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| Long title | An Act to make provision for the establishment of the Legal Services Board and in respect of its functions; to make provision for, and in connection with, the regulation of persons who carry on certain legal activities; to make provision for the establishment of the Office for Legal Complaints and for a scheme to consider and determine legal complaints; to make provision about claims management services and about immigration advice and immigration services; to make provision in respect of legal representation provided free of charge; to make provision about the application of the Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 2007; to make provision about the Scottish legal services ombudsman; and for connected purposes. |
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| Citation | 2007 c. 29 |
| Introduced by | Lord Falconer Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, 23 November 2006 |
| Territorial extent | England and Wales |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 30 October 2007 |
| Commencement | 7 March 2008 |
| Repealed | — |
| Other legislation | |
| Amended by | — |
| Repealed by | — |
| Relates to | — |
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Status: Not fully in force
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| History of passage through Parliament | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Revised text of statute as amended | |
The Legal Services Act 2007 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that seeks to liberalise and regulate the market for legal services in England and Wales, to encourage more competition and to provide a new route for consumer complaints. It also makes provisions about the Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 2007.
Section 1 of the Act defines eight regulatory objectives:
The professional principles are:
Sections 2 to 7 and Schedule 1 create the Legal Services Board with a duty to promote the regulatory objectives. David Edmonds was appointed the first chair of the Board on 23 April 2008 and nine members were appointed on 17 July. The members took up post on 1 September 2008 and the Board became fully operational on 1 January 2010. The Board is to have a Consumer Panel to represent consumers (ss. 8-11). As of July 2008[update] no date has been fixed for the coming into force of the provisions about the Consumer Panel.
Section 12 and Schedule 2 define six reserved legal activities:
This list can be amended by an Order in Council of the Chancellor (ss. 24-26).
Section 12 then goes on to define, for the purposes of the Act, a legal activity as either a reserved legal activity or as the provision of legal advice, assistance or representation in connection with the application of the law or with any form of resolution of legal disputes. Legal activity does not include acting as a mediator or arbitrator.
Only an authorised person or an exempt person can carry out a reserved legal activity (s. 14). It is a crime to carry out a reserved activity otherwise though it is a defence that the person "did not know, and could not reasonably have been expected to know" that they were committing an offence. It is also an offence to pretend to be authorised (s. 17) An offender can be sentenced on summary conviction to up to six months' imprisonment and a fine of up to £5,000. If convicted on indictment in the Crown Court an offender can be sentenced to up to two years' imprisonment and an unlimited fine. An unauthorised person who purports to exercise a right of audience also commits a contempt of court for which he can be punished.
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