Justice Committee offers “cautious support” on reforms
12 Mar 10
Committee also notes divisions within profession
The Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee has offered its cautious support to the Legal Services (Scotland) Bill in its stage 1 report published today.
Although the committee agreed to the general principles of the Bill, it remains concerned about whether the “fitness for involvement” test is robust enough. This test would allow outside investors, such as banks or supermarkets, to have a stake in legal services providers.
The committee also noted the divisions within the legal profession over some aspects of the bill.
Committee convener Bill Aitken MSP said: “This bill will enable, but not oblige, the Scottish legal profession to enter into new forms of business that could create more competition and potentially offer consumers more choice in legal services.
“The committee’s evidence from the consumer lobby was in the main supportive of this bill. The evidence from the profession itself was less supportive and in some cases fundamentally opposed to the bill’s direction of travel.
“The committee understands the principles behind the consumer lobby’s arguments but received little in the way of hard evidence. Without this hard evidence, it could be argued that increased competition could result in detriment to the consumer as a consequence of the loss of local and high street legal firms if banks or supermarkets enter the legal services market.”
Difficulty
The committee found difficulty assessing the evidence in the absence of empirical research and experience, and recognised the risks to the provision of legal services in smaller towns as well as the potential gains to consumers from increased competition.
Its report also highlights concerns about:
- the extent of powers given to Scottish Ministers as a consequence of not establishing a new regulatory body similar to the Legal Services Board for England & Wales;
- the potential lack of independence for Scotland’s legal profession when it is regulated by Scottish Ministers. The committee recommends giving the Lord President a greater role in the approval of regulators in order to address this concern.
As regards the arguments over the Law Society of Scotland's twin roles of representation and regulation of the solicitors' profession, the Committee recognises the inherent tensions with but states that it is of the view that these are for the Society and its members to consider and resolve.
The committee agrees with the Scottish Government that no need has been demonstrated for changes to the regulation of the Faculty of Advocates, or for advocates to be permitted to form alternative business structures, though it invites the Faculty "to consider what steps it might take to modernise its regulatory regime".
It supports the introduction of controls on unregulated will writers, and believes there may be a gap in the protection of those choosing to use non-solicitor providers of confirmation services.
Click here to view the committee's report.