CMA to research Scottish legal services market
The CMA will undertake research into certain aspects of the Scottish legal services market to support the Scottish Government’s response to the Roberton Review.
This work has been prompted by the Roberton Review, an Independent Review of Legal Services Regulation in Scotland, and will provide evidence to assist the Scottish Government in determining how to take forward the recommendations made by that report. Led by Esther Roberton, that Review made a number of recommendations, including that there should be a single independent body to regulate the legal profession, set standards and handle complaints.
Building on work already done as part of the Competition and Market Authority’s (CMA) market study into the supply of legal services in England and Wales, this work will examine whether there is evidence of a lack of competition among legal services providers in Scotland, as was the case in England and Wales.
The research will also focus on:
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the benefits of independent regulation of legal services in Scotland and whether the current institutional arrangement - where the bodies regulating the professions are also those representing and lobbying for them - dampens competition
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the impact of the current legal services regulatory framework in Scotland on competition, particularly on innovation and the entry of new business models to the market
It is the CMA’s first Scotland-specific project since the expansion of its Edinburgh office last year to help the organisation better identify and resolve issues that harm Scottish consumers.
The CMA has today also published a document setting out its views on the Roberton Review’s recommendations. The CMA welcomes the review, which has sparked a debate about how to ensure the regulation of Scottish legal service providers delivers value for money and choice for consumers, as well as benefitting businesses and the economy.
The CMA intends to publish its findings in early 2020.
Notes to editors
- The Independent Review of the Regulation of Legal Services, led by Esther Roberton, was invited by the Scottish Government to review the regulation of legal services in Scotland. It reported in October 2018