By Paul RogersonA wide-ranging review of solicitors’ regulation commissioned last year by the Law Society and conducted by Lord Hunt of Wirral was published on Monday. Among the Tory peer’s 88 ?recommendations is a proposal for what he describes as ‘authorised internal regulation’, a new system of self-governance available to law firms of all sizes which could demonstrate ?sufficiently robust compliance ?standards. This was the regime recommended in the subsidiary report conducted by former senior civil servant Nick Smedley into the regulation of the big corporate practices. Hunt expects that the big corporate firms would be in the ‘first wave’ of ‘authorised internal regulation’.

Hunt’s other recommendations include: extending regulation to will-writing and all types of probate work, a proposal that Hunt has conceded is likely to be opposed by the Office of Fair Trading; better compliance assistance by the SRA, shifting the emphasis to prevention of regulatory breaches rather than cure; bringing the claims management regulator under the aegis of the Legal Services Board; a ‘fit and proper person’ test for senior non-lawyers in alternative business structures; and a new fellowship scheme for solicitors who meet agreed professional standards.

Hunt, a senior consultant at national firm Beachcroft, also wants solicitors to take their own version of medicine’s ‘Hippocratic oath’.

Law Society president Bob Heslett said: ‘We commissioned Lord Hunt to undertake this work because we were conscious that although there had been exhaustive consideration of the structure for regulation of legal services, much less attention has been paid to the vital question how effective modern regulation of the solicitors profession should actually operate - in the interests of both the public and the profession. Lord Hunt has set out an imaginative and thought-provoking blueprint which I am confident will be invaluable to the SRA as it charts its way forward for the future. We look forward to working closely with the SRA as it develops its approach.’

Hunt said: ‘The legal profession and the SRA now have an unrivalled opportunity to work in partnership, setting the pace for other professions with cutting-edge, principles-based regulation. I hope the ideas I set out in this report will help to form the basis for a new gold standard in professional regulation, based upon robust internal governance, comprehensive regulatory compliance and the highest professional standards.’