WHITE PAPER

Lord Falconer welcomed the Review's recommendations. He stated that the government is "committed to taking [the recommendations] forward as a matter of importance".

At the moment, the Law Society has created boards internally to handle complaints and regulation.  These are interim measures only to prepare for the arrival of the Legal Services Board ("LSB").  The Bar is bringing in a similar system, having resisted Clementi at the outset. 

The government wants to reform the regulatory framework for legal services to put the consumer first. They have stated that they want "a framework that promotes competition, innovation and protects the consumer".  On Monday 17 October 2005, the government published a white paper ‘The Future of Legal Services: Putting the Consumer First’, setting out proposals for the regulatory reform of legal services in England and Wales.

Broadly speaking, the white paper does the following:

1)  Reforms the regulatory framework for legal services to put the consumer first by setting up the Legal Services Board to:

• provide consistent and independent oversight of front-line professional bodies such as the Law Society and Bar Council
• promote public and consumer interests.

2)  Establishes the Office for Legal Complaints - a new, single, independent complaints body subject to oversight by the Legal Services Board - which will:

• be more straightforward for consumers to use and understand
• result in consistent, fair and independent handling of cases

The paper also goes further to enable lawyers from different front-line bodies, for example solicitors and barristers, to work together in law practices on an equal footing. Non-lawyers would be allowed to work as managers of legal practices, and also to participate in such practices as owners and investors.

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The LSB is able to delegate its powers to "front-line" professional bodies - in our case - the Law Society.  this is only the case if the body in question can prove that they are able to fulfil both the representation and regulation roles.

THIS MEANS THAT THE LAW SOCIETY CAN CONTINUE TO REGULATE THE PROFESSION, PROVIDED THAT REGULATION AND REPRESENTATION ARE SPLIT.

Therefore, the Law Society has decided to separate its regulatory and representation functions. From January 2006, two new boards, the Regulation Board and the Consumer Complaints Board, will oversee the Society’s regulatory and complaints functions. As part of the separation of functions, the Council of the Society wants to reshape the way the Society delivers its representation and law reform work, and the support services it offers solicitors.

The consequences of this change can be summarised as follows:

• Influence of the representative body will remain strong, particularly where regulation and representation overlap;
• The respresentative body would retain credibility as the voice of the profession by being linked to the regulator;
• New emphasis to look at what the representaive body could and should be doing, leading to new creative thinking; and
• The representative body can be re-branded, abandoning some of the negative connotations associated with the Law Society.

The Law Society has undergone a consultation of its members (please click here for more detail and here for the TSG view) to determine the future shape of the Law Society; in light of both the Clementi Review itself and the white paper. 

This exercise is now complete and the future of the Law Society is currently being shaped.  In fact, the "Have Your Say" consultation has now ended, and the Law Society is putting the finishing touches to its new structure.  Council will shortly be reformed, and the TSG/YSG/TLS discussions continue.

TSG RESPONSE

Please see the CONSULTATIONS section for the TSG Response to the DCA White Paper - "Putting Consumers First".

TSG RESPONSE TO CONSULTATION

CURRENT POSITION?

An update on the current position with regard to Clementi is given on the main CLEMENTI REVIEW page of this website.