Society presents proposals for legal profession reform
Proposals to reshape the legislation governing the legal profession have been presented to the Scottish Government in a new paper by the Law Society of Scotland.
In a detailed document the Society argues that the law, much of which dates from the 1980s, is out of date for modern conditions, and that change is needed to better protect consumers and allow the Scottish legal services market to thrive
The new prospectus includes proposals for:
- better regulation of legal firms ("entity regulation"), in addition to the regulation of individual solicitors to protect consumers;
- new powers to suspend solicitors from practice, to include where they are disqualified as a company director, made subject to a debt payment programme or fail to pay money due to or ordered by the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission – and powers to prevent a suspended solicitor being employed by a legal firm in an alternative role;
- widening the Law Society’s membership in order to improve standards amongst other legal professionals, to include the possibiilty of registered paralegals becoming members and affiliate, associate or student membership being offered to other groups;
- rationalisation of the regulation of the legal services market so that all those offering and providing any legal advice or services are regulated;
- enabling the Society to regulate legal work beyond the domestic Scottish jurisdiction, in order to provide simpler regulation for cross-border firms;
- more flexible business models which allow legal firms to adapt to market changes;
- powers to make fees and charges relating to regulation.
The Society plans to engage with political parties, consumer groups and others in the legal sector to build a consensus in favour of change with an aim of getting a bill introduced early in the new session of the Scottish Parliament.
President Christine McLintock said: “The legal services market is a great Scottish success story. We contribute over £1bn to the economy each year, account for over 20,000 highly skilled jobs and support many of the other sectors on which Scotland’s economy depends. We have phenomenal legal talent, thanks to our world class universities and a rigorous programme of training and development to deliver high standards.
“Yet the legal services market is going through a dramatic period of change. New expectations from clients, new business models, the growth of cross border legal firms and increased technology are all serving to reshape the market.
“Most of the legislation covering the operation and regulation of the legal market is over 35 years old. It is increasingly outdated for modern legal practice. Whilst some reforms were brought in 2007 and 2010, the whole framework can be confusing and, in some cases, contradictory."
Ms McLintock emphasised that there were important elements and principles which should be preserved, including the independence of the legal profession, a single professional body for solicitors – the Society continues to believe its dual role is essential to ensuring the highest practical and ethical standards – and independent complaints handling and discipline bodies. But she called for "new, flexible and enabling legislation which helps the legal services market in Scotland to thrive, which continues to ensure standards remain high and which better protects consumers when things do go wrong".
She added: “We have had a number of very useful discussions with the Scottish Government and we are grateful to ministers and officials for being so open to listening to our ideas. We have also worked hard to engage other bodies in the legal sector as well as consumer groups to ensure we work in partnership to deliver real change.
“We obviously need to see the outcome of the Holyrood elections in May and the shape of the new Scottish Government. Whatever the outcome, we will be pushing hard for reform to be an early priority in the new Parliament.”