You reported suggestions that Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) handling of the Law Society's draft code of conduct, in particular the rules on conflict and confidentiality, has been 'disappointingly slow' (see [2006] Gazette, 9 February, 5). I do not agree.

It is vital for both practitioners and clients that we get these rules right. Our timetable has been determined by the need to achieve this and by the specific statutory process that has to be followed before they can take effect.


Draft rules must be considered by the Office of Fair Trading and the Legal Services Consultative Panel before referral to designated judges for consideration, before they are put forward for ministerial approval. This process ensures that rules proposed by professional bodies work in the interests of consumers. If the panel considers that a proposed rule change will be harmful to consumers, then it must advise accordingly.


After meeting the Law Society to discuss these changes in March 2005, the panel put its advice to Lord Falconer and me in June, taking account of the need to reconsider proposed Law Society amendments. I do not believe this is disappointingly slow, given the need for fully considered advice.


Since then, we have been working to ensure that solicitors applying the new rules, with the considerable guidance that accompanies them, can be clear about what their duties are, and that the consumers are not put at any disadvantage when these rules come into effect. That should be the shared priority of all involved in such a detailed process. The conflict and confidentiality rules are now with the judiciary for further consideration. Their advice will certainly be considered promptly when I receive it.


Bridget Prentice MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the DCA, London