Here
in brief are his recommendations.
To improve the regulatory framework
he has recommended a Legal Services Board (LSB) whose key
function will be to maintain the rule of law; access to justice;
protection and promotion of consumer interests; promotion
of competition; encouragement of a confident, strong and
effective legal profession and promoting public understanding
of the citizenÕs legal rights.
The LSB would be as super regulator and would be able to devolve
responsibility to bodies such as the Law Society and the Bar
Council. The LSB should have between 12 to 16 members with
a lay majority.
Sir David has proposed
that complaints be dealt with by an Office of Legal Complaints
(OLC), which would operate under the LSB – again with
a lay majority. It would be a single independent complaints
system; dealing with individual complaints, setting targets
for lawyers handling complaints in-house (which will have
to be done in-house), overseeing indemnity insurance and
compensation fund schemes.
On the subject of
business structures, Clementi has recommended the creation
of Legal Disciplinary Practices (LDPs). LDPs would be legal
practices with a code of professional practice to ensure
lawyers with different professional qualifications maintain
equal standards. Whilst non-lawyers could become partners
in LDPs their role must be to enhance the provision of
legal services rather than to provide other services to
the public. A qualified lawyer in each LDP would have to
be nominated as responsible to the LSB for service standards,
and a nominated manager would be responsible for finance
and administration.
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