The legal sector needs one independent regulator for all providers

The Legal Services Act (LSA) was sold as a way of protecting the consumer and enabling access to justice but it simply hasn't had the impact expected. An opportunity has been missed '¨to deliver proper independent regulation and this is what '¨the UK legal sector would benefit from.

The LSA has actually put at risk the independence, and quality, of legal advice due to the conflicting interests of some of the commercial owners involved.

The Act has also led to commercial organisations concentrating on certain areas of law which they perceive as requiring less expertise, resulting in a risk that advice given could be dangerously inadequate due to the lack of knowledge and experience of those supplying it.

With the profession suffering from those who are failing to maintain expected standards, an independent regulator, which could enforce standards of quality, may rectify the issue. Also, as a clearly independent body to the legal sector, it could help restore consumer confidence and assure the public about the quality of legal advice they are getting.

Such a regulator should be absolutely independent of both government and vested interests in the legal sector and have the power to prepare codes of practice for the profession and regulate issues such as standards of advice, complaints, advertising, professional indemnity insurance and the structure of the profession as '¨a whole. That said, in doing so such a body must understand the arena in which it operates.

The profession has suffered, '¨and is suffering, from fundamental changes having been made by those with '¨a total lack of knowledge or ignoring fundamental information provided.

There's a huge amount of pressure and interest now in forming such a body in the industry. This has been highlighted recently with a Legal Services Consumer Panel calling for an independent regulator. They have highlighted that the current system isn't delivering the outcomes consumers need, with a confusing structure which can lead a consumer into dead ends when it comes to getting redress on an issue or complaint.

The panel also highlighted that the patchwork of current regulators we have isn't only confusing for the consumer but an unnecessary and expensive duplication. What we need is to start again with a blank page, setting up one, consumer focused, independent regulator, with clear procedures and regulations that every legal service provider in the UK has to adhere to. SJ