The report, ‘Regulatory leadership on access to justice’, compiled by Nottingham Law School and published this week by the Legal Services Consumer Panel, contains 17 recommendations in total. The panel’s role is to advise the LSB.
The 154-page report cites a range of barriers to justice, including the closure of legal advice centres, legal aid deserts and lack of public awareness about legal rights. It urges the LSB and frontline regulators to revise codes of conduct to place more emphasis on access to justice and to support ‘tailored and strategic’ initiatives to educate the public on legal matters.
It suggests the LSB take a lead role in fostering collaboration between charities, government and other regulators to address systemic causes of injustice, and create an ‘innovation sandbox’ to test ideas. The LSB should also investigate mandatory regulation of paralegals to create more ‘trusted intermediaries’ to help the public, it says.
Dr Liz Curran, associate professor at Nottingham Law School, said: ‘A creative, problem-solving, and evidence-based approach is crucial.
‘This research report demonstrates what can be achieved and how.’
Long-term, the LSB could become the only regulator for legal services and be a grant-awarding body, the report says, although it anticipates ‘pushback’ from existing regulators.
Other suggestions include collaboration between frontline regulators and the insurance sector to investigate whether legal expenses insurance can be expanded, and to review professional indemnity cover.
The report also proposes regulators offer continuing professional development (CPD) options in access to justice work, and considers changes to pricing and income generation models for lawyers, which would require ‘some legislative amendment as well as cultural change’.
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