Law Society president John Wotton will today urge the US to embrace the era of alternative business structures.In a speech to the American Bar Association (ABA) in New York, Wotton is expected to speak of the opportunities for solicitors through non-lawyer ownership of firms.

The US continues to be resistant to ABSs despite repeated calls from members of the profession to copy the liberalisation strategy of England and Wales, and Australia.

Wotton will tell US legal authorities that an inflexible approach based on sticking to the status quo threatens to put firms at a disadvantage as the legal services market changes.

In particular he questions the wisdom of the recent decision of the New York State Bar Association to limit the freedom of its members to participate in leading England and Wales practices that become ABSs.

Despite reservations, the ethics committee of the ABA is consulting on what effect ABSs might have on professional standards and independence, with a report due out later this year.