Commentary on Sections Part 2 – Regulation of Licensed Legal Services Key duties and positions Section 50 – Key duties
112.Section 50 sets out the key duties applicable to all licensed providers, including their obligations with respect to the regulatory objectives, professional principles, their approved regulator’s regulatory scheme and licence terms and conditions. Licensed providers must also ensure compliance with any professional code of conduct applicable to persons within the licensed provider – whether or not such codes are directly incorporated within the approved regulator’s scheme.
113.Because a licensed provider is an intangible entity, the Act provides that all such providers must have identifiable individuals responsible for securing compliance with the key duties, namely a Head of Legal Services (see section 51) and either a Head of Practice (see section 52) or Practice Committee (see section 53). The two posts have distinct but overlapping duties. Broadly, the Head of Legal Services is responsible for ensuring compliance with regulatory objectives and professional principles, while the Head of Practice is responsible for the broader compliance with the relevant regulatory scheme, and licence terms and conditions.