Court ruling on legal activities by non-lawyers contd...

In yesterday’s news item on Mazur v Charles Russell Speechlys LLP, we said that the High Court’s decision that the “reserved legal activity” of the conduct of litigation could not be undertaken by a non-lawyer was also relevant to “reserved instrument activities” such as the preparation of pension scheme trust deeds, so that such deeds could not be drafted by someone who was not an authorised lawyer, even if under a lawyer’s supervision.

We are grateful to Douglas Mullen, of Anthony Collins Solicitors, for pointing out the additional exception applicable to “reserved instrument activities” in the Courts and Legal Services Act 2007. By s.12 of the Act, persons are entitled to carry on a “reserved legal activity” if they are an “exempt person”, which is defined in respect of “reserved instrument activities” to include individuals in certain employment situations carrying on the activity at the direction and under the supervision of prescribed authorised persons (sch 3, paras 3(3) and (4)).

The Act therefore does permit pension scheme deeds to be drafted by persons who are not legally qualified in certain situations, provided that they are suitably directed and supervised. This exemption does not apply to “reserved instrument activities” which also involve the conduct of litigation (sch 3, paras 7 and 8).