The Clementi Proposals
In 2004, Sir David Clementi reported that the legal profession’s governance structures were confusing.51 He was particularly confused by the Bar. He thought that ‘it would be hard for any reviewer to conclude that it is clear where regulatory authority, and hence responsibility, lies between the Bar Council and the Inns’.52 Clementi also thought that professional organisation had advantages and was keen to preserve the legal profession’s independence.
He therefore recommended a ‘half-way house’ that retained professional organisation but provided for more independent regulation. First, he recommended that there should be ‘an oversight regulator’, taking over the role of the Lord Chancellor in approving of rules of conduct. Secondly, he recommended that professional regulation should operate independently of the professional bodies.In 1996, on the issue of whether the Law Society should separate its representative and regulatory role, less than 30 per cent of the membership voted.53 The Law Society finally made the move in January 2006 after a referendum of members. The referendum vote in favour of the Council’s proposal was close. In favour were 7909, against 7175, a majority of only 734.54 Around 123,000 solicitors were entitled to vote, so only 12.2 per cent did so. The Bar Standards Board was also established as an independent regulator of barristers in January 2006. The professions had therefore pre-empted the requirement for independent regulation recommended by Clementi. Nevertheless, in the LSA 2007, the government stuck with its decision to create a regulatory overseer of the legal professions.
VI.