Legal personnel & the judiciary

LS.10 — Legal Personnel & the Judiciary (FLK1)

Regulation of the profession

• Legal Services Act 2007 is the framework. The Legal Services Board (LSB) is the oversight regulator; the front-line regulators sit under it.
• Solicitors: regulated by the SRA (the independent arm of the Law Society, which is the representative body). Admission now via the SQE + qualifying work experience + character/suitability.
• Barristers: regulated by the BSB (arm of the Bar Council). Bound by the cab-rank rule — must accept work in their field if available and a proper fee is offered.
• Reserved legal activities (s.12 LSA 2007) may only be carried out by authorised persons: exercise of a right of audience, conduct of litigation, reserved instrument activities, probate, notarial, administration of oaths.

Rights of audience

• Solicitors have automatic rights in the lower courts; higher rights require a separate qualification (solicitor-advocate).
• Barristers have full rights of audience in all courts.
• Legal Executives (CILEX/CILEx Regulation) can gain limited rights of audience and litigation rights.

The judiciary

• Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) selects judges on merit (Constitutional Reform Act 2005), removing the Lord Chancellor's old patronage.
• The Lord Chancellor is now a Cabinet minister/Justice Secretary, no longer head of the judiciary or a Law Lord.
• The Lord Chief Justice is Head of the Judiciary of England & Wales and President of the Courts.
• Judicial independence: CRA 2005 s.3 imposes a duty on government to uphold it. Senior judges have security of tenure ("during good behaviour") — removable only by the monarch on an address of both Houses of Parliament.
• Supreme Court: created by CRA 2005 (operating from 2009), replacing the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords — a separation-of-powers reform.

Common traps

• SRA vs Law Society / BSB vs Bar Council — regulator vs representative body. Easy to flip.
• The Lord Chancellor no longer heads the judiciary — that is the Lord Chief Justice.
• Judges are removed by address of both Houses, not by the Lord Chancellor or PM.
• The cab-rank rule applies to barristers, not solicitors.