Survey: 1,500 reveal regulatory issues cause most worry

Money laundering and will writers are the most important regulatory issues facing solicitors, practitioners have told the Law Society.


Almost 1,500 solicitors completed an online survey to help shape the campaigning agenda of the Society's representative arm, scoring the eight regulatory issues most frequently raised in 2006.


Money laundering - and specifically ensuring that data is shared appropriately and future regulation is proportionate to risk - came top, followed by the regulation of will writers, while redemption statements and undertakings was the other key issue on which the Society will begin its campaigning.


The Society has reported rising numbers of complaints by solicitors about banks providing inaccurate or misleading statements.


Solicitors are finding that, having provided an undertaking to redeem a mortgage on the basis of figures supplied by a lender, the lender then refuses to provide the discharge, claiming that further sums are due.


It has also been raised by one of the leading professional indemnity insurers, which has had to make substantial payouts to lenders because of inaccurate statements. The Society has called on the Council of Mortgage Lenders and the Financial Services Authority to engage in urgent talks on the issue.


On will writers, however, the government has repeatedly claimed that it has not seen a convincing case for regulation.


The other issues polled on, in order of importance to solicitors, were: quality assurance of legal aid practitioners, conflict rules, referral fees and whether the level of regulation of in-house and foreign lawyers respectively is disproportionately high.


Desmond Hudson, chief executive of the Law Society's representation arm, said: 'We will focus on representing members vigorously on particular issues so as to achieve real results for solicitors. Solicitors will rightly measure how much the Society has changed by how effectively we represent them on these important issues.'