Legal Practice Ethics and Regulations Assignment Sample

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Task 1: Regulation of Reserved Legal Activities and Authorized Persons

The 2007 Legal Services Act 2007 (LSA 2007) brings about vast changes to the regulation of their legal professionals in the UK. It provided a framework for the regulation of the reserved legal activities that are in the public interest. Only such authorized persons may perform these activities which include, inter alia, conducting litigation, administer oaths and perform notarial services. If these critical legal services are to continue to be undertaken by individuals of quality and know-how, dispensing appropriate legal advice and services, then the LSA 2007 guarantees that it is carried out by persons who are qualified to do so: solicitors, barristers and licensed conveyancers.

Legal Practice Ethics and Regulations Assignment Sample

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Samples and reference materials assist students in enhancing assignment structure and academic performance. As a trusted assignment helper in UK, we ensure originality and quality. The Legal Practice Ethics and Regulations Assignment Sample covers LSA 2007 reserved activities, authorized persons, approved regulators, and ABS structures. For learning use only.

Reserved Legal Activities

Restricted legal activities mean those legal activities that can only be performed by someone who has been allowed to engage in them by law. These activities are deemed as having a bearing on the legal infrastructure and can only be professionally conducted competently and ethically. The reserved legal activities as highlighted under the LSA 2007 are as follows:

The continuance and prosecution of a lawsuit – This involves arguing for clients in a court trial and also involving cases.

This type of activity is associated with drawing up legal documents concerning large transactions, for example, transfer of properties or writing of wills.

Notarial activities – This involves the legalization of both public documents used in matters related to the legal practice in foreign jurisdictions[1].

They should be restricted to certain people for they offer legal services, and hence the general public needs to be safeguarded.

Authorized Persons

An authorised person is a person who is allowed to perform the restricted legal operations. As stated in the LSA 2007, the key participants or the authorized persons must possess certain professional criteria and must follow some extent of rules and regulation[2]. The enumerated categories of people are usually considered as authorized:

barrier – Those people who provide legal advice to their clients and appear in court to argue on their behalf as well as drafting of contracts etc,.

Barristers – Legal representatives, who specialize in advocacy work and giving of legal opinions, mostly in association with solicitors.

Legal-Executives – Persons who after acquiring formal education in law and training focus in particular segments of the legal field in carrying out tasks comparable to those of solicitors.

Authorized Conveyancers – These are specialists in dealing with conveyance particularly in the transmission of property deeds.

Authorized persons must have qualifications in terms of education, ethical and professional conduct and they have to be controlled by appropriate recognized regulatory authorities.

Approved Regulators

Such regulators are organizations that the Legal Services Board approves to monitor the conduct of authorised persons and make sure that they meet professional and ethical standards. The monitors and, if necessary, the disciplinary action are carried out by these regulators[3]. They also serve as a mechanism for the public to make complaints against the conduct of legal professionals.

Some of the primary regulators approved by some are:

This is Solicitors Regulation Authority (here the SRA regulates solicitors in England and Wales and sets standards for professional conduct, education and training).

Bar Standards Board (BSB) – Framework and procedure they regulate barristers and make sure they adhere to the rules of practice and that they conduct their professional behavior effectively.

Chartered Legal Executive (L.C.E.C.) – This refers to the professional designation held by Chartered Legal Executives, which belongs to CILEx Regulation. It is responsible for their qualifications and professional standards.

Regulated by Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC): the CLC regulates licensed conveyancers and makes sure they are meeting the required requirements to provide the property work involved.
Membership in these regulators is necessary to ensure that quality of legal services in the UK are maintained. These people are sure that in the legal field they allow only the professional persons who can handle sensitive legal issues and also they make sure that the ethical and professional standard required in the legal field is followed.

The Legal Services Act 2007 set up a good framework for the regulation of reserved legal activities, and only authorized persons are released to undertake such vital legal services[4]. The LSA 2007 creates a system of professional qualifications and approved regulators to keep high standards in legal practice and to ensure that the public has access to competent, ethical and professional legal help. Regulators (SRA and BSB) have an important role to play in observing the standards to maintain the situation where legal services must still be available, trustworthy and accountable.

Task 2: Alternative Business Structures (ABS)

What is an ABS?

The Alternative Business Structure (ABS) is a concept under the LSA 2007 by which non lawyers can own or invest in legal practice [5]. Until the law firm was introduced with the introduction of ABS, qualified lawyers only had the authority to own and run law firms. ABS, for instance, permits wider business structures including the incorporation of the legal services function into other business activities.

The ABS can be a firm or an organization that offers legal services along with other services or in which non-lawyers are owners or managers. The consequence of this change would be an abundance of rich options that provide possibilities of higher efficiency, innovation, and competition in the legal sector.

Regulation of ABS

These professional bodies regulate ABS in the same way as they regulate traditional legal practices. The regulatory approach, however, takes care that the participation of non-lawyers does not entail any loss of the integrity of legal practice [6]. Likewise, in the case of ABS entities, the legal and the financial aspects of management need to be regulated by means of the appointment of a compliance officer for legal practice (COLP) and a compliance officer for finance and administration (COFA).

