The Legal Services Board has launched a consultation on “ongoing professional competence in the legal services sector”. The aim of the consultation is to review how regulators ensure that the legal professionals they regulate remain competent over the course of their careers. LSB Chief Executive Matthew Hill said: ‘Ensuring legal professionals remain competent throughout their careers will…
SRA launches consultation on compensation fund changes
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has launched a consultation on “reforms to the compensation fund arrangements”. The consultation builds on the conclusions of the past consultation on compensation, covered here in 2018. Changes have been made based on the feedback given, including introducing a maximum cap on related claims and dropping proposals for the introduction of…
Event: BSB- The Future of Legal Services – Regulation of the Market, Consumer Protection and Technological Innovation
25th February 2020 Bar Standards Board (BSB) Director of Strategy and Policy Ewen MacLeod will be hosting a panel to discuss ‘Regulation in the legal services market – structures, roles and independence’. The seminar will focus on the upcoming publication of Stephen Mayson’s Independent Review of Legal Services Regulation. Speakers will look at the conclusions of…
BSB publishes research into barristers’ attitudes to CPD revisions
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has published a report on the impact of their revised approach to regulating barristers’ Continuing Professional Development. The report found that the general attitude towards the scheme amongst barristers was positive, with many welcoming the improved flexibility of the rules, however the report also suggested that there was some misunderstanding…
Revised SRA approach to CPD is well recieved by law firms
Newly published feedback received by the Solicitor Regulation Authority (SRA) on continuous professional development (CPD) requirements introduced in 2016 has indicated that the changes have been well received by solicitors and law firms. The requirements, known as ‘Continuing Competence’ are available in full here and include requiring solicitors to make an annual declaration of their own…
ICLR 2019: Regulating in Uncomfortable Spaces
The following content has been provided by the panel presenting on this topic during the afternoon on Day 1 of ICLR 2019. Synopsis As recent events have shown, regulating the conduct of lawyers who serve as elected politicians or in public office, as well as those who provide legal services to others in public office,…
UK Competition and Markets Authority to research Scottish legal services market
The Competition and Markets Authority has issued the following press release regarding its impending research into certain aspects of the Scottish legal services market to support the Scottish Government’s response to the Roberton Review. The following release was published 17 June 2019. This work has been prompted by the Roberton Review, an Independent Review of…
Solicitors Regulation Authority publishes Residential Conveyancing thematic review
A review about the service provided by solicitors to the public Published 5 April 2019 Executive summary Buying and selling a property is often the most expensive and important financial commitment a person makes in their life. Having access to reliable and good quality legal support really matters. It not only reduces stress and uncertainty,…
Independent Review of UK Legal Services Regulation Launched
The Centre for Ethics and Law in the UCL Faculty of Laws is undertaking a fundamental review of the current regulatory framework for legal services, led by Honorary Professor Stephen Mayson. The independent review is intended to explore the longer-term and related issues raised by the 2016 Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) market study, which concluded that the legal services sector…
Transparency lies at the heart of Consumer Satisfaction
In January, the Legal Services Board (LSB) of England & Wales released its Regulatory Performance: Transitional Assessment Review looking at the transitional assessment of each legal services regulatory body against the LSB’s regulatory performance standards. The report found that it had “sufficient assurance that the regulatory bodies have met the minimum required level of performance…