LEGISLATION: Ministry of Justice concedes ground on unions and Legal Services Board


The Legal Services Bill received Royal Assent this week after the government offered concessions on the three outstanding issues that dogged the end of its passage through Parliament.



The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) agreed to curtail the activities of trade unions that would be exempt from authorisation as alternative business structures. As a result, unions would not require authorisation if their services are relevant to their members - such as employment disputes. However, it should mean that a union could not directly provide conveyancing or divorce services, for example, without authorisation.



The MoJ also accepted the need to include on the face of the legislation the principle under which the new oversight regulator, the Legal Services Board, could intervene in the work of frontline regulators such as the Solicitors Regulation Authority. The board would only be able to exercise its functions if a regulator's particular act or omission were unreasonable.



And while justice minister Bridget Prentice stood firm against the call to oblige the Lord Chancellor to have the concurrence of the Lord Chief Justice when appointing members of the board, she clarified that the required consultation will cover the entire recruitment process, rather than just the names that emerge from it.



Law Society President Andrew Holroyd said: 'Real progress has been made in the final stages of the Bill in meeting our concerns. Overall, we are encouraged that the new Act offers a workable template for a modern and effective regulatory structure.'



Bar Council chairman Geoffrey Vos QC said: 'Ministers have adopted a constructive approach to making reform work. They have strengthened the Bill in the public interest.'



Lord Hunt of Wirral, the Conservative solicitor who chaired the all-party select committee which scrutinised the draft Bill in 2006, said he was delighted that most of the committee's recommendations were eventually accepted. 'The Legal Services Act is in a far better shape now than it was a year ago, or even a month ago, but this is only the end of the beginning for this important legislation.'



Neil Rose