Society's News

Corporate Members 2021

3PB Albion Chambers Ashfords Barcan + Kirby Battens Beale & Co BLM Burges Salmon Clarke Willmott CMS CMNO Cooke Painter Ltd Clyde & Co DAC Beachcroft The Family Law Practice Foot Anstey (including Enable Law) Fussell Wright GL Law Guildhall Chambers Irwin Mitchell Solicitors Lyons Davidson Marc White & Co Meade King Osborne Clarke Paragon Costs Solutions Queen Square Chambers … more

BLS features in Bristol Post oldest thriving companies in Bristol

Excerpt from the article: How Bristol’s oldest companies are still thriving after more than 100 years in business They include the city’s last-surviving chocolate maker a wine merchant and a tannery. Why do some companies struggle to survive beyond a year while others flourish for hundreds? Although more than 90 per cent of small companies in Britain will survive one … more

No 12, The Meeting Rooms – Conference, Meeting and Mediation Rooms for Hire

Please note that the BLS office is shut to members at present as we continue to work from home during the pandemic.  Bristol Law Society’s suite of conference and meeting rooms including a suite of mediation rooms are conveniently located in the centre between the Waterfront Area and the Old City in a modern building situated on the corner of … more

LEGAL SERVICES BOARD’S ROLE MUST NOW BE CONFINED – BAR COUNCIL RESPONDS TO TRIENNIAL REVIEW

The Bar Council, which represents barristers in England and Wales, has responded to the Government’s Triennial Review of the Legal Services Board (LSB) and called for it to be actively discouraged by the Government from extending its remit beyond that envisaged by Parliament.

In its response, the Bar Council notes the effectiveness of the Bar Standards Board in regulating the profession and questions the amount of work which the LSB duplicates, leading to increased cost and bureaucracy. That increased cost will ultimately be passed onto consumers of legal services and is not in their interests.

The Bar Council has called for the Government to ensure that the LSB does not interfere further in regulatory matters or education and training, unless it can demonstrate that the Approved Regulators are acting unreasonably or it is expressly asked to.

Michael Todd QC, Chairman of the Bar Council, said:

“The Bar Council’s response to this Triennial Review provides a cogent and evidence-based case for ensuring that the role of the LSB is confined, now that the bulk of the original statutory objectives have been met.

“Proper regulation in the legal services sector, in the public interest, is absolutely vital, but needs to be balanced against both cost and existing resources and performed efficiency. It makes no sense, nor was it ever intended by Parliament, for the LSB to duplicate the functions of the Approved Regulators. The role of the LSB must reflect that.

“We are keen for this review to help move us towards the type of effective but proportionate regulation which the public interest requires.”