Newsletter – July 2021

From the CEO

The last few years have shown that it can be hard to predict what’s coming around the corner, but that doesn’t mean we can’t plan for the future. This month, we have been developing our proposed work programme for 2022, and we would love to tell you about our plans.

Our proposals are set out in our draft 2022 Business Plan. Mindful of our commitment to promote good consumer outcomes in all our work, we intend to carry out a number of research projects aimed at better understanding what consumers of Costs Lawyer’s services need and expect. In particular, we want to learn more about the unregulated part of the market for costs advice – to understand whether clients have a different experience when they use regulated as opposed to unregulated advisers – and consider what this means for the nature and scope of regulation in the costs market.

Alongside our Business Plan, we have published our draft budget for 2022. Some of our costs will increase next year; for example, the Legal Services Board has increased its budget by 4.4% and we must pass that increase on to you through the statutory levy. Other costs have come down, as we continue to make efficiency savings and work with new providers who can help us deliver a better service at lower cost. Overall, we are proposing to increase the practising fee in line with projected inflation, to £281.

We are seeking your feedback on our proposals in this year’s practising fee consultation, which is now open. There are more details in the Regulatory News section below.

It is worth explaining that, earlier this year, the Legal Services Board published new Practising Fee Rules which require the legal regulators to provide extra information in their practising fee consultations. This is a good thing, in that it drives transparency and ensures we’re accountable for our decisions. But the downside is that the consultation papers are longer.

To make it as easy as possible to read them, we have separated out some of the information into five Annexes. These include our 2022 Business Plan, 2022 budget, a summary of the activities funded by last year’s practising fee, our 2020 financial accounts and an initial equality impact assessment. We hope you can easily find the information that’s of most interest to you, but if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to let us know.

Kate Wellington

CEO

Regulatory News

New guidance

We have published new Guidance Notes on regulatory issues to consider when closing down a practice as well as advice for unregulated employers of Costs Lawyers.

Take a look at the guidance on closing down a practice if you are in a position of ownership or influence in your business (including sole practitioners) and you are considering closing the practice down. The guidance looks at the closure of a legal business from a regulatory perspective, covering things like who you should tell, how you should treat clients and what insurance you might need.

The guidance for unregulated employers of Costs Lawyers is designed to assist business owners and managers with understanding the regulatory obligations placed on Costs Lawyers that they employ. You can point your employer to this guidance to help them get familiar with concepts like CPD, reserved legal activity rights and conflicts of interest. It also explains your obligations around handling client money, dealing with complaints and having adequate insurance cover.

CPD opportunity for Costs Lawyers

We have been working with training provider Datalaw to create a bespoke Costs Lawyer Course Bundle, specifically for Costs Lawyers regulated by the CLSB. You can benefit from 60 minutes of free CPD as part of a seven day trial with Datalaw, which gives you access to materials from the new bundle. To access the free trial, click here.

We have also updated the list of free or low cost remote CPD opportunities on our COVID-19 advice webpage. It now includes the Datalaw offer above, as well as other online training on costs law, legal practice, and wider professional practice.

Please remember that our list is intended as a starting point to help you access affordable remote CPD; it should not be read as an endorsement or an exhaustive list of the training available across the market.

Practising fee consultation now open

We are now consulting on the practising fee for 2022. We are proposing to increase the fee by 2% in line with projected inflation, to £281. Further details about why this increase is necessary can be found in the consultation paper.

The consultation poses various questions about the impact of the fee, the benefits and costs of regulation, and the CLSB’s plans for 2022. We would encourage you to respond on any issues that are of interest to you.

The closing date for the consultation is 6 September 2021 and responses can be sent to [email protected].

Spotlight on… mindfulness for lawyers

In this newsletter, we turn our spotlight on the art of mindfulness. Ruth Ormston and Tessa Hollingsworth from the Mindfulness in Law Group explain what mindfulness is and how it might help lawyers.

“So often we can find our minds catapulting ahead to the (usually fairly unknown) future, or stuck ruminating over something that has happened in the past. And it’s often at those times that we can feel more negative, anxious, or stressed.”

Read More

Up and Coming…

Expect more from us shortly on:

  • Lessons from the 2021 audit of complaints procedures
  • A consultation on the competency framework for qualifying Costs Lawyers
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