Legal Services Regulation - the need for reform

In our strategy, Leading Legal Excellence (2015-2020), we set out our ambition to secure a modern, flexible and enabling legislative framework.

Most of the legislation covering the operation and regulation of the legal market is more than 40 years old. It is increasingly out of date and unfit for purpose.  While some reforms were brought in 2007 and 2010, the whole framework can be confusing and, in some cases, contradictory. New legislation is needed to better protect consumers and allow the Scottish legal services market to thrive.

A new Bill to reform regulation

A new Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament on 20 April 2023.

The Bill's proposals would see new forms of regulation over legal businesses, changes to the way complaints are handled, and new restrictions over who can and cannot call themselves a lawyer. However, it also proposed sweeping new powers for Scottish Ministers to, for the first time, intervene directly in the regulation of solicitors, threatening the independence of the legal profession.

You can read our Stage 1 response to the Bill, published in July 2023, and our news release  highlighting our deep concern at the proposals which we said were “dangerous and wrong” and must be dropped.

In January 2025 we published a Stage 2 briefing welcoming amendments which would remove ministerial powers from the Bill. Read the briefing and our letter to the Scottish Parliament's Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee. You can also read our letter to the Scottish Government's Minister for Victims and Community Safety following completion of Stage 2 of the Bill. It states that the Bill has been considerably strengthened by amendments at Stage 2 and also sets out areas for further consideration at Stage 3.

Prior to the Bill's Stage 3 parliamentary debate we issued a further briefing to MSPs with our views on many of the amendments lodged and changes which include significant improvements to the legislation.

Steps towards reform

You can find out more about the steps towards reform since the publication of our initial Case for Change paper in 2016, and further updates as the Bill progresses through the Scottish Parliament.

Independent review 

An independent review of the regulation of legal services was announced in April 2017. Its purpose was to make independent recommendations to reform and modernise the framework for the regulation of legal services and complaints handling. Esther Roberton led the review and published her report ‘Fit for the Future - Report of the Independent Review of Legal Services Regulation in Scotland on 23 October 2018.

The report made 40 recommendations, some of which reflect those we made to the Scottish Government and in response to the review's call for evidence in early 2018, such as restricting use of the term 'lawyer', regulation at entity level and the need for flexible, proportionate regulation. While we support several of the report's recommendations, we are strongly opposed to the principal recommendation for a new, single regulatory body. You can read more in our news release commenting on the report.

Scottish Government consultation 

On 1 October 2021, the Scottish Government launched its Legal Services Regulation Reform in Scotland consultation setting out three different regulatory models. 

In our response to the Scottish Government consultation on legal services regulation reform we have strongly rejected the option of a new single regulator. While we believe  there is an urgent need for change to improve aspects of the current regulatory system, we already have strong checks and balances within the existing structure of co-regulation which protect the public interest. We also highlighted the key risks presented by options one and two in the consultation, including the threat to the rule of law and independence of the legal profession, and the risk of increased costs to solicitors and their clients. We believe an 'option three plus' would address the key failings in the current regulatory system, particularly around the current complaints system which is cumbersome, complex and costs too much, while retaining those aspects which have proven to work well.

You can read our news release and our full consultation response.

Post-consultation proposals 

The Scottish Government published its plans to reform and modernise legal services regulation on 22 December 2022 in response to its earlier consultation in 2021.

In its response, the government has set out its aim to implement a modern, forward-looking model for legal services regulation, which will build on the existing framework. Proposals for the revised regulatory framework include:

  • Retaining the overarching role of the Lord President and the Court of Session, protecting the independence of the legal profession.
  • Extending legal professional title regulation beyond the current position which protects the title ‘Solicitor’, to protect the use of the term ‘Lawyer’ and ‘member of the Faculty of Advocates’. This will aim to provide greater consumer protection and address concerns that unqualified individuals or individuals struck off from the legal profession can currently use such terms to describe themselves. 
  • Allowing the legal complaints system to operate in a more flexible way to benefit consumers and legal professionals. This will aim to address concerns that the legislation underpinning the legal complaints system is too restrictive and unable to act in a proportionate and risk-based way, adding undue cost and time to the process for both consumers and legal professionals.
  • Ensuring there is proportionate, risk-based oversight of all legal services, providing public interest-focused centred safeguards.

Our news statement is available to read on our website.

Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill introduced 

A new Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament on 20 April 2023 which updates the regulation of legal services in Scotland.

The Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill introduced by the Scottish Government will see the Law Society continue as the regulator of Scottish solicitors, with additional powers to act to protect the public interest. Changes are also proposed to the complaints system to make it simpler and quicker.

However, the Bill also includes the ability for Scottish Ministers to intervene and direct regulators which we believe are deeply alarming and risk seriously undermining the independence of the legal regulation from the state. You can read our statement from 20 April 2023.

The Scottish Parliament call for views on the Bill is open until Wednesday, 9 August 2023.

You can read our response and our news release on the Bill.

Key dates

In advance of the Stage 3 debate on the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill in the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday 20 May we issued a briefing and package of amendments to MSPs.

 

 

You can read our letter to Scottish Government Minister for Victims and Community Safety Minister with our comments on the Bill following conclusion of Stage 2 of the Bill on 28 January 2025.

Read the letter

Read our Stage 2 briefing and letter to the Scottish Parliament's Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee (14 January 2025).

