Legal business in the United Kingdom is currently in the midst of a quiet revolution. Much of it is due to one individual: Sir David Clementi. A former deputy governor of the Bank of England, Clementi was asked in 2003 by the then secretary of State for constitutional affairs, Baron Falconer of Thoroton, to undertake a wide-ranging review of the country's legal services industry.
It was a surprising choice. An accountant by trade, Clementi had no background in the law, although a prior five-year stint as a nonexecutive director of the Financial Services Authority left him well-equipped to navigate what he calls the "regulatory maze" that governed U.K. legal services at the time.
