Current work

Civil courts review

In November 2005, we published The Civil Justice System in Scotland -a case for review?, the final report of the civil justice advisory group chaired by the Right Honourable Lord Coulsfield and funded by the Nuffield Foundation. The report concluded that there was a need for review of a number of important aspects of the civil justice system in Scotland. For more information on that project see the Civil Justice Project webpage.

In February 2007, the Minister for Justice announced that Lord Gill, the Lord Justice Clerk, is to lead a review of the civil courts in Scotland.

Sarah O'Neill, the SCC's Legal Officer, is a member of the Policy Group set up to assist the Project Board for the review.

The review consultation paper was published on November 2007. The deadline for responses was 31 March 2008. To find out more about the civil courts review, and read the consultation paper, click here. To read the SCC response to the consultation paper, published on 13 March 2008, click here.

Regulation of the legal profession

We are currently actively involved in the debate surrounding the regulation of the legal profession in Scotland. SCC was represented on the Scottish Executive's Working Group on Research into the Legal Services Market in Scotland, set up to examine regulation and competition within the legal services market, which published its final report in May 2006. You can read the Working Group's report here.

We broadly welcomed the recent super-complaint made by Which? to the Office of Fair Trading about restrictions on business structures and direct access in the legal profession in Scotland. You can read our response to the OFT, published in July 2007 here.

To read our parliamentary briefing for the Scottish government debate on competition, regulation and business structures in the Scottish legal services market, which took place on 15 November 2007, click here.

You can read our response to the Law Society of Scotland's consultation paper on alternative business structures, which we published in January 2008, here.

We have warmly welcomed the establishment of the forthcoming independent Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, which will begin work on 1 October 2008.

Legal aid and publicly funded legal assistance

We responded to the Scottish Executive consultation Advice for All on the future role of publicly funded legal assistance, and you can find our evidence on the Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Bill here. Our publications on legal aid and related issues can be found under Access to Justice.

Wills and knowledge of inheritance rights

In 2006, we carried out research into whether people in Scotland have a will, and their knowledge of the legal rights of a deceased person's family where he or she did not leave a will. The research report was published in October 2006- to read the full report click here. To read a summary of the report click here.