The landscape of legal professionals beyond solicitors and barristers — who is regulated, who is not, and which activities the law reserves to authorised persons.
Reserved legal activities sit at the heart of this topic: carrying one out without authorisation is a criminal offence, so knowing who may do what matters. This chapter opens with the Legal Services Act 2007 framework, the six reserved activities and the consequences of unauthorised practice, before introducing the regulated professions that share the field — licensed conveyancers and Chartered Legal Executives, then patent and trade mark attorneys and notaries public. It then turns to the unregulated sector, including will-writers and independent paralegals, and the consumer protections lost when a provider sits outside regulation. The chapter closes with McKenzie friends — what they may and may not do for a litigant in person, and when a court will grant one a right of audience.
