This morning’s result from the UK General Election 2015 prompts thoughts about ‘where next for the legal landscape during the next Parliament?’. Although I suspect that the political outcome of the Election would have made little actual difference to future public funding for legal aid, it is likely that the number of citizens facing a potentially unmet need for legal advice and representation in the next few years will continue to increase unless new forms of provision can be encouraged. Given that these new forms will not be paid for from the public purse, private and third sector innovation must be key.
Author Archives: Stephen Mayson
Clementi 10 years on (and now for the next 10)
This month marks the tenth anniversary of the publication of Sir David Clementi’s final report on the regulatory framework for legal services in England & Wales. How time flies! The report is still a good read, and a helpful reminder of what needed to change – and why.
The report laid the foundations for the Legal Services Act 2007 (even though the Act went further on alternative business structures than Sir David was willing to recommend). Its principal aims can be summarised as:
- creating the Legal Services Board and establishing the principle of regulation that is independent from professional representation
- improving the way in which – and the speed with which – complaints against legal services providers are handled, including setting up the Office for Legal Complaints and the Legal Ombudsman
- liberalising the business structures through which lawyers can operate by permitting ownership and investment by individuals who have not qualified as lawyers, and allowing legal businesses access to external capital.
All of these primary objectives have been achieved – more or less. So what now?
‘Client’ or ‘customer’: does the label matter?
Earlier this month, I was invited by the Executive School of Management, Technology and Law at the University of St Gallen in Switzerland to deliver a keynote presentation on the topic of whether ‘client’ or ‘customer’ is a distinction with or without meaning. Although I had mulled this over many times before, this was the first time that I had really given it any sustained thought. I was slightly surprised by my conclusion! I had previously been of the view that it was largely a matter of personal preference (or prejudice), but in the end lawyers sold and – whatever they were called – others bought, and the label didn’t really matter. I’ve now come to the view that it really does matter. Continue reading
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