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A director of the Office of Fair Trading is heading a new committee to oversee the Legal Services Board’s contingency planning to regulate alternative business structures directly, Legal Futures can reveal.

Four out of ten barristers’ chambers have flouted a regulatory requirement to notify lay clients of their rights to complain about poor service, amid a continuing furore over difficulties in complying with the scheme, it has emerged. Meanwhile, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has confirmed that solicitors are under no obligation to assist barristers in contacting clients directly in order to meet their obligations.

The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) is on course to become the first body licensed to regulate alternative business structures, after submitting its application to the Legal Services Board. The CLC, which oversees 10-15% of the conveyancing market, has also applied to extend the range of reserved activities it regulates from conveyancing and probate to awarding rights of audience and the right to conduct litigation.

I don’t know if I’m one of the last people in the legal world to notice this, but the Ministry of Justice has made it quietly but abundantly clear that it will not be banning referral fees any time soon.

Conveyancing, immigration advice, preparing wills and powers of attorney, and estate administration should all become reserved legal activities, a leading thinktank has recommended. However, the report from the Legal Services Institute – headed by Professor Stephen Mayson – says this work should not be the sole preserve of the legally qualified.