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Scotland's legal profession
18/12/2007
The Scottish Government today published its response to the Office of Fair Trading report on alternative business structures for the legal profession.
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill made clear that Scotland's legal profession had to change in the light of a changing marketplace, both nationally and globally, and that a Scottish solution needs to be found to the issues affecting the Scottish legal profession.
The response sets out how the Government is working with the profession and others to take forward reform, and the timetable for future action.
The main issues highlighted by the response are:
- No plans to set up a new regulatory body like the Legal Services Board in England
- Early progress needs to be made on potential new business models for legal services
- Expect Law Society and Faculty of Advocates to put forward detailed proposals for consideration by the Government and approval by their members by Spring 2008.
After a meeting with Philip Collins, Chair of the Office of Fair Trading, Mr McAskill said:
"This Government is committed to a strong and independent legal profession. We are determined that Scottish law firms should be able to compete internationally and that our legal system should be more attractive to major businesses.
"Hand-in-hand with this aim, we must improve access to justice for our citizens, and ensure that consumers of legal services are properly protected. People's needs for legal services are very different from what they were 50 or even 20 years ago, and legal services need to reflect that. At the same time, we must protect quality and the core values of the profession.
"Since becoming Justice Secretary, I have made reform of the legal profession one of my personal priorities. As a former partner in a law firm myself, I am very proud of the profession I once practiced in. It has already changed and must change further so it continues to provide an excellent service to consumers and businesses.
"However, in considering changes to the profession we will not blindly follow an English model. I therefore welcome the OFT's conclusion that the Scottish legal market requires an appropriate Scottish solution. We are a small country with a small legal profession - we need to use the advantage that gives us in being able to adapt quickly to new challenges.
"Last September, I challenged the leadership of the profession to bring forward firm proposals for change. I am hugely encouraged at the way in which they have responded so far. It is vital that we keep up the momentum, and the Government will be working with the profession in the early months of 2008 to turn the emerging ideas into real and practical reform."
'Which' submitted a super-complaint to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) asserting that the current regulation of Scottish legal forms restricts choice to consumers and prevents the formation of alternative business structures. In its reponse the OFT has not assumed that the changes currently being proposed in England and Wales through the Legal Services Bill will be automatically suitable for the Scottish market.
The OFT recommended that by the end of 2007 the Government should publish a statement which details its policy views on:
- How it considers legal services in Scotland should be regulated
- How the restrictions outlined in the super-complaint can be lifted
- A timing commitment for these aims
The OFT further recommended that the legal professions in Scotland take full advantage of these opportunities and that the Faculty of Advocates and the Law Society of Scotland lift any of their own practice rules which contribute to the restrictions discussed in their response.
On November 1 this year, the Law Society of Scotland published a consultation paper entitled 'The Public Interest: Delivering Scottish Legal Services - A Consultation on Alternative Business Structures.
The issue was debated in the Scottish Parliament on November 15, when the Government's approach was unanimously endorsed.