Deregulation of Conveyancing Markets in England and Wales

Regulation of the legal profession

“…As implied in the foregoing, in many jurisdictions the regulation of a profession is in the hands of the members of the profession itself, either nationally or locally. This is usually the case with the legal profession (Arruñada, 1996;Curran, 1993;Dingwall and Fenn, 1987;Evans and Trebilcock, 1982;Faure, 1993;Federal Trade Commission, 1984;Finsinger, 1993;Helligman, 1993;Herrmann, 1993;Lees, 1966;Ogus, 1993;Pashigian, 1979;Stephen, 1994;Stephen and Love, 1996;Stephen, Love and Paterson, 1994;Van den Bergh, 1993).…”

Professionalism under the Legal Services Act 2007

“…Reform of the legal profession was, however, on the agenda from 1987, when the solicitors' conveyancing monopoly was ended by the creation of the profession of licensed conveyancers. Solicitors' charges for conveyancing tumbled even before competition with licensed conveyancers began in earnest (Domberger and Sherr, 1989), at least initially (Stephen et al, 1994) vindicating and encouraging the policy of competition. This success also appeared to cast the rule of law as an inhibitor on executive power to achieve distributive justice (Nicol, 2010;38).…”

The reform of legal aid in England and Wales

“…When the solicitor is paid by the LAB, a situation of common agency develops (see, for example, Bernheim and Whinston (1985)). In that period, solicitors' income from conveyancing was hit by two events: the collapse of the property market and the removal (by Part II of the Administration of Justice Act 1985) of their monopoly on the supply of conveyancing services (see Stephen, Love and Patterson (1994)). Less obviously, but for reasons relating to administrative facilities and legal expertise, this is also likely to be true of the LAB (Gray, Fenn and Rickman, 1997).…”

“…However, it is feasible that their research pre-dated a sharp drop in the opportunity cost of such work which took place in the late 1980s, the time when legal aid costs began to rise. In that period, solicitors' income from conveyancing was hit by two events: the collapse of the property market and the removal (by Part II of the Administration of Justice Act 1985) of their monopoly on the supply of conveyancing services (see Stephen, Love and Patterson (1994)). This reduction in the opportunity cost of legally aided work as a 'staple' income generator provided at least the conditions in which supplier-induced demand behaviour in legal aid could have occurred.…”