Tuesday, June 5th, 2007
The next year will be dominated by implementation of the Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Act, according to the new president of the Law Society of Scotland.
John MacKinnon stepped up from the role of vice president to fill the vacancy created by Ruthven Gemmell a little more than a week ago and has some set views on what the challenges will be for solicitors over the coming months.
"If the past year was dominated by the demands of responding to the Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Act, then the next 12 months will focus on implementation of the enacted legislation," Mr MacKinnon said.
The new president said that he was particularly concerned with "advancing the interests of solicitors and their clients" with reference to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, which will start handling complaints next year.
Mr MacKinnon took up his position on May 25th, with Richard Henderson, formerly a solicitor to the Scottish executive, taking on the vice president title the new president vacated.
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Wednesday, May 9th, 2007
Legal bodies in Scotland have criticised moves by a consumer watchdog to prompt an investigation by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) into affordable justice in Scotland.
Consumer magazine Which? was reported by the Herald to have put forward a "super complaint" to the OFT this week, suggesting that regulation of the profession in Scotland prevents both competition and sufficient access to affordable representation.
However, the Faculty of Advocates and the Law Society of Scotland have countered the complaint, stating that it was not called for and that more productive would be a discussion of the watchdog’s concerns directly with the profession’s bodies.
The debate follows a decision by the legal profession in Scotland not to follow England and Wales in pursuing the recommendations of the Clementi Review, which allowed non-legal bodies to cooperate with legal firms in the provision of legal services.
Michael Clancy, director of Law Reform at the Law Society of Scotland, commented: "The society has not been sent the complaint, but it is disappointing that Which? has chosen this route to raise these issues instead of working with the society to benefit the Scottish public."
In March, at its annual general meeting, the society discussed ways of combating apparent legal aid "deserts" in Scotland, calling for "hard evidence" that could be presented to the Scottish Executive to address the issue.
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