Bills and Laws

This Bill updates the regulation of legal services in Scotland and provides for a modernised regulatory framework.

Part 1 deals with the overarching regulatory framework. It has three Chapters which:

• set out what regulated legal services are to achieve and the standards that those providing services should follow,
• make rules for all regulators of legal services. It divides regulators into two categories and places different rules on each,
• set out how an organisation can become a regulator and its members can gain permission to provide legal services.

Part 2 sets out rules about how businesses that provide legal services should be regulated. 

Part 3 is about complaints about legal services and how they are dealt with.

Part 4 makes a variety of other changes, including:

• changing ownership limits for a type of legal business,
• making it simpler for charities and third sector organisations to provide legal services,
• creating new offences in connection with people who pretend to be able to provide legal services.

Read more about what this Bill does in the Explanatory Notes (363KB, pdf) posted 20 April 2023

Why the Bill was created

Since December 2015, there have been several reports proposing changes to the regulation of legal services. 

In response to calls for reform from the legal sector and others, the Scottish Government commissioned an independent review to look at reforming the regulation of legal services in Scotland. The Bill will implement a number of recommendations from the Report of the Independent Review of Legal Services Regulation in Scotland by Esther Roberton. 

Esther Roberton’s report viewed that primary legislation was required to update the regulation of legal services in Scotland.  

Read more about why this Bill has been created in the Policy Memorandum (499KB, pdf) posted 20 April 2023