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12 May 2023 / Iain Miller , Charlotte Judd
Issue: 8024 / Categories: Features , Regulatory , Legal services , Profession
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Navigating litigation: what’s reserved?

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The High Court has provided welcome guidance on what exactly constitutes the conduct of litigation: Iain Miller & Charlotte Judd examine this perilously grey area of the law
  • Baxter v Doble acts as a reminder to practitioners to ensure they are on the right side of the line when it comes to the reserved legal activity of conducting litigation and being authorised to act as required by the Legal Services Act 2007.
  • The High Court has reiterated the fact-sensitive nature of assessing where a practitioner falls in respect of that line.

In March this year, the Legal Services Board concluded there was no current case for reform in respect of reserved legal activities (RLAs) as stipulated by the Legal Services Act 2007 (LSA 2007). RLAs comprise the work that can only be done by those who are regulated by an approved legal regulator. The current framework is therefore here to stay, for now.

Difficulties have arisen in practice, however, in the interpretation of the RLAs and

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