Lord Hunt of Wirral has stressed that he has a ‘completely open mind’ on the likely outcome of his profession-wide review of regulation. The former cabinet minister, solicitor David Hunt, said he had agreed his own terms of reference for the exercise, which was commissioned by the Law Society.

In an interview for the Gazette, Lord Hunt said this week: ‘This is not the Law Society’s review, it is my review because it is completely independent. The sooner that gets through to people the better.

‘Obviously it’s up to [different groups] to give a view on where they want the review to go, but the only opinion which is important at this stage is mine. I’ve not been given any steer by the Law Society as to how they want the review to proceed. The terms of reference are very wide – there are no "no-go" areas.’

Attention has so far focused on the one ‘sub-strand’ of the review identified by the Society – the future regulatory arrangements applying to big corporate firms. But Hunt stressed that he is equally keen to hear the views of sole practitioners and small practices on how they believe the present regime is working.

Hunt said: ‘I will be listening to the views of the whole profession, and that includes the smaller high street firms as much as the global firms. I have a completely open mind about the best way forward. My message is – tell me what you think.’

Former Beachcroft senior partner Hunt chaired the parliamentary committee which shaped the Legal Services Act and has a distinguished track record in the field of profession regulation. He chaired the professional standards board of the insurance industry for two years and recently completed an independent review of the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Commenting on the perception that a ‘one-size-fits-all’ regime may no longer be appropriate for the legal profession, Hunt added: ‘I am well aware of the competing interests who argue for different standards for different parts of an industry. But I think the legal profession is very different because our standards are set in codes of practice which have statutory force and which have endured for generations. Nevertheless I think the review is timely when there are many changes taking place in that statutory structure.’