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 The UK’s first monthly on-line journal dedicated to conveyancers!

 

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Explanatory note
Text Box: Under the new regime, all branches of the legal profession - solicitors, barristers, licensed conveyancers etc - will be subject to regulation by an over-arching authority, to be known as the Legal Services Board (LSB). In turn, the LSB will delegate regulatory powers to the Law Society, the Bar Council, and other such bodies, who will be known as Front Line Regulators (FLRs). Whilst Chancery Lane has previously been broadly supportive of Clementi, Law Society president Kevin Martin referred to the regulatory proposals as being “cumbersome”, and warned of the dangers of Government interference. Perhaps he had in mind the power given by the Bill to the LSB, to effectively determine not only the level of annual practising fees, but also what they may be spent on. Perhaps the most radical proposal contained with the Bill (which is expected to receive the Royal Assent before the end of year) is the creation of a new business structure, to be known as an Alternative Business Structure (ASB) which will allow solicitors to form practices with other professionals such as barristers, accountants and surveyors. Most importantly, an ASB may be wholly owned by non-lawyers. Whilst this will enable law firms to attract outside investment, it will also encourage the creation and acquisition of law firms by banks and supermarkets. The new structures will be subject to a strict vetting procedure, to be known as a ‘Fitness to Own’ test, that will be run by the frontline regulators. The Bill also contains provision for the creation of a new independent Office for Legal Complaints (OLC), which will cost an estimated £23m to set up. This will lead to the transfer of much of Chancery Lane’s disciplinary function to the OLC, and this, in turn, is likely to force the Law Society to focus more on it’s representation function, and less on regulation, a move which many practitioners will probably welcome. Text Box: Back to News Text Box: Home Text Box: Home Text Box: News Text Box: Features Text Box: TechnoFile Text Box: Comment Text Box: Interview Text Box: Archive Text Box: Jobs Text Box: Letters Text Box: Events Text Box: Contact Text Box: Volume 1 Issue 5 July 2006 Phone: 01275 845656 Fax: 01275 845656 Email: news@conveyancingmonth.com Text Box: DOWNLOAD

 Bill Sets Stage for Radical Change

The draft Legal Services Bill, which was placed before parliament on the 25th of May, will radically alter the way in which all branches of the legal profession are regulated, and will make the UK the most liberal market place for legal services anywhere in the world.

 

Introducing the Bill, which goes even further than the reforms proposed by Sir David Clementi in his 2004 report, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer commented “We, as a country, have an extremely successful legal system… but we know it is far from perfect. [These reforms] represent a real watershed."

Lord Falconer