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2009
March 16
April 20
May 18
June 15
July 20
September 21
October 19
November 16
Annual Dinner - December 3
2010
January 18
February 15
AGM Wednesday 10 March 2010
Council Member Report Autumn 2009
This report will reach you at the start of what will undoubtedly be a challenging ‘New Legal Year’. Just before the summer holidays, there was a flurry of developments. As your Council Member, I can help signpost you to further information on any of these topics. I am always pleased to receive feedback that can be used to improve current initiatives and market information to ensure that Chancery Lane is in tune with your practice and career needs.
Legal Aid – contract, consultations and cuts
One such announcement, from the LSC to revert to a pilot in Manchester and Bristol, is generally welcome although this is only limited respite and much more work is to be done before a new government picks up the reins. Some success has been achieved as a result of recent initiatives and the efforts of many of you to the BVT consultation. Further cuts on police station work and delay on the new civil contract including family work makes life particularly uncomfortable for the one sector within the profession that is not short of work in a recession. The imbalance is clear to see and lobbying is continuing not least to ensure that the burden of regulation is not increased unnecessarily.
Land Registry - Falling revenue, IT failure and frauds
The published results confirm that LR is suffering falling revenues and rising fraud claims. The changes of procedure following ID67 and PB16 are all about shifting responsibility onto practitioners, although there are denials that the burden on solicitors is increased. Even if true, there is a clear warning that, where there is any fraud or negligence, redress from the profession is an option. Quite apart from ‘mortgage fraud’ involving finance brokers there is a range of forms of identity and registration theft becoming manifest in this recession. Where solicitors’ procedures are not compliant, this can put the solicitor in the frame when a losing party seeks redress.
Additional training in this area can be made available through Middlesex Law Society and Property Section.
Professional indemnity premium
Last year many smaller firms were surprised by increases in indemnity premium and withdrawal of insurers and this year conditions are tighter. Through the lobbying of Council much more information about the process and preparing applications has been available and, judging from presentations, has been well received. The entry into the market of Allianz and XL suggests that there may be more flexibility. If, despite this year’s initiatives you are dissatisfied with the renewal, please let me know, as I am keen to make further progress and reform the system using evidence available from the market.
SRA Entity regulation
By November every firm must display on letterhead and any other publications such as websites an SRA registration number. You might be surprised to find that you have a number without realising it – check the ‘Find A Solicitor’ section of the Law Society website.
The SRA are carrying out a series of consultations on various aspects of ‘entity regulation’. The PC and recognised body fee levels for 2010 have to be set and the balance between the fee for the registration of the entity and that for the individual will be issued for discussion and then a decision made shortly.
Do remember that if you set up as a new sole practitioner or there is a change in your existing ‘recognised body’ so as to leave a sole practitioner firm, then the rules for notifying and obtaining approval for the change must be followed. The details on the SRA site are extremely important and time sensitive.
Legal Services Board
This new oversight regulator of the legal professions is now getting into its stride and the increase in this years PC fees is just for the first slice of the start up costs of the LSB. For many practitioners there is no choice of regulator but, for some, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers may offer an option. A few firms have applied to be registered with the SRA as legal disciplinary partnerships (LDP’S), but most are holding back for the introduction of alternative business structures (ABS’S). The Legal Services Board is determined that ABS’s should be in place for 2011/2 and SRA is committed to become a licensing body for ABS’s. The SRA consultation sets out ten examples of models of ABS’s at http://www.sra.org.uk/sra/consultations/2786.article .
Many firms are trying to understand what the new breed of law firms will look like and what to do to ensure that your business is resilient enough to meet the challenge.
Law Society and Boards
I am pleased to report that the traditional conference for local law societies has been reinstated and will from next year be run as a collaborative event between Chancery Lane and local societies. The Legal Affairs & Policy Board has initiated major consultations to the profession on Home Buying and on Contingency Fees. Practitioners who are interested to know more are welcome to contact me as I have had involvement in the formulation of both consultations.
The Management Board has been concerned to control the total cost of all parts of the Law Society and hold to a nil increase budget. This year, further cuts will need to be made against a background of ever increasing costs from the SRA. The Legal Complaints Services is subcontracting out much of its work now as it prepares to hand over to the Office for Legal Complaints that has been set up under the chairmanship of Elizabeth Filkin.
The SRA will, from January 2010 have a new chair in former City lawyer, Charles Plant and a new board. Another committee of the Law Society has been set up under the chairmanship of the Deputy Vice President, John Wotton. This will handle areas of dispute over shared services and costs. SRA will have equal representation on the Board with the Law Society. There will however be outside independent members, which hopefully will enable matters to be resolved, without the need to have recourse to the Legal Services Board. This will hopefully be a more satisfactory settlement.
Conclusion
Overall the agenda remains dominated by the effect of recession on the market. Fears as to the possible impact of reduction in panels by banks and societies, growth of on-line services and the intervention of new practice structures may spur firms on, as markets adjust to the current circumstances.
Locally, I have been involved in initiatives at both Thames Valley University and Middlesex University. The former will seek to offer some post-qualification training which would improve performance in relation to regulatory matters, focusing on both management and ethics. The planned courses at Middlesex University will hopefully extend into less conventional areas, where solicitors need expertise in order to better understand some of the commercial developments in the modern marketplace.
As always, I will be pleased to receive your feedback. A fuller version of this report can be found on www.middlesex-law.co.uk and michael.garson@perpro.org
Michael Garson September 2009
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