The Law Society can’t have its regulatory cake and eat it
Legal Week got itself kicked off the Law Society’s Christmas card list recently when we questioned attempts to influence regulation, specifically the wisdom of Chancery Lane commissioning a review that seemed more under the remit of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). This discontent comes from the Society’s accurate assertion that it remains the approved front-line regulator under the Legal Services Act (LSA). But, with respect, and having since spoken to chief executive Des Hudson, I stand by the criticism. After all, the Society could have launched a credible case around its LSA-backed status as a regulator. But the framework of its current model was created in 2005, when the Society was under intense pressure to reform in the wake of Sir David Clementi’s review of the legal services market, which called for a substantive split between solicitor regulation and representation.
