header-logo header-logo

The future for reserved legal activities

18 February 2011
Issue: 7453 / Categories: Legal News
printer mail-detail

Will writing, conveyancing and immigration services should become reserved legal activities, according to a legal think tank.

Reserved legal activities can only be carried out by appropriately authorised persons and currently include rights of audience, conduct of litigation, reserved instrument activities, probate activities, notarial activities, and the administration of oaths.

In a paper published last week, the Legal Services Institute (LSI) proposed that probate be extended to include the administration of estates, and that conveyancing services be added to the property-related reserved instrument, in the Legal Services Act 2007.

It proposed that insolvency practice and claims management services be excluded.

The paper, The Regulation of Legal Services: What Is The Case For Reservation?, argues that authority to practise reserved activities should be conferred by accreditation and not confined to legally qualified practitioners.

LSI director, Stephen Mayson says: “If the reserved activities are anachronistic or lacking an articulated public interest justification—which we believe they currently are—there is a significant risk that the Legal Services Act 2007 will have promoted (and the Legal Services Board will be overseeing) an increasingly irrelevant regulatory infrastructure that does not secure sufficient public benefit or consumer protection.”

Issue: 7453 / Categories: Legal News
printer mail-details

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
back-to-top-scroll