Legal Services Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 149ZE: 149ZE:Schedule 16 , page 222, line 41, at end insert— ““( ) in subsection (2) for ““six”” substitute ““nine””, ( ) in subsection (4) for ““six”” substitute ““nine””,”” The noble Lord said: This group of amendments relates to paragraph 15 of Schedule 16. Section 13B of the Solicitors Act 1974 empowers the Law Society to suspend the practising certificate of a solicitor who has been convicted of a serious offence, pending an application against the solicitor to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. However, in our submission, the power is unduly restricted. It permits suspensions of two successive periods of six months only. A total period of one year to take a case to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal and complete it is increasingly very difficult in many cases, as disciplinary cases become more complex. The amendment seeks to extend both periods of suspension from six to nine months so as to give an extra six months to cover such complex and lengthy cases. Section 13B was inserted by Section 94(3) of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990. It enables the Solicitors Regulation Authority, where a solicitor has been convicted of offences involving dishonesty or deception, or other forms of serious crime, to direct that his practising certificate be suspended for a limited period prior to a full hearing. It is not proposed by this amendment that Section 13B be removed from primary legislation. It is accepted that it is important to bring disciplinary proceedings as quickly as possible but, as I have already said, they are becoming more complex. Recent years have seen the Law Society taking action to strike off solicitors who have been involved in such offences as money laundering and bank instrument fraud. The current time limits simply do not provide sufficient time for cases to be prepared properly. I hope that the Government will accept the amendments. I beg to move.