Panel casts doubt on freelancers

Proposals to allow freelance solicitors to provide reserved legal services received a lukewarm response from the Legal Services Consumer Panel this month. Under the proposal, self-employed solicitors would work independent of any authorised firm. However, the Panel noted the Solicitors Regulation Authority consultation was ‘silent on the details’ of appropriate safeguards and protections. It expressed concern ‘first, on the inexistent level of protection, and second, on the increased consumer confusion this proposal could bring’. It also warned that consumers can find it difficult to differentiate between different types of solicitors and levels of protection.