UK Bar Council Welcomes Publication Of Draft Legal Services Reform Bill

by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London

25 May 2006

Following the publication this week of the UK government's draft Legal Services Bill, the Bar Council has welcomed the general thrust of the legislation, although it queried several provisions contained in the Bill.

Under the terms of the proposals, which must now be studied by a joint committee of both houses of Parliament, a Legal Services Board will be established to oversee and regulate the legal sector, and a complaints handling body, to be known as the Office for Legal Complaints (OLC), will also be put in place.

In addition, multi-disciplinary partnerships (MDPs) have been given the nod, and non-lawyers will be permitted to manage law firms, according to reports.

Commenting on the draft Bill, Stephen Hockman QC, Chairman of the Bar Council, observed that:

"The Government is to be congratulated for the consultative approach that it has adopted to dealing with issues addressed in the legislation and the Bar looks forward to participating in the discussions on the draft Bill."

"We welcome, in particular, the fact that the Bill proposes that the Bar Council be automatically designated as a Front Line Regulator (FLR) for professional conduct purposes."

"The Bar Council has already split its regulatory and representative functions, through the creation and appointment of the Bar Standards Board with its lay Chair, Ruth Evans, and a significant lay element."

However, Mr Hockman went on to flag up "three major concerns" for the Parliamentary Joint Committee scrutinising the Bill to consider.

"Firstly, it is important that it should be clear that the Legal Services Board is to act as a light-touch oversight regulator. There are, quite rightly, a number of powers that the Board will need to have in the event that an FLR fails, but it needs to be clear that the Board should not be able to second-guess the legitimate decisions of a competent FLR or act in a way that is disproportionate. We urge the Committee to examine these clauses carefully."

"Secondly, while we agree that there should be oversight of complaints handling by FLRs, we have reservations about the policy behind the Office for Legal Complaints. We believe that the decision not to grant the power to award redress to an existing FLR is mistaken. There are a number of cases in which the FLR will wish to take action against its members and in which it is also right for the consumer to receive redress. There is a clear danger that those who currently gain effective redress from an FLR will see a poorer service."

"Finally, we believe that it is important that the costs of the proposed system should be scrutinised closely. It is inevitable that increases will ultimately be passed on to the consumer or, in the case of publicly funded work, hit already hard-pressed practitioners. It is, therefore, essential that the arrangements for the new system be scrutinised to ensure that there are no unnecessary expense is caused. No consumer or member of the profession would benefit from a costly, bureaucratic and inefficient system."

Legal Services Ombudsman and Legal Services Complaints Commissioner, Zahida Manzoor CBE, has also welcomed the publication of the draft Bill on the reform of legal services, announcing that:

"This draft Bill really does have the potential to make a difference to anyone who uses legal services in England and Wales, all those who provide legal services, and anyone who has a complaint about legal services, if implemented appropriately."

Commenting on the details in the draft Bill, Ms Manzoor stated:

"I have, on numerous occasions, stated my belief that this is the right way forward for both the profession and, importantly, the users of legal services. I hope that the detail in the draft Bill translates into the launch of a strong regulator to oversee and ensure that high standards are delivered by the profession, and a new body independent of the legal profession, that handles complaints in a fair and efficient way."

"However, the draft Bill does not answer all of the questions I have about how these changes will be implemented. This detail will be crucial in ensuring that this once in a lifetime opportunity to transform legal services is not compromised."

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