A leading expert on Scottish politics has warned that Scottish Executive proposals to reform complaints handling against solicitors and other legal practitioners in Scotland could prove a costly \"hammer to crack a nut\".
A report by Professor David McCrone, co-director of Edinburgh University\'s Institute of Governance, also points out that the Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Bill is based on a \"quick and dirty\" consultation exercise.
The Society called on the Scottish Parliament\'s Justice 2 Committee to correct the flaws in the Bill when it began taking oral evidence yesterday (April 25).
The report by Professor McCrone questions whether the new system, which includes setting up a Scottish Legal Complaints Commission to handle service complaints against lawyers, will be \"fit for purpose\".
Professor McCrone\'s report, which was commissioned by the Society amid concerns about the Bill, says: \"There is a point to be made as the legislation goes through Parliamentary Committee that the political system should be very careful of landing the profession and their clients with an over-elaborate and costly system, something of a \'hammer to crack a nut\'.\"
He concludes: \"There seems to be a serious lack of articulation between the system of regulating the legal profession in Scotland, and how it is paid for.\"
Professor McCrone is also scathing about the analysis of the consultation paper, Reforming Complaints Handling, Building Consumer Confidence: Regulation of the Legal Profession in Scotland.
He says: \"There is little doubt that the analysis of the consultation exercise left a lot to be desired.
\"It contains some elementary howlers. It does not seem sensible to let politicians get away with lazy nostrums based on half-baked evidence.\"
The Society\'s response to the Bill\'s financial memorandum backs up Professor McCrone\'s claims. It points out that the Bill lacks detail on how the SLCC will be funded and the levies to be imposed on solicitors. There are also question marks over the estimates given for recruitment and training, property, IT, publicity, National Insurance and pension contributions.
Douglas Mill, the Society\'s chief executive adds: \"The costs lack specification and foundation and they are likely, to impact markedly on the high street of Scotland - the very area of \'people law\' which is under most financial pressure.\"