Legal regulation bill passes first hurdle but chance to make public protection even stronger remains

New laws on regulating the Scottish legal sector can be strengthened further to better protect the public, the Law Society of Scotland has said.

A majority of MSPs voted today to agree to the principles of the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) following the Bill’s Stage 1 debate in the Scottish Parliament.

The Bill would deliver major changes to the way the legal sector is regulated, including far-reaching reforms to the complaints system, a new form of regulating legal businesses, and new restrictions over who can and cannot call themselves a “lawyer”. However, the Law Society has said amendments are needed at Stage 2 to make public protections even stronger.

Much of the debate to date has focused on sections of the Bill which would deliver major new powers to the Scottish Government to intervene directly in regulation. This generated a major backlash, including from Scotland’s most senior judges and from the International Bar Association, all who argued the proposed powers would undermine the independence of the Scottish legal sector.

Following today’s vote, the Bill will now return to the Parliament’s Equalities, Human Rights, and Civil Justice Committee for line-by-line scrutiny and amendment. The Scottish Government has also now promised to bring forward its own amendments to address the criticism over Ministerial powers.

Sheila Webster, President of the Law Society of Scotland said: “With most of the legislation covering the regulation of Scottish solicitors now well over 40 years old, we desperately need reform to ensure standards remain high and consumers are protected. Many of the provisions in this legislation have come on the back of almost a decade’s worth of campaigning by the Law Society for change. That is why it is so welcome to see the Bill getting enough political backing to move forward to the next stage.

“There has of course been huge concern over those provisions in the Bill which would bring in sweeping new levels of political control and intervention in the way the legal sector is regulated. Such changes would fatally undermine the rule of law and the long-held principle that the legal profession must be independent of the state. It is good news that the Scottish Government has recognised this issue and promised to bring forward amendments which either remove or substantially reduce these political powers. We will be looking closely at how those amendments are framed.”

David Gordon, the non-solicitor convener of the Society’s Regulatory Committee said: “There is so much in this Bill which is positive and commands widespread support. However, with the legislation moving forward to more detailed scrutiny at committee, we believe there is an important opportunity to go even further and make the public protections in the legislation even stronger.

“Over the next few weeks, we look forward to bringing forward our ideas. These include proposals to speed up and simplify the complaints system, stronger powers of suspension when the public needs protection, and changes to make regulation more open and transparent. We hope MSPs will embrace these further changes to ensure regulation is fit for what is a rapidly changing legal services market in Scotland.”