CLC reacts to Chancellor’s Announcements on Legal Services

30 November, 2015

The Chancellor announced today that in 2016 the Treasury will be consulting on

• Removing barriers to entry for Alternative Business Structures
• Making legal services regulators independent from their representative bodies and
• Injecting innovation into the process of home buying

Responding to the announcements Sheila Kumar, Chief Executive of the Council for Licensed Conveyancers said: ‘Simplifying the regime around Alternative Business Structures is a good modernising measure. We have seen that fears raised at the time of the Legal Services Act that they would erode ethical standards in the provision of legal services were wholly unfounded. As expected though, ABS firms are innovative and are finding new ways to deliver high quality services. As the first legal services regulator to licence an ABS, and having regulated similar structures prior to LSA 2007, we welcome the Chancellor’s announcement and indeed we have already been working to simplify our own approach to licensing of ABS and traditional firms.’

‘We are also pleased that there is to be consultation on making regulators independent of representative bodies. We have pressed for this to be an area of focus for some time because it will speed realisation of the benefits promised by the Act and bring improvements for consumers and those running legal services businesses. 

‘We also look forward to taking part in work to foster innovation in the home buying process in any way that we can as the specialist regulator of conveyancing services.’

Details of today’s announcements by the Treasury 

Press release

Command Paper