REFORM: SRA says draft rules on partnerships between lawyers could be out this year


The government is wrong to think that legal disciplinary partnerships (LDPs) between the different kinds of lawyer can be introduced immediately after the Legal Services Bill becomes law, the chief executive of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has warned.



Last December, the then Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer, told the House of Lords that LDPs would be available once the Bill is enacted. Alternative business structures (ABSs) involving non-lawyers will have to wait until a licensing regime is set up, in 2011 at the earliest.



However, speaking to the Gazette this week, SRA chief executive Antony Townsend said: 'The government thinks we can click our fingers and bring LDPs in tomorrow. We are taking a more cautious approach and we are actually working up a project plan now.'



A whole new set of rules will be required to allow the SRA to regulate the entity while the various regulators still regulate the individuals. 'It would be nice if we could deliver the draft rules by the end of the year, but that's as far as I'd want to go right now,' he said.



A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said it would work with the SRA and Law Society to develop the new rules - and make necessary changes to the Administration of Justice Act 1985 - 'as quickly and effectively as possible'.



Meanwhile, it was confirmed this week that the Bill's report stage in the House of Commons will not take place until October, after the summer recess. The short period between then and the end of the parliamentary session has raised hopes that the government will have to compromise on some issues where the House of Lords raised concerns.



This follows the government overturning all of the Lords' amendments during the recent committee stage in the Commons. It did refine an amendment aimed at ensuring light-touch regulation from the legal services board, but, while welcomed, did not go as far as the professional bodies wanted.



See also Great Expectations

Neil Rose