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Independent Review of Legal Services Regulation
The review has explored issues and recommendations posed in the 2016 legal services market study by the Competition and Markets Authority.
24 September 2018
Updated 22 August 2023
The听Centre for Ethics and听Law in the 新香港六合彩开奖结果Faculty of Laws has undertaken a fundamental review of the current regulatory framework for legal services, led by听.听The independent review was intended in part to explore the longer-term and related issues raised by the 2016 Competition and Markets Authority's (CMA)听听and its recommendations.听The terms of reference and the听membership of the Advisory Panel can be downloaded using the links below.
About the review
The Review was conducted in three stages. 听The first stage began in October 2018 with the publication of three working papers (available below) offering an assessment of the current regulatory framework, and then听exploring the preliminary issues of the rationale for legal services regulation and the possible scope of such regulation. 听These papers听formed the basis of meetings and discussions during the Autumn of 2018.
The second stage, which ran from 4 March to 28 June 2019, began with the publication of updates to听the first three working papers, along with the publication of two further working papers (also available below)听addressing the focus of regulation (activities, individuals, entities, professions, etc) and the structure of regulation (who should the regulators be, how many, the need for oversight regulation, independence of regulators from government and the regulated, etc.).听A public meeting was held at 新香港六合彩开奖结果on 12 March 2019.
In finalising the working papers, the third was split into two, now dealing separately with focus (LSR-3) and form (LSR-4, looking at risk, and before-, during, and after-the event regulation).
During the first and second stages, Professor Mayson听spoke听to more than 200 interested parties, and received submissions in response to the working papers. 听All听proved helpful in shaping the conclusions and direction of the Review.
The third and final stage began听on 17 September 2019 with the publication of Professor Mayson's interim report.听
This contained findings about the current regulatory framework, propositions for reform,听and consultation questions on the propositions and the consequential issues they raised.听This was听followed by听further meetings and discussions with about 150 people during the Autumn, as well as a second public meeting at 新香港六合彩开奖结果on 9 October.
The consultation period closed on 20 December 2019.听 Professor Mayson received 46 detailed submissions in response to the interim report and consultation.
Updated, final versions of the working papers have been prepared and are available for download below. The听final report was submitted to the Ministry of Justice, and was published on 11 June 2020.
Following publication, Professor Mayson continued discussions with many interested parties. 听As a result of these, he decided to look more closely at the nature, causes, effects and consequences of consumer harm in the provision of legal services, and the ability of current regulatory provisions to deal with such harm. 听A supplementary report on this was published on 21 April 2022.
Documents relating to the Review are available and may be downloaded from the links below.
Information about the Review is posted here and on Twitter ().
Review documents
(updated 11 June 2020)
(final version, published 11 June 2020)
(final version, published 21 April 2022)
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Working papers
听(final version, published 11 June 2020)(final version, published 11 June 2020)
(final version, published 11 June 2020)
听(final version, published 11 June 2020)
(final version, published 11 June 2020)
听(final version, published 11 June 2020)
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Marked-up copies of the Working Papers, showing changes from the March 2019 versions, are available on request.
Public events and slides
Two free public events were听held in conjunction with the review - presentations for each event are available to download now. A keynote speech delivered by Professor Mayson at the Westminster Legal Policy Forum听is also available to download.
Image credit: 漏 新香港六合彩开奖结果Digital Media听
Final report
The IRLSR Final听Report (published听11 June 2020)听is now available to view and download
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The IRLSR Supplementary Report (published 21 April 2022) is also available to view and download听