Scotland’s legal profession has said proposals for reforms to how it regulates itself is an attack on the independence of the sector and could even be used by foreign dictators to justify crackdowns on the judiciary.
The Law Society of Scotland has said elements of a new government bill on legal services regulation which threaten the independence of the legal profession are “dangerous and wrong”, and must be dropped.https://t.co/Ld2HdMNZp9
— McCTERF (@IndyLassie) July 28, 2023
In scathing attacks, professional legal bodies across Scotland have rounded on plans in the proposed Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill which would give ministers the power to intervene in how the legal sector is regulated.
The bill, at Stage One, was introduced by justice secretary Angela Constance and is the result of years of lobbying for change from the likes of the Law Society.
The legislation would allow ministers to set performance targets, direct that action be taken, publish a statement of censure, impose a financial penalty, or make changes or remove some or all of the regulator’s regulatory functions if they deem it not to be operating in line with the public interest.
All of these measures bar imposing a financial penalty would require the agreement of the Lord President, Scotland’s most senior judge. This measure, designed to safeguard the legal sector’s independence, has been criticised as potentially politicising the position currently held by Lord Carloway.
However, in evidence to Holyrood’s equalities, human rights and civil justice committee which is considering the bill at stage one, the legal profession called on these powers to be removed entirely from the bill.
The very LAST thing anyone in Scotland needs is any further erosion of the separation of powers or political interference in our legal system.
Have we not had our fill of that?
“The Law Society of Scotland (LSS), the Faculty of Advocates, the International Bar Association… https://t.co/9QDKHxUTPw
— Neale Hanvey MP ?????????? (@JNHanvey) August 26, 2023
The Law Society of Scotland, which regulates solicitors, said the measures in the bill could not be found anywhere else in “any other western democracy” and “risk seriously undermining the rule of the law and the independence of Scotland’s legal sector from the state.”
Devastating view from Scotland’s judges on SNP plans to impose political control of the legal profession https://t.co/WLKjE0S1BI
— Murdo Fraser (@murdo_fraser) August 25, 2023
They added: “We have never before seen such an attempt at political control over the legal sector in Scotland.
[…]
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/lawyers-attack-reforms-risking-seriously-110457717.html
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/legal-profession-independence-under-threat-from-new-law-bfp7nkxlg
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-must-not-gain-control-of-the-legal-profession-g23tpc3tt
https://judiciary.scot/home/judiciary/regulating-legal-professions
https://www.lawsociety.ie/gazette/top-stories/2023/august/scottish-legal-services-bill-concerns-cma
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