The Law Society of England and Wales has chosen Indian IT company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) as its strategic transformation partner.

TCS will work with The Law Society initially on a system development project, which aims to create a more effective online service for The Law Society and its members, said TCS in a statement.

In UK, the legal services industry is forecast to undergo material change as the Legal Services Act (LSA) 2007 comes into implementation in 2011.

This act is aimed at liberalising the legal services market and bringing the entire market under one regulatory framework by creating Alternative Business Structures--which will allow non-lawyers in management and ownership roles.

Once the LSA comes into effect, competition is expected to increase and new entrants into the sector will necessitate better regulation and robust systems to meet their demands, the statement said

"Following the successful launch of our flagship Legal Management Solution (LMS), we are committed to helping the UK legal services sector during this defining period," said A.S.

Lakshminarayanan, VP and Head of TCS Europe.

In this partnership, TCS will have to develop application to enable the Law society manage the changes brought on by the LSA by streamlining operations and improving efficiencies.

The TCS application will also help the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) towards regulating not just individuals, but firms and Alternative Business Structures .

This is through improving internal processes resulting in more effective regulation and reduced cost structures, the statement said.

"As a result of the changing nature of the Society, we not only needed a platform that provided the maximum opportunity for the transformation, but also a partner with legal domain knowledge and deep competencies in application development and its implementation," said Steve Jeffree, CIO and Operations Director at the Law Society.