The Legal Services Board is the oversight regulator for legal services approved regulators in the Legal Services Act 2007. These bodies directly regulate the lawyers practising in England and Wales. Some of the approved regulators are also licensing authorities which means that they can license alternative business structures that provide reserved legal activities.
Below are listed the approved regulators and licensing authorities and the reserved legal activities which they regulate.
We have published guidance on who are authorised to carry out the reserved legal activity of probate (pdf).
There are links to each of the approved regulators. As the approved regulators are required to separate their representative functions from their regulatory functions, there may be more than one link for each approved regulator.
Legal services regulation map (PDF)
Profession:
Solicitors
Approved regulators (representative body):
Law Society
Independent Regulatory body:
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)
Approved regulator (AR): AR
Licensing Authority (LA): LA
Reserved legal activities regulated:
- The exercise of right of audience
- The conduct of litigation
- Reserved instrument activities
- Probate activities
- The administration of oaths
Profession:
Barristers
Approved regulators (representative body):
Bar Council
Independent Regulatory body:
Bar Standards Board (BSB)
Approved regulator (AR): AR
Licensing Authority (LA): LA
Reserved legal activities regulated:
- The exercise of right of audience
- The conduct of litigation
- Reserved instrument activities
- Probate activities
- The administration of oaths
Profession:
Chartered Legal Executives
Approved regulators (representative body):
Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEX):
Independent Regulatory body:
CILEx Regulation
Approved regulator (AR): AR
Licensing Authority (LA): LA
Reserved legal activities regulated:
- The exercise of right of audience
- The conduct of litigation
- Reserved instrument activities
- Probate activities
- The administration of oaths
Profession:
Licensed Conveyancers
Approved regulators (representative body):
Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC)
(regulatory body for Licensed Conveyancers, no representative functions)
Approved regulator (AR): AR
Licensing Authority (LA): LA
Reserved legal activities regulated:
- Reserved instrument activities
- Probate activities
- The administration of oaths
Profession:
Patent Attorneys
Approved regulators (representative body):
Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA)
Independent Regulatory body:
Intellectual Property Regulation Board
(Regulatory body for both CIPA and CITMA)
Approved regulator (AR): AR
Licensing Authority (LA): LA
Reserved legal activities regulated:
- The exercise of right of audience
- The conduct of litigation
- Reserved instrument activities
- The administration of oaths
Profession:
Trade Mark Attorneys
Approved regulators (representative body):
Chartered Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys (CITMA)
Independent Regulatory body:
Intellectual Property Regulation Board
Approved regulator (AR): AR
Licensing Authority (LA): LA
Reserved legal activities regulated:
- The exercise of right of audience
- The conduct of litigation
- Reserved instrument activities
- The administration of oaths
Profession:
Costs Lawyers
Approved regulators (representative body):
Association of Costs Lawyers (ACL)
Independent Regulatory body:
Costs Lawyer Standards Board (CLSB)
Approved regulator (AR): AR
Licensing Authority (LA):
Reserved legal activities regulated:
- The exercise of right of audience
- The conduct of litigation
- The administration of oaths
Profession:
Notaries
Approved regulators (representative body):
Master of the Faculties (regulatory body for Notaries, no representative functions)
Approved regulator (AR): AR
Licensing Authority (LA):
Reserved legal activities regulated:
- Reserved instrument activities
- Probate activities
- Notarial Activities
- The administration of oaths
Profession:
Chartered Accountants
Approved regulators (representative body):
Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)
There is no separate regulatory body; all decisions relating to legal activities are delegated to the independently chaired ICAEW Regulatory Board
Approved regulator (AR): AR
Licensing Authority (LA): LA
Reserved legal activities regulated:
- Probate
- Administration of oaths
The following was an approved regulator until 29 February 2024 when the Legal Services Act 2007 (Approved Regulator) Order 2024 came into force. Further information on the cancellation of designation can be found here, under our Statutory decision making section.
Profession:
Chartered Accountants
Approved regulators (representative body):
Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)
There is no separate regulatory body; all decisions relating to legal activities are delegated to the independently chaired Regulatory Board
Approved regulator (AR): AR
Licensing Authority (LA):
Reserved legal activities regulated:
The following are also approved regulators for probate activities only but do not currently authorise anyone to offer this service:
The following representative bodies are not part of the Legal Services Act 2007 designated approved regulators framework and therefore do not fall under our remit:
If you have a query about a particular type of lawyer you should contact the relevant approved regulator.
If you have a complaint about a particular type of lawyer you should contact the Legal Ombudsman, which opened on 6 October 2010.
