Seeking your views on the new regulatory framework

The new business opportunities created by the Legal Services Act, and the establishment and operation of the Legal Services Board (LSB), are having a profound impact on the way law firms do business.

The Law Society is leading the debate about how the new regulatory framework should be shaped to enable legal businesses to thrive. We do this in our role as approved regulator under the Act having established the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) to carry out regulation. This separation has created a space for robust and open debate about the right approaches to regulating our diverse profession in a way that supports thriving legal practices and excellent service to clients.

It’s vital that we get regulation right, especially when the trend is for more regulation as a reaction to failures in other sectors. 

We commissioned solicitor, former cabinet minister and Opposition Spokesperson for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Lord Hunt of Wirrall to undertake an independent review, looking at the challenges and opportunities created by the Act, and examining the characteristics of good regulation. Lord Hunt invited every solicitor to comment in writing or in person at a series of free regional events. His initial response, published in May 2009, focused on the appropriate priorities for the new regulatory structure and the professional body, and recommended that the regulator should take a far greater interest in the robustness of firms’ internal governance arrangements. Lord Hunt’s final recommendations are due late this summer. 

Because the environment in which law firms undertaking exclusively or overwhelmingly corporate work operate is significantly different to that of other practices, we commissioned Nick Smedley to review the regulation of corporate work. He recommended ‘urgent and rapid modernisation to create a robust regulatory regime that is fit for purpose’, and called for:

• greater expertise and understanding at the SRA
• greater engagement with the profession and its clients
• a sophisticated regulatory approach recognising how different parts of the profession vary.

We make robust representations on behalf of solicitors to the LSB and the board of the Office for Legal Complaints (OLC) which is likely to take up responsibility for all consumer complaints across the legal sector from late 2010.

Responding to regulatory proposals

As well as driving the strategic debate about the future of regulation, in the last year the Law Society responded to a number of important initiatives from the SRA and the Legal Complaints Service (LCS). 

• The Society successfully opposed initial proposals regarding the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Regulations which would have had a serious effect on many international firms. We provided views and proposals to improve these regulations which the SRA is currently considering. 
• We persuaded the LCS that it would be misleading to publish findings against firms and that they would not provide the public with reliable information.
• We responded to the consultation on mandatory re-accreditation for those with higher court rights of audience - the SRA has now postponed implementation of this proposal. 
• The Society responded to the consultation on conflicts of interests, supporting the proposal. 
• We liaised with the SRA to provide guidance for the profession on telegraphic transfers, client money and money laundering. 

Lobbying for better laws

The Law Society has continued to lobby on significant areas of law to make sure that they are effective and workable. 

Crime 

We made representations:

• against the provisions in respect of 42 days detention in the Counter Terrorism Act 2008 and succeeded, with others, in having these removed; 
• about the Criminal Evidence (Witness Anonymity) Act 2008 to ensure that concerns about fair trials in the Bill were taken into account;
• against the proposals to increase the powers of judges to enable them to strike off solicitors where there has been no conviction;
• on limiting the powers of Associate Prosecutors in summary trials to nonimprisonable offences and ensuring that they were properly regulated and trained;
• to help to remove proposals to limit rights of appeal in cases which involve police or prosecution abuse of process;
• on the Coroners and Justice Bill, where significant amendments to the powers in respect of secret inquests were obtained;
• about virtual courts to ensure that there are appropriate safeguards for defendants and solicitors and to ensure that fee levels are appropriate. We will continue to press for the abolition of the requirement for the defendant to consent to be delayed until the pilots have been properly evaluated.

Wills and probate

The Society lobbied: 

• about the issue of unregulated will writers which we will be taking up with the LSB;
• over the significant delays at the Office of the Public Guardian.

Family

We put forward strong arguments on:

• forced marriages and the government’s recent consultations on the subject;
• cohabitation, supporting proposals for providing additional rights.

Public law and employment

• The draft Equality Bill has been the subject of significant comment by the Society and the government accepted our views on disability discrimination and indirect discrimination.
• The points based system for immigration has been the subject of considerable scrutiny and particular concerns were raised and accepted in respect of the proposals for 'trusted adviser’ status.
• The proposals to remove the restriction on transferring judicial review applications to the Upper Tribunal were discontinued following lobbying by the Society. 

AML regime

We continue to lobby government for a proportionate and fully risk-based AML regime so that solicitors in England and Wales are not disadvantaged by unnecessary red tape. We are currently making these representations to relevant government departments, the House of Lords and the European Commission.

Oath fee increases 

We have been lobbying for some time about the need to increase oath fees, which have not been increased since 1993. The minister is now consulting on a significant increase in those fees to take account of inflation. 

Defending human rights 

The Law Society campaigns to defend human rights and support the freedom and independence of the legal profession in jurisdictions where those fundamental principles are threatened. Our support for lawyers in Pakistan has been ongoing since the Lord Justice was deposed in 2007; earlier this year Council member Razi Shah visited Pakistan to join a protest march and present a letter of support to the Supreme Court Bar Association. 

Through our International Action Team more than 300 pro bono lawyers and law students contribute to human rights activities. Recent work has included a fact-finding delegation to Colombia, the delivery of training in Russia and interventions in many states includingZimbabwe, India and the USA.