Background Offences relating to pretending to be a regulated provider of legal services Section 90 – Offence of taking or using the title of lawyer
217.This section makes it an offence for a person who is not entered in a register maintained under section 16 or a licensed provider, to take or use the title of lawyer in connection with providing (or offering to provide) legal services to the public for a fee, gain or reward.
The offence does not apply to a person who provides (or offers to provide) such services in relation to the laws, rules, beliefs or practices of a religion, but only if the person makes it clear that the taking or using of the title relates to the provision of legal services in relation to those matters and not to the provision of legal services more generally. This ensures that a person who provides legal services in relation to a religious law, including the interaction between the religious law and secular law does not commit an offence under this section if the person satisfies this requirement. Where a person also provides a legal service that does not relate to a religious law, the offence will apply to the person in the same way as it would any other person (unless the person is entered in a register maintained under section 16 or is a licensed provider when the title is taken or used).
218.A person who commits an offence under this section is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale (currently £2,500) (as at the date of Royal Assent to this Act).