SLCC sets out blueprint for regulation review

Radical reform is needed to the regulatory and complaints landscape in Scotland, the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission said today in a submission presented to the independent review of legal services regulation in Scotland.

The SLCC is calling for a clear single aim to be set for future policy and legislative work: a new system that delivers better outcomes for consumers and the legal market. Its submission is based on its 2016 paper Reimagine Regulation, and subsequent engagement and discussion.

Its suggestions include:

• a single Act of Parliament for legal regulation, delivering a framework that is simple, understandable, agile, proportionate, affordable and fair;
• greater focus on consumer risk and improving quality, using consumer research followed by targeted interventions;
• innovation and informed decision making, leading to greater consumer choice and a sustainable market;
• increasing trust and confidence through an independent, transparent, co-ordinated and accountable model; and
• ensuring better consumer protection and faster redress, via a single gateway and fast, proportionate processes, with a single body managing all aspects of complaints, up to prosecution for conduct.

Chief executive Neil Stevenson commented: "For two years we have been calling for major reform. From a slow start there is a growing consensus that a radical shakeup is needed, and this momentum should empower the review group to present ambitious proposals for change which could benefit the public and the legal sector for generations to come.

"Far too often over the last two decades we have had piecemeal reform, and even those small changes have become bogged down in complex detail, legal processes and statutory drafting.

"We would like to see a clear, ambitious and focused set of outcomes articulated which then drive reform and become the scorecard change and implementation will be marked against. In that spirit we tried to encapsulate our vision and priorities in a single page, which we hope will help support the review group’s thinking in the final stage of this process."

The review's call for evidence is open to submissions until 30 March (click here for report). Its report is expected by the end of the summer.

Click here to access the submission and related papers.

Click here for the Journal interview with Esther Roberton, chair of the review.