Sir David Clementi has just published his report. It is extremely long. The key recommendations, which he urges the government to legislate upon, are:
- allowing multi-disciplinary partnerships (solicitors, barristers, accountants, management etc. all as partners)
- allowing commercial ownership of legal practices (TescoLaw). Sir David Clementi comments that "Unlike most high street solicitors, companies such as [the RAC] have nationally known brand names to protect, which may be a powerful incentive to operate in a proper manner" (Chapter F, para 22)
- a single independent body to handle all complaints, whether about barristers, solicitors or other legal service providers
- a new regulatory framework (which on the 'Model B+' basis, i.e. setting up an Oversight Regulator, the Legal Services Board, and separating regulatory from representative functions within the front-line legal bodies)
No comments:
Post a Comment