LSB welcomes Tailored Review report


The Government has today published its Tailored Reviews of the Legal Services Board and Office for Legal Complaints.

Commenting on the review Dr Helen Phillips, Interim Chair of the Legal Services Board said:

I welcome the findings of this review of the efficiency, effectiveness and governance of the Legal Services Board (LSB).  The clear conclusion is that “there is still a clear need’’ for the LSB.

We will study the recommendations of the review closely and will take swift action to implement identified improvements, many of which are already underway.

The review also highlights some fundamental tenets of legal services’ regulation. We very much agree that “the functions of the LSB need to be delivered independently of Government and the professions” and that “the LSB should use all of its powers to provide robust assurance on the separation of the frontline regulators from the representative functions of the approved regulators, including the use of its investigative powers where appropriate”.  This work has already commenced.

The review also supports the CMA’s Legal Services Market Study recommendations to the LSB on transparency of prices, which we agree should enhance the information available for consumers of legal services.

 

ENDS

For further information, please contact the LSB’s Communications Manager, Vincent McGovern (020 7271 0068).

Notes:

  1. The Ministry of Justice’s Tailored Reviews of the Legal Services Board and Office for Legal Complaints can be found here.
  2. The Legal Services Act 2007 (the Act) created the LSB as a new regulator with responsibility for overseeing the regulation of legal services in England and Wales.  The new regulatory regime became active on 1 January 2010.
  3. The LSB oversees nine approved regulators, which in turn regulate individual legal practitioners.  The approved regulators, designated under Part 1 of Schedule 4 of the 2007 Act, are the Law Society, the Bar Council, the Master of the Faculties, the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers, the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys, the Chartered Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys and the Association of Costs Lawyers. They have subsequently being joined as an approved regulator by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.In addition, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants are listed as approved regulators in relation only to reserved probate activities.
  4. As at 1 April 2017, the legal profession in England and Wales comprised 148,690 solicitors, 15,281 barristers, 6,809 chartered legal executives and 5,958 other individuals operating in other areas of the legal profession such as conveyancing.  The UK legal sector turnover was £31 billion per annum (2016) which is up 19% in cash terms since 2012.  For more information see here.

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