header-logo header-logo

Regulation matters: Time for change

02 July 2020 / John Gould
Issue: 7893 / Categories: Opinion , Profession , Regulatory
printer mail-detail
23518
John Gould applauds Professor Mayson for his attempt to detangle the regulation of title & the regulation of activity

Professor Stephen Mayson has just published his report ‘Reforming Legal Services—Regulation beyond the Echo Chambers’. It is a prodigious piece of work. Professor Mayson has worked long and hard and consulted far and wide, to produce what is probably the most comprehensive and reliable review of legal regulation in England and Wales ever undertaken.

There should be a hunger for reform, but perhaps those responsible to deliver change have no appetite at all to do so. This is not just about other preoccupations, although we are in a time of other preoccupations, it is about believing that making the effort to change and pursuing a long overdue coherent vision for legal services is worth the trouble. Dealing with lawyers is almost always trouble—perhaps because that’s their business.

In his report, Professor Mayson is much too generous about the Byzantine structures which have accumulated before and after the

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Group partner joins Guernsey banking and finance practice

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

London labour and employment team announces partner hire

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Double partner appointment marks Belfast expansion

NEWS
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has not done enough to protect the future sustainability of the legal aid market, MPs have warned
Writing in NLJ this week, NLJ columnist Dominic Regan surveys a landscape marked by leapfrog appeals, costs skirmishes and notable retirements. With an appeal in Mazur due to be heard next month, Regan notes that uncertainties remain over who will intervene, and hopes for the involvement of the Lady Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls in deciding the all-important outcome
After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
The latest Home Office figures confirm that stop and search remains both controversial and diminished. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort University analyses data showing historically low use of s 1 PACE powers, with drugs searches dominating what remains
Boris Johnson’s 2019 attempt to shut down Parliament remains a constitutional cautionary tale. The move, framed as a routine exercise of the royal prerogative, was in truth an extraordinary effort to sideline Parliament at the height of the Brexit crisis. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC dissects how prorogation was wrongly assumed to be beyond judicial scrutiny, only for the Supreme Court to intervene unanimously
back-to-top-scroll