Legal Services Bill [HL]

My Lords, I recognise some of the anxieties that the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, points to. However, it is certainly the view of most consumer organisations that there should be some flexibility in the provision of service and in combining different services that are related in terms of the consumer experience, particularly those that involve buying and selling property and other transactions that require not only a lawyer but a lot of other areas of expertise, which could be brought together. The noble Lord seems to think that the movement would all be one way. Apart from what he said in his last remarks, he sees Tesco taking over legal practices. But actually many of these solicitors in small towns will be able to expand into providing multiple services to consumers in a one-stop shop. They will be in a far better place than the supermarkets or even the estate agents in so doing. In his earlier remarks, the noble Lord failed to recognise that we are not plunging into a completely free market. This is a regulated, licensed introduction of an alternative business structure, which still has legal standards and professionalism at its heart, but which brings those services to the consumer together with other related services that the consumer may well want. I do not regard the Bill as allowing completely free rein to establishing an alternative structure to the present ring-fenced legal professions. However, I recognise that the entrepreneurship of legal professionals could well be stimulated by that possibility, as well as by other businesses and services combining and enhancing the services that they offer to the public by bringing legal professionals into their role. From the consumer point of view, with a one-stop shop and the ability to cross-refer between the various professions with which you have to deal, especially in relation to property transactions—which, are, after all, the biggest financial decisions that people make in their lives and the largest use that most people make of lawyers—there is obvious synergy in providing through the alternative business structure. But there are safeguards in the regulatory structure; indeed, there are more safeguards in the responsibilities on the licensing authorities, which are to be debated in later government amendments. So the dire picture that the noble Lord presents is wrong. We certainly should not dive into this without safeguards but, on the other hand, I can see enormous benefits for consumers in introducing this degree of competition and stimulus to innovation in providing such services.