We are family

More bait has been thrown in the pond, and again the fish circle around it not quite sure how to respond. Last Thursday the Co-op announced that its legal advice arm, Co-operative Legal Services, would launch a specialist family law service as soon as new rules on alternative business structures come into force next year.

The Co-op has been open about its intention to take advantage of the Legal Services Act at the earliest opportunity, but the ABS storyline has developed quite fast since CLS was set up in 2006.

So, at this point in the ABS plot the Co-op must start fighting a bit harder to retain its first-mover advantage.

As with previous Co-op announcements, this latest one is big on effects and short on detail. But there are a few things that should make observers pause for thought.

Like most of the newcomers, Co-op has acknowledged the result of consumer research which suggests that lack of price clarity can be an obstacle and it will offer fixed-price services. Most divorce lawyers already do this for the admin side of uncontested divorce, so this isn't an innovative move. The problem is with contested divorces, where costs can easily soar into thousands of pounds. If the assumption remains that the parties involved need specialist advice from experienced lawyers, will the Co-op be able to provide this and how will it keep its own costs down?

In a world where online is becoming the prime channel for information and advice, the main distinctive characteristic of the new service is its emphasis on face-to-face advice. And, unlike its competitors, Co-op promises to put experienced lawyers in front of clients, with Christina Blacklaws saying they will recruit 'large numbers of solicitors' to deliver the service.

The challenge for the Co-op will be to make the figures stack up. Swathes of family solicitors will be exiting law firms as legal aid cuts bite but there will probably be a floor price for their services. So it may be a while until the funeral services business turned bank turned legal advice provider has a family solicitor in each of its branches.

On its own the move may appear rash, even with experienced lawyers such as Blacklaws backing it. Seen at the confluence of other developments, however '“ withdrawal of legal aid for family cases, push for mediation and cheap but basic off-the-peg divorce packs '“ it could easily take off.

There is one paradox, though. Blacklaws has been a legal aid lawyer for more than 20 years, opposing government cuts. By joining the Co-op's project she is playing into the hands of the very government against which she had been fighting. The service she will help build is targeted at a section of the population which, over the years, has been shut out of legal aid. This is not to be critical of Blacklaws. There are hundreds of business-savvy family lawyers out there looking at new ways of developing their practices. If it hadn't been her, it would have been somebody else. What this says more than anything is that the mood in the profession is changing. As we approach the age of the ABS, the issue is not one of choice between low-cost law and professional services, it is about integrating legal services in clients' lifestyles.