Over-regulation by the Bar Standards Board may make partnerships between barristers and solicitors unattractive and threaten the intentions of the Legal Services Act, the Law Society has warned.

Responding to the BSB’s second consultation on the regulatory implications of the Legal Services Act 2007, Chancery Lane said the regulators – the BSB and the Solicitors Regulation Authority – must ensure as little duplication as possible in regulation once the provisions come into force.

The Society said it supports the BSB’s proposals to allow barristers to become partners in legal disciplinary practices regulated by the SRA and to establish barrister-only partnerships.

It said all lawyers practising in an LDP regulated by the SRA must be bound by the SRA’s rules and regulations. Lawyers will be able to practise in LDPs from 31 March, a month later than the SRA had planned. However, the BSB does not expect to complete its draft regulations for implementing the reforms until June, and is considering whether to grant barristers a waiver from the relevant parts of the bar’s code of conduct to allow them to participate.