Gordon Borrie, Director General of Fair Trading, has urged the Law Society and the Law Society of Scotland to respond more positively to proposals to allow solicitors the freedom to advertise their services. Greater progress would, he said, benefit some solicitors and make the services of solicitors generally better known to the public.

Speaking to a meeting of the London Young Solicitors Group, Mr Borrie said: “Five years of discussion and argument are long enough. We need to put an end to an unreasonable—and for some in the profession—an unfair restriction on competition”. Mr Borrie pointed out that in 1976 the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC) published two reports1 recommending that solicitors should be free to advertise as they saw fit, subject to certain safeguards; and that subsequently (in October, 1979, and May, 1980) two Royal Commission reports2 on the legal services had recommended that the Law Society and the Law Society of Scotland should amend their rules to give solicitors this freedom.

Mr Borrie continued: “But little has happened. Following the MMC reports, I held negotiations with both Law Societies which resulted in minor changes allowing new entrants to the profession and solicitors opening new or branch offices to make appropriate announcements. But the then Minister of State for Prices and Consumer Protection, in announcing these changes in May, 1978, called for more and said he expected the Law Societies to consider the matter further in the light of any relevant findings by the two Royal Commissions on the Legal Services. Despite their findings— two years and 18 months ago respectively—neither Law Society has shown willingness to accept the principle that individual solicitors should be free to advertise.

“I know, from letters I have received, that some solicitors wish to advertise, and I want to see them given this freedom. And let me stress that that is all it is—the freedom to advertise and to advertise responsibly. Solicitors who do not want to advertise or who think that it is somehow improper to advertise are entitled to their views. But, in my opinion, it is intolerable that these views should be forced on solicitors who do wish to take advantage of such a freedom in a way that is appropriate for an important and responsible profession.