Parliamentary Committee Considers Draft UK Legal Services Bill

by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London

26 June 2006

Giving evidence before the joint parliamentary committee on the draft Legal Services Bill last week, several key figures in the legal world have expressed reservations or called for clarification on certain issues.

According to the Law Gazette news service, UK Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips warned of the government's proposal for alternative business structures (ABS) that it "is going beyond Sir David Clementi's recommendations in a dramatic way...People think it means they will be able to get legal advice from a kiosk in Tesco for GBP5".

He also suggested that conflicts could arise between different professions working within the same structure.

Meanwhile, the Law Gazette reported, Master of the Rolls, Sir Anthony Clarke expressed concern that the proposed changes will not improve access to justice.

He additionally cautioned that:

"There are going to be a whole series of ABS regulators, and like a ship choosing which flag to fly, there will be competition - and it's rather a worry. It is not clear to me why there is not a scheme for one ABS regulator."

Law Society Regulation Board chief, Peter Williamson went on to call for clear criteria for the separation of regulatory and representative responsibilities within the Law Society.

The Regulation Board has argued that all rule-making and regulatory decisions should be delegated to a separate body which could raise the funds it requires, and that representative bodies should have the right to make representations to the Legal Services Board if they consider that the regulatory body’s expenditure is excessive, but should not have a power of veto.

”We need greater clarity on these points of separation, otherwise we could find ourselves second guessing what might or might not be adequate,” he observed, continuing:

”Relationships between the Regulation Board and the Law Society representative body are currently excellent, and the Law Society has been at the forefront of separating regulatory and representative functions. Cementing these arrangements in the bill will help everybody to operate the new legal services framework with confidence from day one.”

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