Appointments: profession's independence would not be eroded by Legal Services Bill


Sir David Clementi came to the defence of the Lord Chancellor last week, saying there is little cause for concern over the controversial appointment powers in the Legal Services Bill.



The Lord Chancellor's ability under the Bill to appoint the proposed oversight regulator, the legal services board (LSB), has been criticised for damaging at least the perception of the profession's independence. Opponents say he should only act with the approval of the Lord Chief Justice.



However, speaking at the first annual Clementi debate held by the Bar Standards Board in London last week, Sir David argued that the Lord Chancellor currently has great regulatory power over parts of the profession, not least the bar.



'I don't see the new arrangement will be any less independent than the current one,' he said, adding: 'One can make too much of this point... the way public appointments are made [under the Nolan principles] quite fetters the way in which a minister can appoint a mate.'



Lord Falconer told the debate that the appointments issue was a 'forensic point of force before [the LSB] starts' but will 'go out of the window' once observers see it acting independently.



The Lord Chancellor was equally uncompromising over the Bar Council's main lobbying issue - that of allowing the proposed office for legal complaints to delegate the handling of consumer complaints back to front-line regulators. The bar argues that it is paying the price for Law Society failings over complaints and that its system works fine - and is cheaper than what is proposed.



Lord Falconer said: 'I am very concerned that any delegation would erode standards of consistency and clarity [in the office's decision-making] and consumers could receive different levels of service dependent on whom they complained about.'



Later the same day in the House of Lords committee stage debate on the Bill, minister Baroness Ashton also stood firm against opposition amendments to allow delegation, but Conservative shadow Lord Chancellor Lord Kingsland warned he would press the issue at the report stage.



Sir David reiterated his call for the government to take its time in introducing alternative business structures, starting off with legal disciplinary partnerships between the different types of lawyer before moving to multi-disciplinary partnerships. He said the latter raised regulatory issues that would be tricky to resolve.



Lord Falconer said the Bill was facilitative, and explained that it would be up to the LSB and the frontline regulators 'to determine the pace of change'. He added that he was not sure himself what the right speed was.



Neil Rose