Legal Services Bill [HL]

I strongly agree with my noble friend. This subject exercised the Joint Committee on the draft Legal Services Bill. In our report, at paragraph 291 on page 84, we urged the Government to use less haste and more care, and on page 85 we referred to table 5 and the staging of the introduction of ABS firms. My noble friend’s amendment would comply with stage one, which we described as LDPs involving existing recognised bodies. That, of course, falls very neatly with what my noble friend has said. I declare an interest as a partner in a national commercial firm of solicitors, Beachcroft LLP. I am a subscriber to the Gazette, whose front page features a very attractive picture of the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer, with his mouth wide open, saying: "““LDPs to be set up in mid-2007””." That has come as very good news to everyone. The article stated: "““Lord Falconer said legal disciplinary partnerships (LDPs)—with no non-lawyer managers or owners—will not be alternative business structures (ABSs) envisaged by the legislation and so need not wait for the legal services board (LSB) and the ABS licensing system to be set up. Instead, LDPs will be available once the Act is enacted, which could be in summer 2007””." The article continued: "““Lord Falconer said ‘the fact that we are allowing [LDPs] to emerge in advance of alternative business structures answers a key recommendation’ from the joint parliamentary committee which examined the draft Bill””." Three cheers for that. We heard that at Second Reading and we now want to hear what the Minister proposes. This amendment gives her the opportunity to put LDPs into action straight away. In many firms a comparatively small number of people who deserve to become partners are not at present permitted to do so. The Law Society has well known procedures; in fact, it refers to the operation of legal disciplinary practices as ““legal practice plus””. The society has been involved in this type of regulation for a number of years. So, step by step, can we please entice the Minister to say, ““Yes, I accept these amendments””?