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Legal Services Bill [HL]

My Lords, I was sad to see these amendments retabled because I thought in Committee that we had considered and agreed that non-lawyer managers would still be in positions to influence a business even if only assisting in the development of legal services or indeed delivering ancillary services. It is important that we are confident that legal services are properly protected. Exempting certain types of non-lawyer manager is in my view a step too far. We are not confident that the board or for that matter other approved regulators will be able to effectively regulate them under this approach. The noble Lord is right that we need to be careful and in a sense cautious about Part 5. Being a partner or a director in a firm brings with it influence and responsibility. Where legal services are concerned it is right that anyone in such an influential position can be under effective regulation, but applied flexibly. Under Part 5, that is the case in practice. In my view, the provisions for low-risk bodies that we have put in Clause 106 strike the right balance. I hope that on that basis the noble Lord will withdraw his amendment.