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The point of regulating dangerous professions is to keep out the incompetent, because clients cannot hope to judge skill and competence for themselves.
The average solicitor may be able to read a precedent book, but knows very little law beyond conveyancing, divorce,probate and debt collection. If that. You do not need a barrister to buy registered land; you do not want a paralegal to appear before the high court. Between such extremes, some paralegals know a lot more about conveyancing than most barristers.; most solicitors should go nowhere near a court, but are not excluded from the lower courts.
Arguments about equality and diversity have no place in professional regulation. Restrictive practices disguised as public interest arguments need a thorough review. In the meanwhile, I don't care if you employ a mountebank, so long as he does not claim the powers of qualified lawyers
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