Cab-rank rule future

Barristers to Assess Future of Cab-Rank RuleThe Bar Standards Board (BSB) is considering whether to reform the cab-rank rule, under which barristers must accept any brief in a field in which they are competent. The discussions, centred around the potential impact on the profession of the new business structures permitted by the Legal Services Act 2007, can be found in the BSB consultation paper, ‘Regulating Entities’, which was launched this week.

Barristers are asked for their views on whether the rule should apply to advocates in the new business structure as well as self-employed barristers, and whether it should apply to all advocates in that entity or only the barristers. The paper considers the scope of the rule and whether it should be limited, and asks whether there is a risk it can be abused.The broad-ranging paper also asks whether restrictions on barristers providing litigation services and holding client money should be lifted.

In August, a YouGov survey found that 35% of barristers would be ‘likely’ or ‘very likely’ to join a new business structure within the next five years if the BSB was to regulate them.

The possible new structures are: Barrister Only Entities (BOEs), businesses with barrister owners and managers alone; Legal Disciplinary Practices (LDPs), businesses with lawyer owners and managers alone; and Alternative Business Structures (ABSs), businesses with both lawyer and non-lawyer owners and managers.BSB chair, Baroness Ruth Deech said there could be “substantial benefits to the public and increased access to justice if we update our regulatory arrangements to reflect the Act”.

Responses are due by 23 December 2010. The consultation is the third in a series to address the implications of the Act. Previous consultations were ‘Legal Services Act 2007–Regulation Implications’, published in January 2008, and ‘Legal Services Act 2007–Legal Disciplinary Practices and Partnerships of Barristers’, published in December 2008.