Assure

We assure the quality of legal services, the public interest and the reputation of the profession.

• Our education and training standards ensure excellence in a tech-enabled and innovative legal profession.
• Our regulation is proportionate and risk-based, building client confidence and a competitive sector.
• Our insight into a recovering legal jurisdiction and clients’ needs underpin our decision making.

At the heart of the Law Society is a commitment to protect the public interest and serve the needs of solicitors’ clients.

Parliament has set us important regulatory objectives including supporting the interests of justice; protecting consumers; fostering competition in the provision of legal services; and promoting an independent legal profession.

Solicitors care passionately about being part of a profession that is trusted, respected, and works to high standards. Members consistently tell us that it is our regulatory work which they believe should be the highest priority for the Law Society as their professional body.

It is not just important for us to act when things go wrong, we need to work to prevent things going wrong in the first place. That starts with setting a route to qualification which delivers high standards and means equal and fair access to the profession. These are processes which will need to evolve in an era of remote working and digital learning. It also requires a proactive approach to training and development, assuring client money through firm account inspections, and providing guidance, tools and services that help solicitors maintain standards. This must be coupled with action to deal with complaints quickly and fairly, intervening directly in firms when it is right to do and ensuring swift disciplinary action in serious cases of misconduct.

The publication of the ‘Fit for the Future’ report on legal services regulation has brought these issues higher up the agenda. We welcome that focus, not least because it was our early call for regulatory reform that led to the Scottish Government initiating its review in 2017. We will continue to make a powerful case for change to the many outdated and inefficient regulatory processes which exist in legislation, particularly in the area of complaints handling. We will push for a modern framework that better reflects legal practice, changing client needs and the transformation in legal services now being driven by technology. We will also highlight the need for a system where costs are carefully controlled so the Scottish profession is resilient in an internationally competitive market. That regulatory structure must also adhere to the constitutional principle of the rule of law and, given its expertise and values, have the Law Society sitting at the very centre of that structure.

The Solicitors (Scotland) Act 1980 limits our ability to innovate and move away from often historic and outdated processes. Whilst we continue to push for the necessary changes to primary legislation, we will continue to reform and improve with pace where that change can be delivered without legislative change.

Our Regulatory Committee has statutory responsibility for the regulatory functions of the Law Society and has a vital role in meeting these objectives over these next two years. With its 50% solicitor / 50% non-solicitor membership, this committee brings together real expertise from within the profession as well as the public interest ethos of lay members. This partnership approach also exists through our regulatory sub-committees responsible for admissions, complaints, anti-money laundering, and the operation of our Client Protection Fund. It will be important for the work of these committees to get proper visibility and effective support in the period ahead.