Reform of legal services must deliver 'positive change' for profession

Isle of Man Law Society says it's already started making changes 

Legal services on the Isle of Man need more oversight, and to be more transparent, particularly when it comes to dealing with complaints.  

That’s the view of the home affairs minister after an independent review into the legal sector on the Island made 32 recommendations for change.  

Lord Garnier KC’s review comes after a Tynwald committee looked into modernising legal services.  

He looked at how the industry was regulated, how advocates qualify to practice on the Island and whether more needs to be done to encourage diversity within the profession.

Jane-Poole Wilson will ask Tynwald to show its support for the recommended changes when it sits next month – one of them is the complaints process which is seen as one area which needs to change: 

Lord Garnier also questioned whether the Isle of Man Law Society should act as the legal sector’s regulator and representative body.  

It’s something he’s highlighted as a conflict of interest saying a review is needed but acknowledging that the Island is too small to support separate bodies to deal with the two areas.  

The Isle of Man Law Society says it had already begun work to reform legal services, ahead of the review, and is planning a full review of its governing byelaws with the intention of modernising internal rules and enhancing powers to improve consumer protection.

Peter Clucas is the vice-president of the Isle of Man Law Society:

This progress has been welcomed by Minister Poole-Wilson who was also a member of the Constitutional and Legal Affairs and Justice Committee which reported on legal services in 2021:

Mr Clucas says he feels more of the progress made by the profession could have been highlighted by the committee ahead of Lord Garnier's review:

Tynwald will be asked to support the Department of Home Affairs to put an action plan in place to implement the recommendations and for the Isle of Man Law Society to progress the recommendations in full.