Legal Services Act

The Legal Services Board has told barristers’ regulator that it will need to up its game – and perhaps embrace outcomes-focused regulation – to keep pace with liberalisation of the bar. “We expect that the BSB will invest in its skills and regulatory capacity,” it said.

Lawyers should undergo five-yearly competence testing, as well as face peer review of the advice they provide clients, the chairwoman of the Legal Services Consumer Panel has said.

A ‘Consumer Welfare Index’ that will measure the effectiveness of the legal services reforms is to be developed by the Legal Services Consumer Panel, it announced today (30 March). The panel will also look to help price comparison websites operate properly in the legal market.

Now the Legal Services Board has taken on its full powers to supervise the legal profession, Legal Futures Editor Neil Rose talks to its chairman, David Edmonds, to see what lawyers can expect of it.

The Legal Services Board has approved plans to allow barristers to become partners in legal disciplinary practices but warned that the changes “go only part of the way towards opening up the market in the interests of consumers”.

The Legal Ombudsman – the operating name of the Office for Legal Complaints – has officially opened its new home in central Birmingham and announced its first wave of recruitment for more than 300 workers.

The SRA has launched what it describes as its biggest-ever consultation exercise as it seeks to engage the profession over the introduction of outcomes-focused regulation and alternative business structures.

Profits at Co-operative Legal Services more than doubled last year, preliminary figures have shown. Sales from the legal arm grew 45%, to £20 million, with operating profits up £2.1 million to £3.8 million.

High street conveyancers are not comfortable about diversifying into other areas of practice, research has found. Some 60% were wary of moving into fields such as litigation and probate.

Most of what private equity firms know about the law is that it is an old-fashioned industry that does not look very investor friendly. Law firms need to adopt a corporate structure if they want to impress them, experts tell Patricia Wheatley-Burt.