The Legal Services Regulation Act makes sweeping changes to how solicitors and barristers are regulated.

The act continues the prohibition on percentage charging in contentious business, prohibits setting junior counsel costs as a specified proportion of senior counsel costs, and provides that client consent to deduct costs from damages must be prior written consent.

The Law Society will continue to issue practising certificates, regulate professional indemnity insurance, maintain the compensation fund, inspect solicitors’ firms for compliance with the Solicitors Accounts Regulations and anti-money-laundering obligations, receive reporting accountants’ reports, take disciplinary and court cases against solicitors in relation to financial regulatory matters, deal with abandoned solicitors’ practices, and continue to handle complaints received before the new complaints system becomes operational.

Read the full article in the March 2016 Gazette.

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