Category Archives: Regulation

Legal services regulation review

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First, my apologies to followers who have been waiting for almost a year for another ‘occasional’ thought.  I won’t burden you with the personal and professional reasons for the lull!

I confess to being rather surprised when the Ministry of Justice announced that it was undertaking a comprehensive review of the framework for legal services regulation.  It is not that long since the Clementi Review (although I suppose that if a week is a long time in politics, nine years could be a very long time in legal services).  But we are still in the implementation phase of the Legal Services Act, and just shy of two years since the arrival of alternative business structures.  Surely too early?

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Lifting the LETR from the doormat

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This morning’s seminar on reforming legal education and training, hosted by Westminster Legal Policy Forum, provided a timely opportunity to reflect on the progress so far of the Legal Education & Training Review (LETR).

The lead for the LETR, Professor Julian Webb, rightly reminded us that the function of the Review is to address the question of how best to regulate legal education and training – specifically, the scope, reach and proportionality of that regulation. He said that, so far, responses to the LETR discussion papers had reflected vested interests, and had demonstrated limited consensus and offered little in the way of alternative vision.

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External ownership and the forked tongue of ethics

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Nine US general counsel have come to the conclusion, reported in Legal Futures, that there is no need for external ownership of law firms and “that the inevitable chipping away at the profession’s professionalism ultimately will do a disservice not just to the business clients we serve, but to all clients who seek the trusted and confidential advice of counsel”.

I would not presume to disagree with their judgement about their own clients. But I would seriously beg to differ with the general sentiment implicit in the conclusion that ‘non-lawyer’ (I still hate that expression) ownership will necessarily erode professionalism, undermine lawyer-client relationships, compromise confidentiality, and encourage unethical, profit-maximising behaviour. Continue reading →