The Legal Services Board found little evidence on the costs of legal sector regulation, so in late 2014 it surveyed the regulated community and in 2015 it commissioned a study of the incremental costs of regulation – those incurred to comply with legal regulation.
Categories of regulatory cost in the studies include:
- Requirements to have separate client accounts
- Information requests from the regulator (including applying for practising certificates).
- Consumer information disclosure
- Ongoing supervision activity by the regulator
- File retention
- Keeping up to date with changes to regulations
- Professional development training course fees
- Professional indemnity insurance
Legal Services Board. “The regulated communities’ views on the cost of regulation”. March 2015.