Legal advice will be 'just like buying a tin of beans'

Legal advice will be 'just like buying a tin of beans'
By Joshua Rozenberg, Legal Editor
(Filed: 18/10/2005)

Reforms to the way lawyers are regulated in England and Wales will make getting legal advice as easy as "buying a tin of beans", a minister said yesterday.

Outlining plans to strip solicitors and barristers of their powers of self-regulation, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer, announced a new Legal Services Board to regulate lawyers and a single independent body to handle complaints from consumers.

The proposed Office for Legal Complaints will be able to fine lawyers up to £20,000, significantly more than at present.

The Government is pressing ahead more quickly than expected with plans to allow lawyers to work together with other professionals, such as accountants and surveyors.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/10/18/nlegal18.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/10/18/ixhome.html


YEP....equally flatulent.