Fear of ‘Tesco Law’ and the Wild West of alternate business structures clouds the fact that the reformed landscape offers plentiful opportunity. Janet Hood argues that local authorities and inhouse teams have the most to gain in the days ahead. 

The Legal Service Bill has been published and pored over by everyone with an interest in their future. It is not one to miss. You should know that as professionals we are all able to contribute to the shaping of this new law and I certainly recommend you to at least be familiar with the proposals and to feed into the Law Society Law Reform team or the In House Lawyers Group any thoughts you may have on the matter as it progresses through its various stages at Holyrood. Your future is literally in your hands. 

The Bill is based on certain sound regulatory and ethical objectives including promoting and protecting public interest, promoting access to justice and increasing competition in the provision of legal services. 

These are high level aims and should awaken interest from all sectors of the profession. We all know that there are far fewer solicitors practising outside the cities than there were 30 years ago. Rural practices have found it challenging if not impossible to recruit trainees and assistants. The lure of a gilded existence in the central belt has drawn in young solicitors seeking their fortune in commercial firms. Local authorities too have found it difficult to recruit in the recent past but I suspect not any more. 40 applicants for every job – it’s a tough life out there. Well we all know what’s happened recently and in order to deliver the Bill’s objectives we will have to seek new ways of delivering high quality legal and business advice across the whole country. 

If this Bill becomes law will there be opportunities out there for enterprising public service practitioners to take up the mantle and provide legal services to their internal client/employer, to each other and to the general public?  Yes – In house central services teams already operate in what is now described as an alternative business structure. Different disciplines already provide top level legal, financial and business advice to their in house clients and are more importantly used to working together ethically and according to the rules of their various professional bodies. They are perfectly placed to enter the new legal services regime and compete with other providers across the country. Many local authorities have already set up companies and trusts to better drive forward the business of the parent authority and to enable long term projects to be driven forward in a manner commensurate with business needs. So why not for the delivery of legal services?

What’s to be done? In house legal teams would have to skill up, to develop sensitivity for the commercial aspirations of the parent authority and outsiders and of course be acutely aware of issues relating to conflict of interest. Private practice has long recognised the benefits of achieving accredited status. In house solicitors currently comprise approximately 1/3 of the profession but have achieved less than 1/20th.

What benefits could setting up as a licensed legal services provider bring to the parent authority? There would of course be initial set up costs including a currently unknown licence fee. However the benefits to authorities would be legion. Improve the financial stability of a costly central services team.  Improve the perception of the in house team. Improve and enhance the reputation of the parent authority throughout its constituency especially if non conflicting high street services were to be part of the mix. Improve the business of local government across the country by properly enabling skilled in house providers to service each other’s legal needs across the country. Develop a recognised and valuable skills and expertise base across the country, improve staff retention and develop an understanding of business which would benefit the delivery of services by local authorities across Scotland. 

What about legal services users?  In rural Scotland in particular it is proving to be harder and harder to access legal advice.  High Street practitioners are under threat. Legal aid - in particular civil legal aid – is now no longer offered by virtually every firm as it is just too costly for small firms to provide. Is there room for local authorities to provide these services in remote areas? They are already out there providing for other social and other business needs. If the in house team would find itself in a conflict situation it may be that cross border relationships could be set up to provide local legal services.  

It may be that soft partnerships with local firms might improve the ability to deliver legal services across Scotland. In very remote areas local authorities could open public buildings or provide web links for the rural public to access new or traditional providers - this would undoubtedly help redress the current difficulties with access to justice.  Forging better relationships with other professionals can facilitate prosperity as understanding of others’ needs and drivers can enable business to flourish in rural Scotland. 

I believe that this Bill offers local authorities a real opportunity to set up legal services entities across Scotland for the benefit of those authorities and the general public. It takes vision, it takes courage and it takes drive. Local authorities have these in spades.  So watch this space.