A strong voice

Janet Paraskeva calls on solicitors to make a cogent response to a government consultation

The government's recently published consultation document, In the Public Interest, is both an opportunity and a challenge to the solicitors' profession.

It could have profound implications for the future delivery of legal services.

The questions before us are complex, and the decisions the government decides to take will also have significant implications for the future of the profession.

The Law Society wants to make a substantial response with strong, well-founded arguments, based not simply on self-interest but on the experience and insights that members of the profession bring to the discussion.

In the Public Interest is intended to help the government take policy decisions arising from last year's Office of Fair Trading report on competition in the professions.

The consultation is aimed at both professionals and members of the public in England and Wales and it focuses on five main issues: the opening of conveyancing and probate work to new providers; extending the provision of legal services by employed solicitors; multi-disciplinary partnerships; the possible extension of legal professional privilege to professional advisers other than lawyers; and possible changes to the Queen's Counsel system.

It also draws attention to the possibilities of a full-scale review of regulation - not just of solicitors, but of all legal services.

The Law Society Council has in recent months given considerable time to discussing some of these issues.

In March this year, the council adopted a policy which would allow employed solicitors to provide legal services direct to the public, provided the public was adequately protected.

This built on an earlier policy to support the introduction of multi-disciplinary practices once the necessary primary legislation had been enacted.

But even with these forward-looking moves there remain real concerns about the impact such changes would have on the consumer, particularly in rural areas, and concerns too about the effect on smaller high-street practices.

When the Lord Chancellor announced that he was also planning to initiate a review of the existing machinery for the regulation of legal services, he said that this review would not begin until this consultation had been completed.

The purpose of the delay is to ensure that when regulation is reviewed it could take account of regulation needed to cover any legal services introduced after this consultation.

There is much at stake.

As the world continues to change, business must adapt to meet the demands of consumers who are now better informed and more aware of their own rights than ever before.

But lawyers do not work in isolation from society around them - they are integral to it and have an important contribution to make both to business and local communities.

There are no easy answers to the questions this paper is asking, which only emphasises how important it is that as many members of the profession as possible contribute to the debate.

In drawing up its response to the paper, the Society will be consulting as widely as possible, and there will be several channels open to solicitors who wish to participate in the debate.

The annual Solicitors' Conference later this month is a key forum for discussion of the issues in question.

Several of the plenary meetings are already scheduled to look at some of the themes at the heart of the consultation paper.

Immediately prior to the Solicitors' Conference is the conference for presidents and secretaries of local law societies, and at least one session at this event will address In the Public Interest.

We will also be consulting with all the Society's subsidiary boards and specialist committees and groups.

But given the importance of the issues, we are trying to create as many opportunities for debate and discussion as possible.

This week we start a series of regional seminars around the country, which I will be chairing.

I hope that solicitors from every part of the profession will feel able to contribute to these discussions.

When we have drawn up a first draft of the Society's response we will be posting it on our Web site, probably in mid-October, and I hope that members will read the draft and send their comments to us.

Full details of this stage of consultation will be publicised next month.

So, whether you are a highly experienced partner or a newly qualified practitioner; whether you work in a big city firm, as a sole practitioner or in a smaller high-street practice, we are keen to hear your voice.

The conclusions that the government draws from this consultation exercise are likely to have considerable impact on the shape of the profession in the years to come.

We want to know your views, what your experience tells you, and what you think the future looks like for the profession.

There are many interests to balance, but without contributions from the whole of the profession we cannot hope to take all of them in to account.

The next few months will be challenging but exciting.

I hope every solicitor will play a part.

- Forthcoming Law Society seminars will be held in Newcastle on 19 September, Manchester on 25 September, Leeds on 3 October, Cardiff on 9 October, London on 15 October, Cambridge on 29 October and Leicester on 6 November.

Janet Paraskeva is chief executive of the Law Society