The Board of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) will this week decide whether to proceed with proposals for the SRA to regulate authorised and non-authorised members of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEX).
Law Society of England and Wales chief executive officer Ian Jeffery said that they await the SRA Board’s decision in expectation that it listens to the widespread opposition to the proposals from the Law Society, CILEx Regulation Limited (CRL), CILEX members and other stakeholders and opts not to proceed with these proposals. He continued:
“The SRA must seriously consider whether the time, resources and management focus required to integrate CILEX regulation into the SRA is wise, given the other priorities the SRA faces in light of the collapses of Axiom Ince, Metamorph, Kingly and the SSB Group.
Now is not the right time for the SRA to seek to widen its regulatory scope or take on additional responsibilities. The SRA has failed to make the case for any positive consumer impacts – as highlighted by the Legal Services Consumer Panel’s consultation response – which underscored the lack of evidence and information from both CILEX and the SRA. This point was also made by the Justice Select Committee who concluded they were sceptical of the argument that re-delegation would represent a simplification that would help consumers.
Any change would negatively impact on consumers’ ability to clearly understand the legal choices available to them and to choose the right legal provider, especially where their legal needs are complex.
In common with CILEX members, we remain of the view that the regulation of CILEX members is best managed under the current bespoke arrangements with CRL.”
