by David Glass, Pritchard Englefield
The UK Legal Services Bill, introduced by the Government to Parliament
in November 2006 will, on enactment, bring about major changes in the
way that the UK legal professions (i.e. solicitors, barristers and
others) are regulated.
At the top of the regulatory tree will sit the new Legal Services
Board, which will be an independent regulatory authority set up to
promote the seven “regulatory objectives”:-
(a) supporting the constitutional principle of the rule of law;
(b) improving access to justice;
(c) protecting and promoting the interests of consumers;
(d) promoting competition in the provision of legal services;
(e) encouraging an independent, strong, diverse and effective legal profession;
(f) increasing public understanding of the citizen’s legal rights and duties; and
(g) promoting and maintaining adherence to a number of “professional principles”.
The “professional principles” will require lawyers to act with
“independence and integrity”; to maintain “proper standards of works”;
to act “in the best interests of their clients”; to act “with
independence in the interests of justice” when doing court-related
work; and to keep the affairs of clients “confidential”.
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All this, one might think, is consistent with what lawyers do already.
In the public perception, however, the problem has been that the
self-regulatory approach of the different legal professions has given
rise to actual or perceived conflicts of interest which do not work in
the interests of the public.
The Legal Services Board will now regulate the lawyers’ own
professional bodies (such as the Law Society and the Bar) and a new
Legal Complaints Board will be set up to oversee the handling of
complaints against lawyers, a task which was formerly undertaken by the
lawyers’ own professional bodies.
More controversially, the Legal Services Bill will introduce the
concept of “alternative business structures” whereby, under licence,
lawyers and non-lawyers will be able to enter into business together
(thus introducing regulated multi-disciplinary professions involving
lawyers into the UK for the first time) and will, in particular, enable
outside investors to make equity investments into law firms. This
follows a trend which the accountants’ profession has already followed
with the result that there are now a number of quoted accountancy
professions on the London Stock Exchange benefiting (or otherwise) from
outside investments.
Lawyers have long understood the need to uphold the highest standards
of professional integrity but have always felt that this is best
ensured through self-regulation by their own professional bodies. Now
times are about to change in response to competitive pressures and
publicly-expressed concerns.
© December 2006 David Glass
All Rights Reserved.
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