The new Justice Minister is expected to signal proposals for a major reform to the Manx legal system.

Jane Poole-Wilson is due to make a statement on legal services to Tynwald next week.

She previously chaired Tynwald’s constitutional and legal affairs and justice committee which in a report last year proposed sweeping reforms.

It concluded that the Manx legal system is in urgent need of reform.

Among its most radical recommendations is that disciplinary system for advocates should be reformed and the Advocates’ Disciplinary Tribunal in its current form should be abolished.

In its place should be a more transparent, user-friendly complaints system.

The report recommended that the Council of Ministers should commission an independent review of the regulation of legal services in the Isle of Man, chaired by a person who has not practised law here.

This review would consider options for implementing the reforms identified in the report.

The report argued that the training system for Manx advocates is out of date and insufficient and the system for qualification should be brought into line with that in England and Wales.

It called for a system of practising certificates for Manx advocates and others practising in the island.

And it said the process for re-qualifying as a Manx advocate for barristers and solicitors from other common law jurisdictions should be simplified.

The committee report said it should be possible for legal practitioners to be given automatic temporary licences, giving them right of audience in Isle of Man courts, if they are briefed by a Manx advocate.

Registered legal practitioners should be classed as Manx advocates with a restricted licence, based on demonstrable experience and expertise, the report recommended.

And it said a system of continuous professional development should be introduced.

The Law Society should not be the representative body as well as the regulator, the report said.