The Bar Council has called for minimum disruption to the legal services sector during the "comprehensive review of the regulatory framework" announced by the government.
Today, the Ministry of Justice has accepted the conclusions and recommendations of the Legal Services Board Independent Public Bodies Review, and published its response, stating: “the government will develop the scope and approach for the longer-term review of legal services regulation, while ensuring that immediate improvements are not delayed in anticipation of future reform.”
Chair of the Bar Kirsty Brimelow KC said: "Legal services are essential to the success of the UK economy and they enable people to enforce their rights. Stability and confidence in our legal services should not be put at risk, and care must be taken to preserve the parts of the regulatory system that work well.
"As the representative body for barristers, the Bar Council is a key stakeholder and we expect to be part of any conversation from the outset, including on discussions about the scope of the review. Any review must be evidence-based and the Ministry of Justice must engage with all key stakeholders.
“We support plans to increase the transparency of the Legal Services Board oversight as this has been lacking in the past. We also support the realignment of some of the Legal Services Board activities including limiting its policy activities to correlate with its oversight role. We have been concerned for some time that the Legal Services Board has been going beyond its statutory remit, to the detriment of its core functions."
Currently there is a high level of public confidence in professional titles and in the reservation of certain high risk and specialist activities, such as exercising a right of audience, which currently work well. In any future review, the expertise of existing specialist regulators, such as the Bar Standards Board, should be preserved rather than amalgamated and dispersed. In addition, we want the Legal Services Board to prioritise its activities, with a sharper focus on consumer protection.
The Ministry of Justice response to the Legal Services Board Independent Public Bodies acknowledges "the review will need to take account of the breadth of complex issues under consideration, the government cannot fully commit to the proposed timeline at this stage.” We agree any review will be a complicated task and would be difficult to achieve by 2029 as recommended by the review.
Further information:
Bar Council submission to the Legal Services Board Independent Public Bodies Review
Government response to the Independent Public Bodies Review of the Legal Services Board