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NLJ this week: The grey area of 'conducting litigation'

12 May 2023
Issue: 8024 / Categories: Legal News , Legal services , Regulatory
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What exactly are reserved legal activities (RLAs), and what is meant by ‘conducting litigation’? It’s an area of the law rife with uncertainties, as shown by the recent case of Baxter v Doble

Writing in this week’s NLJ, Iain Miller, partner, and Charlotte Judd, senior associate, Kingsley Napley, point out that ‘this case and previous authorities have demonstrated that the framework of RLAs under Legal Services Act 2007 is full of grey areas as to when a practitioner does and does not fall on the right side of the line, with potentially very serious repercussions if one gets this wrong’.

Miller and Judd draw out some of the main elements at play when weighing up whether or not litigation is being conducted. In Baxter v Doble, the judge held Mrs Doble and her company were conducting litigation but did not know they were and could not have been reasonably expected to know they were doing so.

Miller and Judd write: ‘The confusing state of the law was a key feature in this conclusion being reached.’ 

Read more on reserved legal activities here.

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