Council Meeting of 7th November 2024

Chairs Report from Dame Janet Paraskeva

The Council of the CLC’s fourth formal meeting on 7^th November was the last of the year. The agenda and supporting papers are available on the CLC’s website.

As well as looking at the usual range of policy and regulatory issues I will look at below, formal meetings also review the progress of the CLC against its annual Business Plan. The Council was satisfied with the position at the end of Q3 and will review the year-end outturn at its first meeting of 2025.

Forthcoming changes to regulatory arrangements

Sheila Kumar, our Chief Executive, updated the Council on some important developments in relation to CLC’s proposals for a new Ongoing Competence approach to maintaining standards of practice, the review of the rules of the independent Adjudication Panel and proposals for changes to the rules governing operation of the Compensation Fund. The first two are being finalised for submission to the Legal Services Board for approval while changes to the Compensation Fund will soon be subject to consultation. These changes to our regulatory arrangements follow the approval, in September, of revised Ethical Principles and supporting Code of Conduct, which come into effect on 1^st January 2025.

Assurance to the Legal Services Board

All legal sector regulators take part in the Legal Services Board’s annual Regulatory Performance Assessment (RPA). The Council reviewed and commented on the near-final draft of the CLC’s 2024 evidence to the RPA, which has since been submitted to the LSB for consideration.

The Council was assisted in this by receiving the latest annual report from the Chair of the independent Adjudication Panel (AP). Victoria Goodfellow’s full report is published here. Commenting on the year to September 2024, she wrote:

‘…this has again been a very busy and effective year for the panel, where the importance of upholding the professional standards set by the CLC has been paramount and underlined by the decisions reached by the panel. The panel has imposed the range of sanctions including disqualification and continued to impose the payment of costs in appropriate cases. Fairness to all parties has been paramount in the hearings, as has transparency, and I am satisfied that the panel has continued to keep its overriding objective at the forefront of its collective mind.’

Council Members were able to discuss her report with the Chair of the AP and were unanimous in thanking Victoria and the other AP members for their work throughout the year.

Anti-Money Laundering

The Council always receives a report on anti-money laundering (AML) activity, separate from the assurance it receives in relation to consumer protection work. I am always impressed by the breadth of work on this at the CLC and indeed across the legal sector. The CLC has recently published its annual report to HM Treasury that sets out in detail the challenges and the CLC’s response.

Roadshows

Following the Council meeting, the CLC ran a week of roadshows that were well attended and covered the latest AML updates, as well as sessions on transforming home buying and selling, reducing complaints, improving post-completion standards, and the new Ethical Principles and Code of Conduct. 

Looking ahead

Council Members also had an opportunity to begin shaping the CLC’s business plan for 2025, the final year of a three-year strategy period. Colleagues are now developing proposals further for review at a workshop meeting in early December. 

All in all, another busy session with important proposals reviewed and progressed.