Legal update

Published on Sunday 6 December 2009 19:30

THE reforms put forward in the Legal Services (Scotland) Bill must ensure public protection, maintain quality and protect the independence of lawyers, the Law Society of Scotland has warned.

Ahead of the justice committee's evidence-gathering session next week, the society told MSPs the reforms were a way of encouraging a "modern and competitive delivery of legal services".

Its president, Ian Smart, said: "The key will be to establish a regulatory framework that ensures public protection, maintains quality and protects the independence of legal services in Scotland."

Meanwhile, the society's director of law reform, Michael Clancy, said the bill could be improved with measures to more explicitly protect the independence of the legal profession as well as requiring ministers to consult over new regulations.

Also in stage-one evidence, the WS Society raised concerns the bill did not go far enough to protect the public from government interference. The body's chief executive, Robert Pirrie, said the measures proposed would increase government intervention in the Law Society because it regulates solicitors.

"That inevitably compromises the independence of the Law Society if, as the bill contemplates, it is also supposed to represent solicitors," he said. "Solicitors rightly pride themselves on independence. Consumers should want them to. Anything that undermines the independence of lawyers is bad for the public and bad for the reputation of Scotland's legal system."

Meanwhile, Consumer Focus Scotland welcomed the bill's principles but asked for it to be taken further to help protect consumers. "We are disappointed the Scottish Government is not proposing to put an advisory panel – to advise ministers on applications for authorisation and to keep the regulatory framework under review – in place on a statutory footing," said the organisation's head of policy, Sarah O'Neill.

"This is a necessary safeguard for protecting the interests of the public."

She added: "We also believe that in order to demonstrate clearly that it is acting in the public interest, the Law Society of Scotland's council should comprise at least 50 per cent non-solicitor membership and a non-solicitor chair."