On the 24th March, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) released its review and recommendations on the legal services market in Scotland.
One of the key recommendations put forward in the report is that an independent body should be set up to regulate the profession, separating representative and regulatory functions. The CMA has suggested that “Separating regulation from representation will increase trust in this sector and result in better regulation.”
The report also included recommendations that the Law Society of Scotland should carry out a review of price and service transparency guidance, with possible mandatory rules in order to increase public confidence in pricing and to implement rules to allow ABSs to establish, following legislation allowing them a decade ago.
Andrea Coscelli, the CMA’s CEO said:
“It is important that people in Scotland have access to high-quality and good value legal services. In addition to increasing transparency of information, our recommendations are intended to introduce greater liberalisation that could foster growth and innovation in the delivery of legal services which would help the sector grow.”
The full report is available here.
The recommendations are available here.
The Law Society of Scotland’s response is available here.