The oversight regulator is to push for a review of reserved activities amid concern that technology and market forces are making the current system obsolete.

Richard Orpin, chief executive of the Legal Services Board, said this month that the unregulated market is growing more quickly than ever before, accelerated in part by the development of customer-facing AI tools.

At the same time, the profession has found itself in a tangle trying to establish whether and to what extent unauthorised law firm staff should carry on reserved activities following the Mazur judgment last year.

The Legal Services Act sets out the six reserved activities that can be carried out only by those who are authorised or have an exemption. They include the exercise of a right of audience, the conduct of litigation and probate activities.

Orpin told  the Legalex conference in London that the market has changed ‘beyond recognition’ since the LSA became law and that a review of reserved activities needs to be discussed as part of the conversation around the future of legal services.

‘AI is blurring the boundaries between regulated and unregulated legal advice. New business models are emerging that don’t map neatly onto the categories the act anticipated,’ he said. ‘The Mazur judgment last year brought into sharp focus how much complexity and uncertainty exist around the boundaries of reserved activities like the conduct of litigation—and how much is at stake for consumers and professionals alike.

‘The LSB has previously said that a statutory review of reserved activities requires a robust evidence base. That is still true… the case for such a review is growing, and we intend to make it.’