The Legal Services Board (the LSB) oversees the operation of ABS and in doing so, the LSB makes sure ABS are operating so consumers are protected and of high standards of legal practice. The regulatory framework also requires ABS to conform to the most stringent of ideological and financial management rules.

Strengths and Weaknesses of ABS

For the legal sector, the introduction of ABS has some strengths and some weaknesses.

Strengths:

Business models: These are enhanced by ABS, as it opens up avenues for new models of doing business, thus spurring increased competition and the opportunity for cheaper legal services. Different skills can be brought in by a firm by a partner, not being a lawyer, which can contribute to the operational efficiency.

Capital: Legal businesses can obtain funding from non-lawyer investors that can expand the firm and variety of offerings[7].

Improved client services: ABS structures are flexible and allow the legal services to be put to the service of the client as well as other professional services such as financial advice or business consulting.

Weaknesses:

Conflict of interest and risk to professional ethics: Critics worry that the ownership of ABS by non-lawyers might cause conflicts of interests or raise ethical issues, since the latter might be pressed in order to make some profits which can influence the advice given to the client.

Reduced quality: The previous point is potentially exacerbated due to the involvement of non-lawyers in management – there might be a temptation to focus less on legal expertise and more towards finding space for non-lawyers [8].

Complex regulatory framework: As the regulatory framework for ABS is complex and burdensome, applicable for both legal and non-legal ABS, it is a challenge for smaller firms to comply with the rules.

Examples of ABS

Co-operative Legal Services is an example of an ABS where legal services are combined with other business functions, i.e., insurance. This model turned out successful, bringing competitive rates and a broad range of legal services to a wider market. In another example, QualitySolicitors works as a national network of law firms with the involvement of non legal investors to strengthen their reach and services.

In 2007, the Legal Services Act, to a large extent, determined the direction of the legal profession, regulating reserved legal activities and introducing the term Alternative Business Structures. Legal activities that are reserved in nature are vital for legal system function and the regulation serves the purpose of providing such services by qualified persons[9]. However, compared to other materials like ABS, the legal sector, on the positive side, offers spectacular opportunities to innovate and compete while, on the contrary, creating uncertainty about professional ethics and service quality.

Reference List

Journal

• Andriani Kalintiri, 'Analytical Shortcuts in EU Competition Enforcement: Proxies, Premises, and Presumptions' (2020) 16(3) Journal of Competition Law & Economics 392.
• David Freeman Engstrom, 'Digital Civil Procedure' (2021) 169 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 2243.
• Geeyoung Min, 'Governance by Dividends' (2021) 107 Iowa Law Review 117.
• Ivan Ozai, 'Two Accounts of International Tax Justice' (2020) 33(2) Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence 317.
• Kangcheng Luo and others, 'Automating Legal Concept Interpretation with LLMs: Retrieval, Generation, and Evaluation' (2025) arXiv preprint arXiv:2501.01743.
• Lina M. Khan, 'The Case for "Unfair Methods of Competition" Rulemaking' (2020) 87(2) University of Chicago Law Review 357.
• Nilanjan Chakraborty and S. Das, 'Sex Equality under the Constitution of India: Problems, Prospects and Personal Laws' (2020) 57(9) Psychology and Education Journal 975.
• Or Brook, 'Priority Setting as a Double-Edged Sword: How Modernization Strengthened the Role of Public Policy' (2020) 16(4) Journal of Competition Law & Economics 435.
• Yuvraj Joshi, 'Racial Transition' (2021) 98(4) Washington University Law Review 1181.
• [1] Yuvraj Joshi, 'Racial Transition' (2021) 98(4) Washington University Law Review 1181.
• [2] Or Brook, 'Priority Setting as a Double-Edged Sword: How Modernization Strengthened the Role of Public Policy' (2020) 16(4) Journal of Competition Law & Economics 435.
• [3] Andriani Kalintiri, 'Analytical Shortcuts in EU Competition Enforcement: Proxies, Premises, and Presumptions' (2020) 16(3) Journal of Competition Law & Economics 392.
• [4] Ivan Ozai, 'Two Accounts of International Tax Justice' (2020) 33(2) Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence 317.
• [5] Lina M. Khan, 'The Case for "Unfair Methods of Competition" Rulemaking' (2020) 87(2) University of Chicago Law Review 357.
• [6] Geeyoung Min, 'Governance by Dividends' (2021) 107 Iowa Law Review 117.
• [7] David Freeman Engstrom, 'Digital Civil Procedure' (2021) 169 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 2243. 
• [8] Kangcheng Luo and others, 'Automating Legal Concept Interpretation with LLMs: Retrieval, Generation, and Evaluation' (2025) arXiv preprint arXiv:2501.01743.
• [9] Nilanjan Chakraborty and S. Das, 'Sex Equality under the Constitution of India: Problems, Prospects and Personal Laws' (2020) 57(9) Psychology and Education Journal 975.