Pearse Doherty
Question:491. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the metrics by which he proposes to judge if reforms to practice and competition in the legal sector are successful. [45983/12]
View answerTuesday, 23 October 2012
Questions (491)
Written answers
The new Legal Services Regulatory Authority, to be established under the Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011, will be independent of the legal professions and of the Government in the performance of its functions. It will also be appointed independently and, as I have previously mentioned, I will be introducing amendments at Committee Stage to strengthen these independence aspects. At the same time, the Regulatory Authority will be subject to an array of modern governance, accountability and reporting provisions. These will make its outputs, and those of its attendant bodies, open to public and parliamentary scrutiny and assessment. All of these measures are intended to meet, in as transparent a way as possible, the stated objectives of the Programme for Government to “establish independent regulation of the legal professions to improve access and competition, make legal costs more transparent and ensure adequate procedures for addressing consumer complaints” and to meet the relevant structural reform objectives of the EU/IMF/ECB Troika Programme.
The new Legal Services Regulatory Authority and its attendant bodies will, therefore, have the structures, functions and powers consistent with an effective, independent and accountable regulatory body and will operate under the standards of transparency, good governance and audit applicable under international best practice to public bodies. This will ensure that the new regulatory regime and its outcomes are accountable not just at the time of establishment but on an ongoing basis into the future. While it is not for me to predetermine the business and performance management decisions of such an independent regulatory body, I would like to set out some of the key provisions of relevance to measuring the success of the new regulatory regime that are to be found in the Legal Services Regulation Bill.
The new Legal Services Regulatory Authority to be established under the Bill will be required to prepare three-yearly strategic plans which will set out the Authority's key objectives and related strategies, including its use of resources, which will, inter alia, be laid before each House of the Oireachtas. The Authority will report annually to the Minister for Justice and Equality and to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality on the performance of its functions during each relevant year. The Authority will present audited financial reports to the Minister and to the Comptroller and Auditor General and its accounts will be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas. The Chief Executive of the Authority can be required to appear before the Committee of Public Accounts and/or before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality. In addition, the Authority will be required to report annually on the admission policies of the legal professions and on other specified matters including education and training. It will promote public awareness and disseminate information to the public in respect of legal services, including the cost of such services. The new Authority will undertake research and will assist the Government in coordinating and developing policy in respect of the provision of legal services by legal practitioners.
In relation to the new independent complaints structure - which will apply under the Bill to both barristers and solicitors for the first time - it is intended that the Authority will publish, at regular intervals, information on complaints received and this is an area I intend to address further at Committee Stage. Such information is expected to include the general nature of the complaints, the number of them referred to the Complaints Committee and the outcome of those investigated. The Authority will also publish information on the findings of the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal and of the High Court where the Tribunal's findings are appealed. This information will include the determination of the Tribunal or the Court, the nature of the misconduct, the sanction imposed and the name of the legal practitioner concerned.
The Office of the Legal Costs Adjudicator (which is to be the modernised equivalent of the existing Office of the Taxing-Master) will be required to maintain a register of legal costs determinations which will include the outcome and reasons for the relevant decisions. Similarly, the Adjudicator is being empowered to produce Legal Costs Guidelines for the information of those involved in assessing costs, legal practitioners and the general public. For the first time in legislation, Legal Costs Principles are set out in the Bill against which the reasonableness of legal costs can be assessed. The Chief Legal Costs Adjudicator will produce three-yearly strategic plans to be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas augmented by annual business plans and annual reports that will also be laid before the Houses.
The alternative business models for the provision of legal services which are provided for under the Legal Services Regulation Bill and other possible innovations such as the unification of the solicitor and barrister professions are supported by respective public consultation processes which will produce reports and recommendations as set out in the Bill. These outputs will, in keeping with the other transparency provisions of the Bill, be laid before each House of the Oireachtas within 30 days of receipt by the Minister. The roll-out of such new legal business models will be regulated by the Legal Services Regulatory Authority and fall within its strategic planning and annual reporting obligations including those relating to the Houses of the Oireachtas.
While not exhaustive, the above outline of the accountability and reporting requirements governing the new regulatory regime for legal costs and services under the Legal Services Regulation Bill belies a substantial framework with new and more appropriate levels of scrutiny at the administrative, executive and parliamentary levels. In my view, the Bill's transparency and accountability provisions put the main areas of legal service provision and regulation in plain sight - in many instances for the first time - and provide a regulatory regime that is more responsive to the profound changes taking place in the legal services sector around the world. This augurs a move towards more principles-based or outcomes-focussed regulation that will, by its nature, be more amenable to measurement and examination while maintaining high standards in legal services. I have no doubt that this new regulatory approach can better meet the needs of the legal professions, consumers of legal services and the new Legal Services Regulatory Authority in facing the challenges of the years ahead while providing much needed support to the process of national recovery.