The Gazette report of my speech last week to the Westminster Legal Policy Forum was a distorted portrayal of the views I expressed. I was not referring to ‘ABS licensing’ as a shambles, and nor were my remarks directed specifically at the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

My message was that the delay in SRA-regulated ABSs had resulted in the very unsatisfactory situation that many businesses now find themselves in, having spent years and a great deal of money preparing for 6 October. Certainty has been replaced with uncertainty, and this is no basis on which any business can plan effectively.

However, I was very careful not to attribute blame - not because I did not wish to express such a view publicly, but because, to my mind, it is not possible to do so.

The regulatory framework for the implementation of ABSs requires action from the SRA, the Law Society (as the approved regulator), the Legal Services Board, the Ministry of Justice and parliament.

The view I expressed was that the entire framework had failed to deliver, not that just one of the regulators was at fault.

Professor Stephen Mayson, director, Legal Services Institute, London EC1