Proposed revisions in the rules governing the relationship between the Law Society and Solicitors Regulation Authority are inconsistent with the Legal Services Act and could encourage disagreements, Chancery Lane has said. 

The new rules proposed by the Legal Services Board ’raise significant concerns’ the Law Society states in a consultation response published yesterday. ’We are concerned that they do not set out a clear enough framework for settling future complaints and may create a context in which disagreements are more likely to arise.’

The Internal Governance Rules (IGRs) are set under Section 30 of the Legal Services Act, which obliges the super regulator to make rules setting out requirements to ensure the separation of regulators’ regulatory and representative functions. 

According to the response, some of the changes proposed in the consultation appear inconsistent with the act, the Society states. ’We believe that limitations placed upon the Society would prevent it from carrying out the approved regulator role as intended by the act.’