MSPs wary of law firm proposals

Mar 12 2010

Proposals which will allow banks and supermarkets to own law firms could hit customers, MSPs warned.

Holyrood's Justice Committee has given its guarded support to the Legal Services Bill, which will overhaul the way these are provided in Scotland. The changes came about after pressure from a consumer watchdog - but committee convenor Bill Aitken warned the shake-up could damage these interests.

He said: "The committee understands the principles behind the consumer lobby's arguments but received little in the way of hard evidence. Without this hard evidence, it could be argued that increased competition could result in detriment to the consumer as a consequence of the loss of local and high street legal firms if banks or supermarkets enter the legal services market."