Read our news release: Government amendments to Legal Services Regulation Bill preserve supremacy of the rule of law

More than 300 Scottish Government amendments to the Bill were published, including in relation to ministerial powers. Find out more on the Scottish Parliament website.

Read our news release.

 

You can read our stage 1 briefing on the Bill along with our summary.

You can read our response to the call for views on the Bill

We have also put together a short summary on our response to the Bill.

The Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill was introduced on 20 April 2023. 

This Bill updates the regulation of legal services in Scotland.

Part 1 sets out the overarching regulatory framework. 

Part 2 relates to the regulation of businesses providing legal services 

Part 3 covers complaints about legal services 

Part 4 relates to other changes which include a new offence of using the title 'lawyer' when a person is not eligible to do so or pretending to be a regulated legal services provider, and making it simpler for third sector organisations to provide legal services. This section also includes new powers for Scottish Ministers to intervene.

Read our news release on publication of the Bill

The Scottish Government published its plans to reform and modernise legal services regulation on 22 December 2022.

You can read our  news statement in response to the government's proposals on our website.

The Scottish Government published its analysis of responses to its recent consultation on reforming the regulation of legal services on 8 July 2022.

The report, Legal Services Regulation Reform in Scotland: Consultation Analysis, and the published responses  are available to read on the government's website.

You can read our news release in response to publication of the report.

You can read our full response to the Scottish Government consultation on legal services reform.

Read our news release on the need for regulatory reform, while cautioning against changes that could risk higher legal bills for consumers.

The Scottish Government launched its consultation Legal Services Regulation Reform in Scotland which outlines three regulatory models.

You can read our news release on the launch day of the consultation, 1 October 2021. 

The Scottish Government made its response to the report on the legal services review on 25 June 2019 - you can read the response on the government's website.

The Law Society's Regulatory Committee submitted its response in June with a covering letter to the Scottish Government which are available to read. 

The Competition and Markets Authority also submitted a response on 17 June 2019.

The Law Society Council's December 2018 letter to the Minister for Community Safety, Ash Denham, is also available to read. 

The Law Society's Council submitted a response to the Scottish Government in December 2018. You can read the President's letter to the Minister for Community Safety and additional documents on the legal services review recommendations  and the Law Society's proposed complaints model.

The report on the independent review of legal services in Scotland was published on 23 October 2018. The report is available to read on the Scottish Government's website at Regulation of Legal Services.

The Society's news release on the report is available to read on our website: Proposed reforms of legal services regulation pose unnecessary risk to consumer protections.

An independent review of the regulation of legal services was announced by the then Minister of Community Safety and Legal Affairs, Annabelle Ewing on 25 April 2017. Its purpose was to make independent recommendations to reform and modernise the framework for the regulation of legal services and complaints handling.

In March 2018, we submitted our response to the review group's call for evidence on the review of legal services:

In January 2018, we submitted proposals for wide-ranging reforms that will allow us to keep pace with global developments within the sector and improve consumer protection. In our paper, we set out a series of recommendations which include expanding consumer protections to currently unregulated areas of legal services, regulating firms operating beyond Scotland and overhauling the legal complaints system, which it says is overly complex, expensive and lacks proper oversight.

The recommendations also include:

  • expanding consumer protections to currently unregulated areas of legal services
  • better regulation of legal firms as entities in addition to the regulation of individual solicitors to better protect consumers
  • new powers to suspend solicitors suspected of serious wrongdoing
  • widening the Law Society’s membership to improve standards amongst other legal professionals
  • protection of the term ‘lawyer’ to mean those who are legally trained and are regulated

Your can read the Society's response to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) consultation: Looking to the future - flexibility and public protection

You can read the Society's response to the Competition & Markets Authority's Interim Report on the Legal Services Market

In March 2016 we published a Case for Change paper in response to the review group's call for evidence.

In this detailed prospectus we presented to the Scottish Government. It sets out the need for change in greater detail and 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 suspected of serious wrongdoing
  • opening up our membership in order to improve standards amongst other legal professionals
  • the ability for us 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.

In January 2016, we published a detailed set of priorities for the Holyrood elections and the next term of the Scottish Parliament. This included a call for Scotland’s political parties to commit to a modern, fit-for-purpose framework for legal services in Scotland which;

  • Maintains the advantages of the current system, including the independence of the legal profession, a robust system of co-regulation involving strong professional bodies and an independent complaints handling organisation and discipline tribunal
  • Provides a more agile system of consumer protection and addresses the rise of the unregulated legal services market
  • Allows flexible regulation that reflects the rise of alternative business models, cross-border firms and internationalisation of the sector
  • Enables the Law Society to respond to the changing needs of its members and to open up associate forms of membership to other legal professionals, including paralegals and legal executives

Regulation and compliance

As the professional body and regulator for Scotland's solicitor profession we assure the quality of legal services and protect the public interest. Find out more about our regulatory work.

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In this section

Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill - what is it and why does it matter?

Read our short summary on our response to the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill

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Top 10 ways we regulate Scottish solicitors

Protecting the public is at the heart of what we do - read about some of the ways we regulate solicitors.

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Client protection

Find out about the consumer protections available to clients, what standards solicitors must meet, and what to do if you feel your solicitor has not met them. 

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Influencing the law and policy

One of the main functions of our policy team, along with our network of volunteers, is to analyse and respond to proposed changes in the law.

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