The Legal Services Board (LSB) today announces that Richard Orpin has been appointed its Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The Board appointed Richard following an open recruitment process. Richard joined the LSB in 2023 as Director, Regulation and Policy, and has nearly 20 years’ experience in regulation and in government. Commenting on the appointment, Catherine Brown, Interim Chair of the Legal Services…
The Legal Services Board (LSB) has today launched a consultation on its draft business plan and budget for 2026/27. Alongside this, it has published a report on the sector’s progress against the Reshaping Legal Services strategy. Business plan 2026/27 The draft business plan proposes that the LSB implement its revised approach to oversight regulation. This will involve the LSB focussing its resources on regulators that underperform and reducing burdens on those performing well. Meanwhile, the…
Read LSB outlines plans as report shows legal sector’s progress – and challenges
This month’s Board meeting coincided with the launch of our consultation on encouraging a diverse legal profession. At the heart of this consultation is a simple but powerful principle: the legal profession should better reflect the society it serves. Greater diversity brings many advantages, not just for fairness, but also for improving the quality, reach,…
The Legal Services Board (LSB) has shared new proposals that aim to support equality and diversity in the legal profession and is inviting feedback from across the sector. Despite some progress, the legal profession does not represent the people it serves. Many groups still face barriers to entering the profession and developing their careers in legal services. Women, minoritised ethnic groups and disabled people, for example, remain significantly underrepresented at senior levels across parts of the…
Read LSB publishes plans to tackle barriers to a more diverse legal services profession
The Legal Services Board (LSB) welcomes the publication of the House of Lords Constitution Committee’s report on the rule of law in the UK. We are pleased that the Committee has drawn on the evidence we submitted, including material from our Professional Ethics and Rule of Law (PERL) programme. The Committee’s highlighting of this evidence…
Read LSB statement on the House of Lords Constitution Committee’s report on the rule of law
The Legal Services Board (LSB) has approved an application from CILEx Regulation Limited (CRL) to allow legal executives to obtain standalone litigation practice rights. This decision is an important step towards ensuring that legal professionals impacted by the Mazur judgment can obtain the relevant authorisation practice rights in a timely manner. It will also allow others…
Read CILEx Regulation Limited’s application for stand-alone litigation rights
Our October 2025 Board meeting took place at a time of significant reflection for the legal sector. The findings of an independent review into the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA’s) regulation of SSB Group and the High Court’s Mazur judgment provided the context. These events have prompted the Board to consider how we better protect the…
An independent review of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)’s regulation of the SSB Group [PDF] has led to the Legal Services Board (LSB) initiating enforcement action. The LSB will seek improvements from the SRA to better protect consumers and the public. SSB was a law firm based in Sheffield that acted for thousands of clients in…
Read LSB to act after review finds SRA failed to protect consumers affected by SSB collapse
The Legal Services Board today (14 October 2025) announced that Kate Briscoe has decided to step down as a lay Board member. The Lord Chancellor has agreed to her request to leave the Board with immediate effect. Kate has informed us that due to the increasing demands of running Legal Beagles, which she expects to…
The Mazur judgment does not change the law under the Legal Services Act 2007. However, it has prompted discussion about how the reserved legal activity of conducting litigation has been interpreted and applied. A Legal Services Board (LSB) spokesperson said: ‘On 9 October 2025, the LSB met senior executives from all relevant approved regulators and…
Read LSB Statement: High Court Decision in Mazur – 13 October 2025
We are aware of the recent High Court decision in Mazur and the discussion it has prompted across parts of the legal sector. While the judgment does not change the law, we recognise that it has raised questions about how some in the profession have interpreted and implemented the reserved legal activity ‘conduct of litigation’…
Read LSB statement: High Court decision in Mazur – 3 October 2025
Our September Board meeting coincided with a special event on the uses and regulation of AI. I’d like to begin by thanking Clifford Chance, who generously hosted both. In this month’s blog, I share some highlights from those discussions, as well as other recent developments at the LSB. Recruitment of a new Chair The Ministry…
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