Law schools back lord president over Scottish government power grab

The Committee of Heads of University Law Schools in Scotland endorsed the response of the Lord President, Lord Carloway, on behalf of the senior judiciary in Scotland to the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill.

The committee says it a statement: “We firmly believe that it is key to the rule of law to protect the independence of the judiciary and the legal professions from government regulation. Political interference in the legal profession is not a far-fetched possibility: in this regard we note, for instance, the very real controversy in relation to this issue in several current Member States of the European Union and the relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union.”

The statement adds: “Scots law is a culturally, historically and socio-economically significant part of what constitutes the nation of Scotland. This is true irrespective of whether Scotland becomes independent or remains in the United Kingdom. The Scottish government must be seen to be protective of Scots law and the Scottish legal system by not being seen to take to itself regulatory power over the legal professions in Scotland.

“Given the legal profession and the judiciary’s respective roles in the constitutional processes which can be used to hold the Scottish government to account, it would present an unacceptable conflict of interest if the Scottish government were to be in the position of regulating the profession and/or to alter the scope of lawyers’ professional obligations.”

It concludes: “As legal educators in Scotland we are conscious of our duty to educate successive generations of legal professionals and judges in Scotland. We value the links that we have with those who regulate the legal professions in Scotland in helping us to secure the very high quality of legal education in Scotland which is something we believe, as a nation, we should be proud of and value.”