REGULATION: Bar Council chairman backs idea of competition


The Bar Standards Board (BSB) should not regulate legal disciplinary practices (LDPs) when the Legal Services Bill is enacted, the chairman of the Bar Council has told the Gazette.



Though lawyers will have to wait until a licensing structure is in place to create alternative business structures (ABSs) with external investment and ownership, LDPs between qualified lawyers will be possible shortly after the bill becomes law.



Geoffrey Vos QC said: 'I do not think the [BSB] should regulate mixed-discipline LDPs. The structure envisages [the BSB] providing economical regulation, which it can and should do for specialist advocates and advisers practising as barristers. I would be happy to see [it] regulate barristers practising in LDPs in due course.'



Mr Vos warned that the proposed legal services board must be a 'light touch' regulator and that costly duplication of regulation must be avoided.



Speaking at insurer St Paul Travelers annual conference earlier this month, Mr Vos said the development of ABSs will take years and that 'different companies will require different types of regulation by different [regulators]'.



He also backed the idea of competition among ABS regulators, saying it would keep costs down. 'In 25 years time we will see a very different regulatory field,' he said. 'That competition between regulators was actually what Clementi wanted. I can see there being about 20 different regulators in the future.'



BSB director Mark Stobbs said it was too early to say whether it should regulate LDPs or ABSs.



Anita Rice