Eye on regulation

Law Society chief executive Janet Paraskeva previews the major issues up for debate at this week's Law Society council meeting, and urges solicitors across the country to contribute

One of the major planks of the Law Society's reform programme was to bring about a larger, more representative council, meeting less often but dealing with the major issues facing the profession - in debate.

And the process has begun.

In December 2001 the first debate focused on deregulation and looked at proposals ranging from the complete deregulation of the profession, on the one hand, to the status quo, on the other.

It was an important debate for a number of reasons, most particularly because it was the backdrop for forthcoming debates including the discussions on employed solicitors offering services direct to the public, fee sharing with others and referral fees.

On 21 March, the council will receive a proposal from the regulation review working party to allow employed solicitors to work directly with the public, provided, of course, that the Law Society can find a way to regulate in the clients' interests and to preserve the client protections which apply whenever services are provided by solicitors in private practice.

These include insurance arrangements, the compensation fund, the inadequate professional service, jurisdiction and matters arising from solicitors' general ethical duties, such as clients' right to confidentiality and measures to ensure the independence of any employed solicitor acting on behalf of their client, and guarding against conflict of interest.

This is a vital issue for the profession since automatically defending the status quo could mean the development of unregulated legal services in direct competition with the solicitors' profession, as the personal injury claims farmers have already shown.

For the future there is a range of topics coming before the council with which members of the profession will wish to engage.

Local law societies will no doubt want these issues on their agendas as will the wide range of groups and sections now represented on the new Law Society Council.

The issues include e-conveyancing and e-commerce, in May, together with the anti-discrimination rule, litigation and advocacy rules, and perhaps accounts rulesin relation to legal aid standard monthly payments.

In July, the Society is likely again to debate its policy on judicial appointments, asking: should the council continue to stand aside from the consultation procedure in the light of recent developments in the system, or should it rejoin? It will also discuss the results of the consultation on the new training framework, and the outcome of the review of the compensation fund.

By publicising the issues in advance the Society hopes to keep its members better informed of the business ahead and to encourage contributions to debate through council representatives.

After all, the council is drawn from across the profession and most solicitors will have more than one way to influence the council's view.

Soon we will know the agenda for the new council year when Carolyn Kirby will take over as President.

We hope by publishing this new column, Council Watch, that members of the profession will be able to contribute to the debates ensuring that their representative at the council meeting is fully briefed.

l Do you know the name of your council constituency representative? And do you know the names of those who represent the variety of groups and sectors who now have a place on the council? If not, e-mail Barbara Gastrell at the Law Society to find out (barbara.gastrell@lawsociety.org.uk).