The Legal Services Act 2007 is an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

that seeks to liberalise and regulate the

market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, an ...

for

legal services In its most general sense, the practice of law involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiations and court proceedings such as lawsuits, and is applied to the professi ...

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

, to encourage more

competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indivi ...

and to provide a new route for

consumer complaint A consumer complaint or customer complaint is "an expression of dissatisfaction on a consumer's behalf to a responsible party" (London, 1980). It can also be described in a positive sense as a report from a consumer providing documentation about ...

s. It also makes provisions about the Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 2007.

Regulatory objectives

Section 1 of the Act defines eight regulatory objectives: *Protecting and promoting the

public interest The public interest is "the welfare or well-being of the general public" and society. Overview Economist Lok Sang Ho in his ''Public Policy and the Public Interest'' argues that the public interest must be assessed impartially and, therefor ...

; *Supporting the constitutional principle of the rule of law; *Improving access to

justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

; *Protecting and promoting the interests of

consumer A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. ...

s of

; *Promoting

in the provision of legal services; *Encouraging an independent, strong, diverse and effective

legal profession Legal profession is a profession in which legal professionals study, develop and apply law. Usually, there is a requirement for someone choosing a career in law to first obtain a law degree or some other form of legal education. It is difficult to ...

; *Increasing public understanding of the citizen's legal rights and duties; *Promoting and maintaining adherence to the professional principles; The professional principles are: *Authorised persons should act with independence and integrity; *Authorised persons should maintain proper standards of work; *Authorised persons should act in the best interests of their clients; *Persons who exercise before any

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...

right of audience In common law, a right of audience is generally a right of a lawyer to appear and conduct proceedings in court on behalf of their client. In English law, there is a fundamental distinction between barristers, who have rights of audience in the ...

, or conduct

litigation - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

in relation to proceedings in any court, by virtue of being authorised persons should comply with their duty to the court to act with independence in the interests of justice, and *Affairs of clients should be kept

confidential Confidentiality involves a set of rules or a promise usually executed through confidentiality agreements that limits the access or places restrictions on certain types of information. Legal confidentiality By law, lawyers are often required ...

The Legal Services Board

Sections 2 to 7 and Schedule 1 create the

Legal Services Board The Legal Services Board is an independent body responsible for overseeing the regulation of lawyers in England and Wales. It is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Ministry of Justice, created through the Legal Services Act of 2007 ...

with a duty to promote the regulatory objectives. David Edmonds was appointed the first chair of the Board on 23 April 2008 and nine members were appointed on 17 July. The members took up post on 1 September 2008 and the Board became fully operational on 1 January 2010. The Act also created a Consumer Panel to represent consumers (ss. 8–11) which started work on 1 November 2009. The Panel is independent of the Legal Services Board and consists of eight lay members whose appointments are approved by the

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...

. The Panel provides advice to the Board and publishes policy briefings, consultation responses, and research reports.

Reserved legal activities

Section 12 and Schedule 2 define six reserved legal activities: *Exercise of

rights of audience In common law, a right of audience is generally a right of a lawyer to appear and conduct proceedings in court on behalf of their client. In English law, there is a fundamental distinction between barristers, who have rights of audience in the ...

; *Conduct of

; *Reserved instrument activities, being certain activities concerning land registration and real property; *

Probate Probate is the judicial process whereby a will is "proved" in a court of law and accepted as a valid public document that is the true last testament of the deceased, or whereby the estate is settled according to the laws of intestacy in the sta ...

activities; * Notarial activities; *Administration of

oath Traditionally an oath (from Anglo-Saxon ', also called plight) is either a statement of fact or a promise taken by a sacrality as a sign of verity. A common legal substitute for those who conscientiously object to making sacred oaths is to g ...

s. This list can be amended by an

Order in Council An Order-in-Council is a type of legislation in many countries, especially the Commonwealth realms. In the United Kingdom this legislation is formally made in the name of the monarch by and with the advice and consent of the Privy Council (''Kin ...

of the

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

(ss. 24–26). Section 12 then goes on to define, for the purposes of the Act, a legal activity as either a reserved legal activity or as the provision of legal advice, assistance or representation in connection with the application of the law or with any form of resolution of legal disputes. Legal activity does not include acting as a mediator or arbitrator. Only an authorised person or an exempt person can carry out a reserved legal activity (s. 14). It is a

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...

to carry out a reserved activity otherwise though it is a

defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indus ...

that the person "did not know, and could not reasonably have been expected to know" that they were committing an offence. It is also an offence to pretend to be authorised (s. 17) An offender can be sentenced on summary conviction to up to six months' imprisonment and a

fine Fine may refer to: Characters * Sylvia Fine (''The Nanny''), Fran's mother on ''The Nanny'' * Officer Fine, a character in ''Tales from the Crypt'', played by Vincent Spano Legal terms * Fine (penalty), money to be paid as punishment for an offe ...

of up to £5,000. If convicted on

indictment An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concept often use that of a ...

in the

Crown Court The Crown Court is the court of first instance of England and Wales responsible for hearing all Indictable offence, indictable offences, some Hybrid offence, either way offences and appeals lied to it by the Magistrates' court, magistrates' court ...

an offender can be sentenced to up to two years' imprisonment and an unlimited fine. An unauthorised person who purports to exercise a right of audience also commits a contempt of court for which he can be punished. These provisions came into force on 1 January 2010.

