‘Freedom in Practice: Better Outcomes for Consumers’ is being billed as the SRA’s biggest-ever consultation exercise, which is appropriate given that outcomes-focused regulation is such a massive change to the regulation of the profession. It comes with its own logo and website on top of the authority’s usual outreach tools of consultation papers and roadshows.

Those of us with recent experiences of the Financial Services Authority’s changing approach to regulating its industry firms, should be forgiven a wry smile on reading SRA board chairman Charles Plant’s article on ‘outcomes-focused regulation’ which appeared in the Law Society Gazette on 11 February 2010.

I have read with interest the letters in the Gazette about personal injury claims and referral fees over the last few weeks following the release of the Insurers’ report (aka the Jackson report).

As a journalist, one is often inveigled into meeting all sorts of people who want to sell stuff to lawyers. I generally don’t mind this, as I am able to find almost anything at least a little bit interesting when I set my mind to it.

I’m not sure whether or not it is ironic that the Legal Services Act – which in many senses in a deregulatory measure – may well end up delivering tighter regulation of legal services in some ways.