BSB launches plan to regulate advocacy ABS firms
The Bar Standards Board is proposing to become a specialist ABS regulator, regulating only lawyer-run advocacy firms.
The Bar Standards Board is proposing to become a specialist ABS regulator, regulating only lawyer-run advocacy firms.
Under the BSB's plans, no more than 25 per cent of the firm's managers could be non-lawyers, the existing limit for LDPs, and there would be no external ownership.
In addition, the majority of the firm's managers would be higher courts' advocates.
However, the move would enable the BSB, for the first time, to regulate firms owned and run by solicitors.
The BSB would be able to regulate barrister-only firms, LDPs (which will automatically become ABSs from October 2011) and new ABSs, subject to its strict requirements.
Barrister managers of ABS firms would be permitted to conduct litigation, to the extent it was 'ancillary' to advocacy, as would self-employed barristers. The ban on holding client money would remain.
The cab rank rule would be modified so that it applied only to instructions from clients for named advocates and the BSB would set up an 'intervention' scheme for firms in difficulties.
The BSB would also set out minimum terms for insurance cover and create a new set of conduct rules for managers or 'authorised persons' under the Legal Services Act.
'This is one of the most significant consultations we have issued to date,' said Baroness Ruth Deech, chair of the BSB.
'These decisions could have major implications for barristers and those who seek their services, as well as for the BSB as a regulator. There could also be substantial benefits to the public and increased access to justice if we update our regulatory arrangements to reflect the Act.
'The proposals in the consultation are provisional and we encourage all those with an interest to submit their views and influence the future of legal service provision.'
In the consultation paper, the BSB admitted that 'some of the proposals set out in this paper may have an impact on sole practitioners and smaller chambers, where BME practitioners are over-represented'.
The consultation runs until 23 December.