News In Focus
12 March 2010
Society pleased at Justice Committee report
The Law Society of Scotland today welcomed the cross party support for the Legal Services (Scotland) Bill.
President Ian Smart said the Society had been lobbying for a greater role for the Lord President to ensure that the legal profession retained its independence. He was pleased that the Justice Committee had recognised this and recommended this role was enhanced within the bill.
He also welcomed recommendations for amendments at stage 2 regarding a compensation fund and fidelity insurance, which the Society had been pressing for to ensure that consumer protections offered by alternative business structures would be equivalent to those currently provided by solicitors' firms.
Mr Smart commented: "Throughout the ABS debate the Society has maintained that independence of the profession is essential. It has also stated that professional principles and standards cannot be compromised and that ABSs should not create any adverse impact on access to legal services in Scotland.
"The Society has taken forward the debate in favour of allowing ABSs, following its members' vote at the 2008 AGM, as it could help to broaden access to legal services and also allow those firms which want to operate using a different business structure to be able to do so. The legal services market is becoming increasingly competitive throughout the UK and globally and we want to ensure that Scottish lawyers can compete effectively in that market by being able to bring in new talent and appoint non-solicitor partners or look to bring in external capital for their business to grow and thrive should they wish."
He added that regulation was "absolutely key" to how these new business entities might operate and the Society was currently consulting all its members for their input into what types of business models could be permitted and also how they should be regulated if the Society became an approved regulator of ABSs.
"External ownership in particular has caused concerns and any 'fitness to own' test would have to be sufficiently robust to ensure that there would be no reduction in standards of the legal advice and services offered and that there was no interference in how those services were provided", he said.
The consultation closes on 16 April.