LSA poses threat to watertight regulation
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Entity-based regulation provisions that will come in with the Legal Services Act could lead to a serious dumbing down of the regulatory landscape, Greg Treverton-Jones QC of 39 Essex Street warned at The Lawyer Summit 2009.
Under the provisions estate agents and surveyors would be able to join solicitors in an entity that provides conveyancing services, but while individual professionals would be controlled by their respective regulators the entity itself would be able to choose its own regulator. Speaking of the potential pitfalls of such an arrangement, Treverton-Jones said: “If I were making that choice I’d go for the one that was cheapest and had the laxest approach to regulation.”
The silk also said he thought that the greatest threat does not stem from the emergence of Tesco Law, but from existing businesses carrying out commoditised personal injury work at high volume and low cost.
