Bar Council Chief Warns Against Creation Of LDPs

by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London

01 November 2004

Speaking last week at the International Bar Association (IBA) conference in New Zealand, chairman of the UK's Bar Council, Stephen Irwin warned against the creation of legal disciplinary practices (LDPs) as proposed by Sir David Clementi in his review of the legal services sector.

According to the Law Gazette, Mr Irwin suggested that allowing non-lawyer investment and participation in law firms would "put profit at the forefront". He also suggested that allowing non-lawyers to own stakes in LDPs could make it more difficult to determine who owns a practice, thus potentially opening the way for money laundering or terrorist financing activity.

The Bar Council chief went on to suggest that adoption of such a model in the United Kingdom would almost certainly ensure its spread to the rest of Europe.

"London has the biggest law firms in the world and if we allow outside ownership of law firms, we will export it around the world," he predicted, adding: "If it happens in England, then competition authorities in Brussels will ask why it can’t happen in the rest of the EU."

Law Society President Ed Nally, meanwhile, revealed that he is less alarmed at the prospect of LDPs, suggesting that they are unlikely to allow for more than practices jointly-owned by solicitors and barristers, regulated in the same way as traditional law firms.

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