Tynwald backs a report outlining reforms to improve legal services

A plan to implement a raft of changes to legal services on the Isle of Manx is set to be brought by February after Tynwald backed the move.

The Department of Home Affairs will work with the Isle of Man Law Society to roll out the measures put forward in an independent review in September.

Lord Edward Garnier KC made a total of 32 recommendations including 12 on modernising training and education.

The Justice and Home Affairs Minister said some were already underway.

Jane Poole-Wilson told politicians work had progressed "exponentially in the last couple of years, even when Lord Garnier's review was underway".

Reflecting on her own experiences as a qualified advocate during the Tynwald debate, Dawn Kinnish MLC said taking the bar examinations on the island was a "fog city" and those involved did not "know what you're going to be sitting".

She said she welcomed the creation of "a clear syllabus so students know exactly what they are going to be tackling in those examinations".

Attorney General Walter Wannenburgh, who is a member of the law society, said the island's legal sector was "an important constituent of our economy", employed "many hundreds of people" and contributed "very materially to the island's GDP".

He said the report had highlighted the "importance of the Manx legal profession" which was an "asset that should be protected".

Ms Poole-Wilson said it was important for the island to have a "strong, healthy and vibrant legal services sector" and the department would bring a "sense of pragmatism and realism" to creating the plan to implement the recommendations.

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