Legal profession supports regulation of will writing

As reported in the Law Gazette, the Legal Services Board Consumer Panel (LSBCP) has received a huge response from the legal profession and members of the public to its recent call for evidence on whether regulating the will-writing industry would be in the best interests of consumers. In total, 380 case studies were received from lawyers, members of the public and others, and both consumer bodies and the public showed strong support for a move to regulate.     

The LSBCP has been tasked by the Legal Services Board to investigate the issue in order that it may make an informed decision on whether or not to regulate the industry.

The Law Society's submission - along with 120 case studies in support - said that will writing should become a reserved activity. It said that will writers should not be required to have the same qualifications as solicitors, but that any regulatory regime should have minimum training requirements, compulsory insurance cover, a compulsory compensation fund, a code of conduct, a complaints management system and a robust disciplinary mechanism.       

In contrast, the Co-operative Legal Services' submission said that will writing should become a reserved activity that can only be carried out by solicitors - its justification being that the legal profession offers a "clear course of redress". It did however acknowledge that "not all solicitors are competent will writers" and included in its submission examples of bad work done by both solicitors and will writers.    

Should the Legal Services Board decide to regulate the industry, will writing could become a popular career choice for law students. A new will-writing qualification which could offer certain exemptions to law graduates is currently being piloted (see "Will writing: a new career path for law graduates?").