The Bar Standards Board has set out its stall to become a ‘specialist regulator’ for those providing advocacy and related services – and proposes allowing barristers to carry out work currently performed by solicitors.

In a consultation published today, the bar’s regulator proposes that barristers should no longer be prevented from providing litigation services, where litigation is ancillary to advocacy.

But the BSB suggests that the current restrictions on barristers handling client money and clients’ affairs should not be removed, to preserve the distinction between the roles of barrister and solicitor.

The consultation, the BSB’s third on the implications of the Legal Services Act, asks whether it should widen its remit beyond individual barristers, to regulate the new business entities permitted by the Legal Services Act: barrister-only entities; legal disciplinary practices and alternative business structures.

It proposes that all managers in any of these entities would need to be ‘active’ managers, and says it would not regulate entities with external owners who are not also managers.

To reinforce the requirement that all entities regulated by the BSB would be providing primarily advocacy and advice services, the BSB would require that a majority of an entity’s managers to be permitted to practise as advocates in the higher courts.

It would limit the non-lawyer management in an entity to either 25% or 10%, in line with either the current transitional arrangements for LDPs regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authoirty, or the threshold for ‘low-risk’ ABSs under the LSA.

The consultation also discusses other reserved legal activities, and whether the BSB should regulate entities which provide conveyancing or probate services that are ancillary to the primary provision of advocacy services.

The paper says that the BSB’s provisional conclusion is that it would be in the public interest for it to establish itself as a specialist regulator of entities providing primarily advocacy and ancillary services, including legal advice and litigation.

BSB chair Lady Deech said: ‘This is one of the most significant consultations we have issued to date. These decisions could have major implications for barristers and those who seek their services, as well as for the BSB as a regulator.’

‘There could also be substantial benefits to the public and increased access to justice if we update our regulatory arrangements to reflect the act.’

Deech added: ‘The proposals in the consultation are provisional and we encourage all those with an interest to submit their views and influence the future of legal service provision.’

The consultation will run until 23 December 2010.