Legal Services Board

Research into the growing trend of law firms switching regulator has begun so as to assess any risks for consumers and whether there may be unintended consequences. The Legal Services Board is undertaking the work and will look, among other things, at the extent to which new regulators check and use a lawyer or firm’s previous regulatory history.

The Legal Services Board has argued more strongly than ever that professional bodies must be fully separated from regulators. In a letter to the justice select committee, Sir Michael Pitt, chairman of the LSB, argued that there was scope under existing arrangements for them to “resist reforms”.

The slow pace of change in the legal services market means “regulatory intervention” is needed to force firms to publish their average prices even though it is not a perfect solution, the voice of legal consumers has said. The Legal Services Consumer Panel said this could also counter negative perceptions of lawyers.

Friday’s Competition and Markets Authority report on legal services has reignited the debate over independent regulation, with both the Solicitors Regulation Authority and Bar Standards Board welcoming the call for separation from their representative bodies.

The Legal Services Act 2007 has improved quality and, to some extent, competition in legal services, but further legislative reform is necessary to complete the liberalisation of the market, the Legal Services Board said today in its triennial evaluation of the Act.

Unregulated legal services providers are generally cheaper and more innovative than regulated law firms, but consumers need to understand the risks of using them, Legal Services Board research has found. The small scale of the problems they cause is such that the oversight regulator said it would not take steps to introduce regulation.

The Law Society has told MPs that plans to give the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and other regulators full independence should be shelved because of the uncertainty caused by the EU Referendum. The society and SRA also clashed on the former’s bid to take over control of setting professional standards.

The Legal Services Board has accused the Law Society of misrepresenting its views on McKenzie Friends. The oversight regulator objected to a Law Society press release that claimed the LSB had suggested that “legal aid cuts could be offset by unleashing non-professionals on the courts”.

In the second part of our interview with Legal Services Board chief executive Neil Buckley, he explains why the board is “very hopeful” that the Competition and Markets Authority “will come out with draft proposals that will help move the legal services market on”.

Unregulated providers of legal services are not as much of a problem as many assume and there is simply not the evidence to back a ban on paid-for McKenzie Friends, the chief executive of the Legal Services Board has told Legal Futures in his first interview since taking on the role.

The Legal Services Board has announced a change in its practising certificate fee rules, which will put the spotlight on spending by professional bodies such as the Law Society and Bar Council. Both professional bodies opposed the change.

The Legal Services Board has said that “further discussion and evidence” is needed before it is prepared to back proposals to force law firms to publish average prices. The LSB was responding to a report by the Legal Services Consumer Panel.

The Council of Licensed Conveyancers has announced its intention to apply to the Legal Services Board to approve the introduction of a solicitor-style open market indemnity scheme. The move has triggered warnings that law firms may switch regulator from the Solicitors Regulation Authority to the CLC for the wrong reasons.

Only three in ten people who have a legal issue seek advice, and of them just over half go to a lawyer, the biggest ever survey of individuals’ legal needs has found. The poll of 8,192 people also found that assuming that services would be too expensive was the most common reason for not using solicitors.

Law Society spending on non-regulatory ‘permitted purposes’, such as law reform and practice support, surged by £6.3m in the four years between 2010 and 2014, research by the Legal Services Board has revealed. The research was part of the LSB’s investigation into the cost of legal services regulation.