Authorised persons and approved regulators

Authorised persons are either (s. 18): *Persons authorised in respect of a given legal activity by a relevant approved regulator; or *Licensed bodies authorised in respect of those activities. Relevant approved regulators are (s. 20/ Sch. 4, Pt. 1): The Legal Services Board does not have the power to recommend to the Lord Chancellor that he approve further approved regulators (s. 20/ Sch. 4, Pt. 2). The regulatory arrangements of all the approved regulators defined in Sch. 4, Pt. 1 remain in place at the coming into force of the Act but thereafter, all changes to internal professional regulatory arrangements must be approved by the Board (s. 20/ Sch. 3, Pt. 3). The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales was added as an approved regulator on 6 April 2020.

Regulation of approved regulators

Approved regulators have a duty to promote the regulatory objectives (s. 28). If they fail to do so, or if they fail in some other way to comply with the Act, the Legal Services Board can: *Issue directions to the regulator to correct the deficiency (ss. 32-34/ Sch. 7); *Publish a public censure (ss. 35–36); *Impose a financial penalty (ss. 37–40); *Make an intervention direction whereby the regulatory function is performed by a person nominated by the Board (ss. 41–44); *Recommend that the Lord Chancellor cancel the regulator's approval (ss. 45–48). The Board has a duty to regulate practising fees (s. 51), resolve regulatory conflicts (ss. 52–54), and work with the Office of Fair Trading, the

Competition Commission The Competition Commission was a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under competition law in the United Kingdom. It was a competition regulator under t ...

and the Lord Chancellor on competition issues (ss. 57–61). These provisions came into force on 1 January 2009 and 1 January 2010. , no date is fixed for the coming into force of these provisions.

Alternative business structures and licensed bodies

Before the coming into force of the Act,

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

s in England and Wales could only practice as: *

Solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

s, as

sole trader A sole proprietorship, also known as a sole tradership, individual entrepreneurship or proprietorship, is a type of enterprise owned and run by one person and in which there is no legal distinction between the owner and the business entity. A sole ...

s or in

partnership A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments o ...

s with other solicitors; *

Barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

s, as sole traders; or * Employees providing legal services to their employer. The Act allows alternative business structures (ABSs) with non-lawyers in professional, management or ownership roles. The Act creates a system whereby approved regulators can authorise licensed bodies to offer reserved legal services (ss.71–111). The

Solicitors Regulation Authority The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is the regulatory body for solicitors in England and Wales. It is responsible for regulating the professional conduct of more than 125,000 solicitors and other authorised individuals at more than 11,000 ...

licensed the first set of ABSs in 2012, including Cooperative Legal Services.

Complaints

Approved regulators must operate a complaints system as part of their internal regulatory arrangements (s. 112). Section 114 of the Act creates an Office for Legal Complaints which th
section 115
stipulates must administer an ombudsman scheme (ss. 114–158 /Sch. 15). Section 114 came into force on 7 March 2008. On 3 February 2009, the Legal Services Board announced the board members for the Office for Legal Complaints and the Office officially launched on 24 July 2009. The new scheme was the

Legal Ombudsman The Legal Ombudsman is an ombudsman service that opened in October 2010. It is a free service that investigates complaints about lawyers in England and Wales. The Legal Ombudsman was set up as a result of the Legal Services Act 2007 and took over ...

, which has exclusive first instance jurisdiction for complaints regarding legal professionals. The Legal Ombudsman began receiving complaints on 6 October 2010. This scheme replaced the Legal Services Complaints Commissioner and

Legal Services Ombudsman In England and Wales, the Legal Services Ombudsman was a statutory officer that investigated allegations about the improper, ineffective or inefficient way that complaints about lawyers are handled by their respective self-regulating professional bo ...

, which had been established in the

Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 The Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 (c. 41) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the legal profession and courts of England and Wales. The Act was the culmination of a series of reports and reforms that started with ...

(s. 159). The Office of the Legal Services Complaints Commissioner closed on 31 March 2010. The Office of the Legal Services Ombudsman closed in 2011. For the purposes of complaints only, claims management services are regarded as reserved legal activities and the

Claims Management Services Regulator In England and Wales, a claims management company is a business that offers claims management services to the public. Claims management services consist of advice or services in respect of claims for compensation, restitution, repayment or any ot ...

as an approved regulator (s. 161).

Legal professional privilege

The Act extends

legal professional privilege In common law jurisdictions, legal professional privilege protects all communications between a professional legal adviser (a solicitor, barrister or attorney) and his or her clients from being disclosed without the permission of the client. Th ...

to authorised persons other than barristers and solicitors (s. 190). This section came into force in 2010.

Costs in ''pro bono'' proceedings

Where a litigant is represented in

civil proceedings Civil law is a major branch of the law.Glanville Williams. ''Learning the Law''. Eleventh Edition. Stevens. 1982. p. 2. In common law legal systems such as England and Wales and the United States, the term refers to non-criminal law. The law rel ...

on a ''

pro bono ( en, 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. In the United States, the term typically refers to provision of legal services by legal professionals for pe ...

'' basis, it would be contrary to the

indemnity principle In English civil litigation, costs are the lawyers' fees and disbursements of the parties. In the absence of any order or directive regarding costs, each party is liable to pay their own solicitors' costs and disbursements such as a barrister's ...

to award

costs In production, research, retail, and accounting, a cost is the value of money that has been used up to produce something or deliver a service, and hence is not available for use anymore. In business, the cost may be one of acquisition, in which ...

to that person. Section 194 allows the

to order a payment to a

charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * Ch ...

''in lieu''. These provisions came into force progressively from 30 June to 1 October 2008.Legal Services Act 2007 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitory Provisions) (Amendment) Order 2008
SI 2008/1591
/ref>

References

Bibliography

* * ---- {{Use dmy dates, date=September 2019 United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 2007 Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning England and Wales Legal ethics Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning legal services