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Legal Services Bill [HL]

My Lords, another voice from a non-lawyer might not be inappropriate. I listened carefully to what the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, said, and I see his point. The idea of the panel is to ensure that consumers have a proper voice. To have a provision in the Bill that counteracts that strongly is not a good plan. What the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, has just said is also important. The least that lawyers can expect is to be able under the Bill to make representations of a kind mentioned in these amendments, but that must not in any way act against the provision of the panel. I cannot follow the legal theology of all this, but it seems common sense that lawyers must know that they can make representations, because that is very important to the profession, which has regulated itself up to now—in my view, very adequately. The Government should pay attention to this, but I have no idea whether these amendments are the right approach.