Supporting responsible use of technology that commands public trust
Last week, the Board was delighted to meet a broad range of stakeholders in the Yorkshire and the Humber region. We are grateful to DLA Piper for hosting our breakfast briefing event in Leeds prior to our Board meeting on 7 June 2022.
The theme of our discussion was the social acceptability of lawtech and whether the public are ready for changes regarding technological advances in the provision of legal services. Supporting responsible use of technology that commands public trust is one of the challenges in the sector-wide strategy to reshape legal services to better meet society’s needs. We presented the findings of our new research jointly commissioned with the SRA into the social acceptability of technology, which showed that, interestingly. the public are more open to using technology to access legal services than the profession might have expected.
We were also joined by Whitecap Consulting, who discussed the Legal Tech Initiative in Leeds and highlighted their work delivering legal technological solutions in the area. The event really brought home the importance of cross-sector collaboration, and we heard how progress being made was due to joint working between innovators, law schools, law firms and others. This is the kind of collaboration that the LSB is committed to supporting.
The event provided a great forum for knowledge-sharing and for those working within the sector to discuss the opportunities to improve access to justice and ensure that legal services work better for consumers. One of the topics we found most interesting was that of multi-disciplinarity and how the sector supports people with backgrounds in technology (and indeed other areas) to become lawyers. This would increase access to the sector and broaden the range of skills and experience within the profession.
The insights we gained will assist us with implementing the necessary frameworks needed for regulators to ensure that the advances in lawtech both benefit and protect the interests of consumers. While technology provides convenience and speed, access to justice remains an issue – ensuring that all members of society are able to access the services they need. We will publish a note of the meeting shortly and consider what further actions we and others can take to ensure regulation plays the fullest role possible in increasing access to legal services through lawtech and innovation.
Ensuring the effectiveness of the financial sanctions regime in the legal services sector
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we are continuing to do all we can to increase knowledge of the sanctions regime and ensure widespread compliance and enforcement, when needed.
The Board discussed how well regulators are considering the wider implications of their work on Russian sanctions in their other regulatory work. Specifically, considering the ethical standards and practices of some in the legal sector who may be enabling wrongdoing and, when uncovered, risks criticism of the ethical standards of lawyers more broadly. We will continue to work with regulators in assessing their action plans, ensuring that they remain proactive and alive to changing events. And that the regulators act on the intelligence gathered to deal with misconduct which breach the regulatory objectives, codes of conduct and the professional principles.
The Board emphasised the need for rapid and transparent action to support compliance and have requested a report on the progress of each regulator for its next meeting.
Protecting and promoting the public interest and the interests of consumers
Our work on ongoing competence is designed to meet the regulatory objectives to protect and promote the public interest and the interests of consumers. The ongoing competence project is central to our ambition to reshape legal services to provide consumers with fairer outcomes, stronger confidence and better services.
Through our work to date, we have identified that while legal services regulators have comprehensive measures to ensure legal professionals are competent on entry to the profession, there are few routine, formal measures to ensure ongoing competence.
Most respondents to our recent consultation supported the overall intent of the draft statement and agreed that regulators should take steps to ensure the ongoing competence of those they regulate. Many said that it would be essential for each regulator to take an evidence-led approach to implementing the statement of policy. In particular, they said any new measures adopted should be proportionate and targeted to risks. This is consistent with our position and the Board agreed we should ensure this is clearly reflected in the final statement.
The final statement of policy will be considered by the Board in July, and if approved, will be published later that month. It will outline the outcomes regulators will need to meet. We will also publish a consultation response document which will contain analysis of all the responses we have received.
Closing gaps in consumer protection and building stronger confidence in regulation
Our 2021/22 Business Plan confirmed we would carry out work to build a better understanding of the unregulated sector. The intention was to ensure our knowledge is up to date and to inform our policy thinking, including any consideration as to whether changes to the scope of regulation are warranted in the future.
Our work in this area promotes the regulatory objectives; in particular, the objectives to improve access to justice, protect and promote the interests of consumers, and to promote competition in the provision of legal services. It is underpinned by our sector-wide strategy, which identified a challenge to close gaps in consumer protection to build stronger confidence in regulation.
We discussed the research findings of our recent report ‘Mapping unregulated legal services’ which will shortly be published. Having completed the mapping research, as part of the next stage of the project we will be assessing the evidence and using this to develop our policy work, including identifying any interventions that may be needed.
Evaluation of Practising Fee new Rules and Guidance
The Board considered the findings and proposed the next steps stemming from the evaluation of the first year of the implementation of the new Practising Fee Rules and Guidance. We were pleased to see this example of evaluation of our work and its impact.
One of the key goals of the new rules and accompanying guidance was to increase transparency and accountability in terms of Approved Regulators and Regulatory Bodies (ARs/RBs) being able to clearly demonstrate their programmes of activity for the coming year and how these would be funded by the PCF.
We were pleased to hear that the Rules and Guidance have had an immediate and tangible impact on Practising Fee applications in the 2021 cycle. ARs/RBs were largely able to demonstrate active engagement with their regulated community. Moreover, the evaluation has demonstrated that the Rules have enhanced the LSB’s joined-up approach to regulation. We support discussion and debate across the sector on the purpose, benefits, costs, and value of regulation, which we anticipate will result in improved standards and promote the regulatory objectives.
Delivering the ambitions set out in the Reshaping legal services strategy
Given we were in Leeds meeting people from across the sector, it was fitting to discuss the progress the LSB was making in its ambition to engage more broadly across the profession. We reflected that we were meeting more people from different parts of the sector, and this was helping to shape our thinking and foster collaboration. There is of course more that we can do. In particular, the Board agreed that it would be important to increase our direct engagement with lawyers and legal services professionals. We look forward to engaging with the widest range of professionals, from sole practitioners through to high street and midsized firms, and up to large, magic circle firms.
LSB Annual Report and Accounts 2021/22
The Board approved of our Annual Report and Accounts 2021-22 on recommendation from the Audit Risk and Assurance Committee which had considered it at its meeting on 6 June, and we look forward to it being signed by the Comptroller and Auditor General and laid before Parliament later this month.
Our next Board meeting is on 19 July 2022.