Legal Services Regulation Act 2015

Amendment of section 49 of Act of 1954

181. Section 49 of the Act of 1954 is amended—

(a) in subsection (1) (q) —

(i) by the substitution, in subparagraph (ii), of “years,” for “years, or”,

(ii) by the substitution, in subparagraph (iii), of “clients, or” for “clients.”, and

(iii) by the insertion of the following after subparagraph (iii):

“(iv) the number and nature of complaints made to the Authority in respect of the solicitor under section 51 of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015, within the preceding two practice years;”,

(b) by the insertion of the following after subsection (1)(q):

“(r) he has failed to comply with a notice issued to him under section 70 (6)(c) of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 by the Complaints Committee of the Authority;

(s) he has failed to comply with a direction issued to him under section 71 (1)(a) of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015;

(t) he has been convicted of an indictable offence;

(u) he has contravened the Solicitors Acts 1954 to 2015;

(v) he has contravened the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 or regulations made under it.”,

and

(c) by the insertion of the following after subsection (7):

“(8) The Society, where it has reason to consider that a solicitor may not be fit to carry on the practice of a solicitor having regard to the state of his physical or mental health, may, for the purposes of subsection (1)(p), direct that the solicitor be examined by a registered medical practitioner nominated by the Society.

(9) In subsection (8), ‘registered medical practitioner’ means a person who is a registered medical practitioner within the meaning of section 2 of the Medical Practitioners Act 2007 .”.