Article. Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to examine how recent regulatory changes, and the on-going effects of the global economic crisis, have affected legal services in England and Wales, and asks if there are, consequently, “too many lawyers”. The Legal Services Act 2007 introduced new regulatory priorities, placing greater emphasis on competition within a market for legal services, and introducing “Alternative Business Structures”, which enable non-lawyers to own or manage bodies providing legal services, or to carry out reserved legal activities within a licensed body. The paper speculates about the effects of a changing market, illustrated with emerging examples. Whether or not there are too many lawyers depends on who is regarded as a lawyer, what tasks a lawyer should carry out, the structure of the market for legal services, and the needs of legal "consumers".