Legal Services Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am honoured to open the batting, if that is the right description, but I do so with an apology to the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor and to the House. As the result of a medical appointment which over-ran at Moorfields, I missed the first few minutes of the noble and learned Lord’s speech. However, it was a very helpful speech that set out the intentions of the Bill, which I think has a wide measure of support in the House and has been carefully prepared over some time. I would make only one point on its preparation, which I hope is not too cavilling. Only eight weeks were allowed for pre-legislative scrutiny whereas12 weeks are usually desirable. I hope that the Government might be able to meet that in future. Clause 1 sets out the regulatory objectives, which I strongly support. I anticipate that they also have the strong support of the Government who have proposed them. The Government may agree—and I would be grateful if the noble Baroness could confirm this—that they have a duty to facilitate those regulatory objectives. One extremely important regulatory objective is to encourage an independent, strong, diverse and effective legal profession. The importance of such a profession to the constitution of any free society can hardly be overestimated. It dates back to the famous case—not within the memory of noble Lords, but they will know about it—in which Sir Thomas Erskine defended Tom Paine over his publication of the Rights of Man at a time when those views, which are now almost universally accepted, were deeply unpopular and controversial. The legal profession must be able to stand up for those who are under attack under very difficult circumstances. That must apply also to those who are under attack and do not have the means themselves or through their friends—as Tom Paine did—to pay for their defence. Consequently, it is important that the legal aid scheme should be adequately funded. I am sure that the Lord Chancellor will agree that it should be adequately funded. There will be some argument about what is adequate, but I hope that he will take a generous view on that. As for the cost of setting up these proceedings, the importance of an independent and strong legal profession is a matter of very strong public interest. The Bill is intended to further that public interest.But it is heaping considerably more costs on the profession. I ask the Government to think charitably and kindly on the idea that they should pay at least a proportion of those costs, which are for the public benefit and not for the benefit of the profession and will not increase the fees that the profession can properly charge. Otherwise the means of paying the costs will come from the professionals themselves, some of whom are not highly paid although their work is very important, as is that of those who do publicly funded work. Consequently, either they will suffer loss or the public will suffer loss of service. I hope that the Government might reflect a little further on that. The main point that I want to deal with, in what I hope will be a short speech, is the importance of light-touch regulation. Unfortunately I was not in the Chamber to hear the first few minutes of the speech of the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor but I suspect that he said—as has been rightly said in the past—that the Government are at least aiming at reasonably light-touch regulation. I support the notion that, under that regulation, the Office for Legal Complaints should provide one point of entry. That is obviously sensible. However, there may be a difference in the position of solicitors and barristers. I ought to declare an interest because I still hold a practising certificate as a barrister, although I do not do a great deal of private work at present. There is a distinction between solicitors and barristers in this respect. I think that solicitorswill rightly and warmly welcome an independent solicitors’ complaints system. It has been a deep trial for the solicitors’ profession—for which I have a high regard indeed—to deal with the number of complaints that they have had to handle. We must remember that there are at least 10 times as many solicitors as barristers and they are first in the line of attack when there are complaints. They provide a very important nationwide service although they are sometimes quite small firms and—though it is mildly to be discouraged—often sole practitioners. Handling the kind of complaints that arise in those circumstances has proved seriously difficult over the years. It will be a real benefit that that is no longer placed directly on the Law Society, although it is good to know that a high proportion of those who have been working in the current system will be transferred over—no doubt, if it be relevant, under the TUPE protection of employment provisions—to the new system. As for the position of barristers, the Legal Services Ombudsman has repeatedly praised the system that the Bar has managed to provide as highly satisfactory. In relation to the Bar—it may also be true of solicitors but I am not as well informed about them—a very high proportion of complaints deal not only with matters of redress but also with matters of discipline. Matters of discipline will be for the profession; matters of redress might be dealt with by the ombudsman. It seems clumsy and unnecessary to divide the two. Therefore, I ask Government to think again on the question of delegating those powers, or at least to think about giving the Office for Legal Complaints the opportunity and power to delegate both discipline and redress to the profession, provided that it continues to carry that out as satisfactorily as it does at present . The Bar is fortunate as the number of complaints is not massive and it can draw on a great deal of pro bono work that is freely provided by senior members of the profession. They provide a good service at low cost. That is something of value which should be maintained if possible. This is necessarily a long and detailed Bill and we shall want to consider a large number of points in Committee. That applies also to alternative business structures. The opportunity to have wider business structures and more competition in the provisionof legal services has a great deal to commend it, provided that it is very carefully thought through. We will assist in attempting to think that through, and I hope to play my part.