Faculty calls on Yousaf to reconsider Regulation Bill

First Minister Humza Yousaf should reconsider his comment that he "fundamentally disagrees" with critics of the Government's proposed reforms of legal services regulation, the Dean of the Faculty of Advocates said today.

Writing in the Scotsman, Roddy Dunlop KC says it is "disappointing" to hear that the First Minister stand by provisions in the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill that would give ministers direct powers of regulation over the profession.

"The fundamental impact of these changes would be to open the way for ‘regulation’ to be used as a back door which the government of the day might use to control or influence independent legal professionals", Mr Dunlop writes. "These are the same legal practitioners whose role is often to hold the Government to account. That possibility need only be stated for its undesirability in a modern democracy to be manifest.

"Faculty believes that the potential import of these changes has not yet been fully understood by the legislature. It does not suggest for a moment that this is the true intention of current ministers. Nevertheless, history teaches us that, where the exercise of executive power is concerned, it is not always present intention that matters."

These aspects of the bill pose a threat to the independence of the referral bar in Scotland, Faculty believes, and accordingly "we oppose in the strongest of terms".

Faculty is also keen to see changes that would address the complexity of the current regulatory environment in a manner that would result in a more streamlined and effective complaints process, which would be to the benefit of all. "The bill appears, in some instances, to add to these complexities, rather than simplify them", Mr Dunlop adds.

Faculty's stage 1 submission on the bill can be read here.