Regulation

Law Society chief executive Des Hudson has responded to calls for all advocates – including solicitors – to be regulated by the Bar Standards Board by saying: “Are they having a laugh?” And SAHCA chief says QASA and ABSs give solicitor-advocates a “golden opportunity” to compete with barristers.

The Legal Education and Training Review may end up “unbalanced or worse” because it has incorrectly identified its purpose, the president of the Supreme Court warned last night. Lord Neuberger also questioned the need for root-and-branch change.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority will next month launch its own version of the government’s Red Tape Challenge, chairman Charles Plant announced yesterday at the official opening of the authority’s new headquarters in Birmingham.

Simply being a solicitor “is not enough” in the new legal market, but by raising standards further through accreditation schemes and using their brand recognition, solicitors can preserve a dominant market share, the Law Society’s chief executive has insisted.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority will have a lay majority for the first time from January 2013 – the last frontline legal regulator to comply with internal governance rules that require it. Meanwhile, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers has named an adviser to the Clementi review as its new CEO.

The number of students seeking to become barristers is rising sharply but pupillages are falling, with an Oxbridge education appearing to be of growing importance, according to Bar figures.

There are too many solicitors in England and Wales “who are simply not good enough”, the chairman of the Solicitors Regulation Authority claimed yesterday. He told the 500 firms yet to nominate COLPs that “enough is enough” – they face having their right to practise withdrawn.

The Ministry of Justice has thrown cold water on the Bar Council’s call to abolish the Legal Services Board (LSB). On Saturday, Bar Council chairman Michael Todd QC said the new Lord Chancellor, Chris Grayling, was sympathetic to concerns that the legal profession is over-regulated.

Two south-east conveyancing businesses owned by estate agents have become the newest alternative business structure (ABS), meaning that more than 50 licences have now been issued by the two ABS regulators.

The new Lord Chancellor has said he is “sympathetic” with the notion that the legal profession is over-regulated, the chairman of the Bar Council has claimed as he stepped up his call for the Legal Services Board to be scrapped.