Martin Partington: Spotlight on the Justice System

Just before Christmas 2020, two important reports were published about how the legal professions in England and Wales should become more competitive and do more to meet unmet legal need.

I consider first a report from the Competition and Markets Authority which, on Dec 17 2020, published findings from its assessment of the impact of its earlier legal services market study in England and Wales. The CMA’s assessment of changes so far made in the legal services sector found some positive developments but concludes that further progress is needed.

The CMA recommends that the Legal Services Board, working with other regulators in the sector, continues to build on the reforms made so far to improve transparency of information that can help consumers make informed choices. It also states that the LSB must address some aspects of the market study recommendations that still require progression, such as providing more information on quality.

Alongside this, the CMA repeats its call for the Ministry of Justice to undertake a review of the Legal Services Act 2007. This seems unlikely to be progressed in the short term. The CMA is broadly supportive of Professor Mayson’s Review of Legal Profession regulation which was published earlier in 2020.

In the meantime, the CMA advocates that the Ministry of Justice and the Legal Services Board take some shorter-term steps which will deliver regulatory reform in stages.

These are that:

• The MoJ should create, or empower the creation of, a mandatory public register for unauthorised providers of legal services.
• The LSB should carry out a review of the reserved activities.
• The LSB should evaluate the impact of the revised Internal Governance Rules (designed to ensure adequate separation of the regulators’ representative and regulatory functions) before deciding on further action.

While the legal profession as a whole may not regard this report as an entirely welcome Christmas present, it seems clear that the CMA intends to keep up the pressure on the legal profession. More forward-thinking practitioners may however feel that a positive response to the report’s recommendations could create opportunities for developing new ways of working that will benefit both their bottom lines and society more broadly.

I noted Professor Mayson’s report (and his summary of it) at https://martinpartington.com/2020/06/11/legal-services-regulation-the-final-report/

The CMA report is available at https://www.gov.uk/cma-cases/review-of-the-legal-services-market-study-in-england-and-wales#review-report

I will comment on a new report from the Legal Services Board in a separate item.