Davies told delegates at the WLPF event that she is encouraged by the more open market that will be created by ABSs and outcomes-focused regulation.

‘We’re cautiously optimistic and see them as suggesting positive change is afoot - the challenge is how you enforce it to make sure the consumer is protected,’ she said.

In a statement after this week's Gazette went to press, SRA chair Charles Plant emphatically denied the organisation was to blame for the ABS registration delay.

He said: 'It is important to set the record straight. The suggestion that the delay in the introduction of SRA-licensed ABS is attributable to the SRA is simply wrong.

'On the two issues which have been cited as a cause for the delay - the mechanism for appeals against SRA decisions, and the provision to exempt owners and managers from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, the SRA's position has been established and public for a long period, and has not changed. We delivered our proposals for ABS licensing to schedule.

'We share the frustration of potential ABS applicants about the delay in implementation, and are working with the Legal Services Board and Ministry of Justice to get early clarity about the parliamentary timetable, a matter which we do not control.'