SLCC sets out recommendations to legal services review: responsive and proportionate regulation framework needed to protect consumers
The independent body for complaints about the legal profession has called for radical reform of the regulatory and complaints landscape in Scotland.
The Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) is encouraging the independent review of legal services regulation to set a clear single aim for future policy and legislative work: a new system that delivers better outcomes for consumers and the legal market
The SLCC’s suggestions include:
- a single framework act of Parliament for legal regulation;
- a greater focus on consumer risk and improving quality;
- innovation and informed decision making;
- increasing trust and confidence; and
- ensuring better consumer protection and faster redress
Neil Stevenson, CEO commented, “For two years we have been calling for major reform. From a slow start there is a growing consensus that a radical shakeup is needed, and this momentum should empower the review group to present ambitious proposals for change which could benefit the public and the legal sector for generations to come.”
“Far too often over the last two decades we have had piecemeal reform, and even those small changes have become bogged down in complex detail, legal processes and statutory drafting.”
“We would like to see a clear, ambitious and focussed set of outcomes articulated which then drive reform and become the scorecard change and implementation will be marked against. In that spirit we tried to encapsulate our vision and priorities in a single page, which we hope will help support the review group’s thinking in the final stage of this process”.
The recommendations follow two years of consultation and dialogue following the publication of the SLCC’s original call for reform, #ReimagineRegulation, which contributed to the independent review being set up.