Law Society president Robert Heslett last week praised Lord Hunt’s ‘very useful’ review of legal services regulation, welcoming the Tory peer’s core proposal for self-governance for firms that meet robust levels of internal compliance.

Heslett was speaking after the Law Society council met in private session to consider Hunt’s Chancery Lane-commissioned report for the first time. The president said Hunt’s ­proposed system of authorised internal regulation (AIR) – one of 88 recommendations – was ‘well-received’, adding: ‘That is the genius of the Hunt report; the suggestion of a way forward that could apply to the whole profession.’

This was the regime recommended in the subsidiary report conducted by former senior civil servant Nick Smedley into the regulation of big corporate practices. Hunt anticipated that the big corporate firms would be in the ‘first wave’ of AIR. ‘Hopefully all firms will aspire to the system that the SRA adopts,’ stressed Heslett, ‘but it is for the SRA to decide on that system.’

Recommendations 16 to 22 of Hunt proposed far-reaching structural changes at the Society itself. These include a new ­corporate board with its own secretariat that would bring together representatives of the profession, the SRA and independent members. This board would ‘have oversight of the efficient running of each constituent part of the Law Society’ – accountable to council in respect of the Society’s role as the professional body for solicitors; and accountable to ministers and parliament for the society’s activities as a front-line regulator.

‘It’s an interesting idea, building on previous ideas in a similar vein, and further consideration will be given to it,’ commented Heslett. ‘But in terms of the present structure, the Law Society and SRA have just put in place new arrangements [in respect of] shared services and we want to see how they work before we become introspective. Our ­priority is to deal with the substance of regulation, which is what the overall thrust of the Hunt report is all about.’

Heslett stressed that Hunt also needs to be considered in the context of the development of principles-based regulation and the difficult task of developing a licensing system and regulations for alternative business structures, due in 2011. ‘That’s a tremendous amount of work to get through for the SRA, requiring considerable effort on its part,’ he observed.

Commenting on Hunt’s recommendation that solicitors should take their own equivalent of the Hippocratic oath, Heslett pointed out that the swearing of such an oath is not a requirement to become a doctor, as many believe.

Heslett said it is his intention to keep Hunt on the agenda of future council meetings.