---

Legal Services Bill [HL]

I am of course most grateful to the Minister for her reply. I can only conclude from her responses that she disagrees with the judgment ofSir David Clementi—and I must say that I share the surprise of my noble friend Lord Hunt of Wirral. The provisions under Part 5 will not come into effect for some considerable time; by contrast, once this Bill gains Royal Assent, it will be possible to start immediately with legal disciplinary practices under the aegis of regulation by the Law Society. There is no reason why the Government should not look very carefully at the system of regulation applied by the Law Society to see whether it meets the kind of criteria that they would like to see met under Part 5 generally. The Government would have three years to make this assessment. Given that we all seemed to agree during the previous day in Committee that an incremental approach to alternative business structures was highly desirable, here is a golden opportunity for the Government to put that philosophy into practice. Where is the danger? The Minister can always intervene and say to the Law Society that its regulatory system is not up to scratch and that they want something tougher and more penetrating. But it would provide the Government with a marvellous opportunity for a dry run for what they hope to achieve in future with the provision of external finance and multidisciplinary practices. The Minister is nodding but demonstrating no inclination to rise again to her feet.