Law Society of Scotland seeks views on “regulated profession” definition
The Law Society of Scotland is calling upon its members to feed in their views on the Scottish Government’s consultation paper: ‘Ownership and control of firms providing legal services under the Legal Services (Scotland) Act’.
The consultation paper seeks views around Section 49 of the Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2010 concerning which professions should be regarded as regulated professionals for the purposes of owning licensed legal services providers. Section 49 of the Act requires that qualifying investors (solicitor investors or members of another regulated profession) should have at least a 51% stake of the total ownership or control of the licensed provider. Regulated professionals are to be defined through regulation and the Scottish Government has today published a consultation asking for views.
Philip Yelland, Director of Regulation at the Society said:
“We greatly welcome the publishing of this consultation paper. It concerns a crucial aspect of the Legal Services Act 2010. This part of the legislation is very important given the views already expressed by members about the question of ownership and control of licensed providers. That is why we are encouraging members of the Society for their views on this paper. Please do get in touch with your comments by Thursday 31 March to ensure the Society has time to consider all comments for inclusion in our response to Scottish Government.”
Any members wishing to respond via the Society should contact Michael Clancy (MichaelClancy@lawscot.org.uk) or Katie Hay (KatieHay@lawscot.org.uk) within the Society’s Law Reform team by Thursday 31 March 2011.
The consultation runs for 12 weeks until 11 May 2011 and the Society is encouraging members to also respond directly to the consultation as well as making their views known to the Society. The consultation can be found at www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2011/02/09105855/0