The Ministry of Justice and Legal Services Board (LSB) today announced the appointment of Alan Kershaw as the new Chair of the LSB. He has been appointed for a four-year term effective from 1 April 2023.
The Lord Chancellor made the appointment in consultation with the Lord Chief Justice in accordance with the Legal Services Act 2007.
The announcement comes as Dr Helen Phillips prepares to step down as Chair of the LSB on 31 March 2023, when her final term of office ends. Helen joined the LSB as a lay member of the Board in 2015, became interim Chair in 2017, and was appointed Chair in 2018.
Dr Helen Phillips said:
“It has been a privilege to serve as Chair of the LSB and as a Board member. I will look back with satisfaction on our achievements as a sector, including improvements in price transparency and public legal education that make it easier for people to navigate the legal services market and exercise consumer choice. The LSB’s policy statement on ongoing competence will ensure that lawyers have the skills, knowledge and behaviours to provide good quality legal services. This is vital for public trust and confidence. The LSB has taken a strategic approach to regulation across the whole sector to better connect people to the legal services that are right for them and to reduce unmet legal need.
“I want to thank the staff at the LSB for everything that they have done to deliver our vision. I am also grateful to my fellow Board members for their support and expertise in achieving our shared goal.
“I am pleased to be handing over a confident, well-led and ambitious organisation, and I wish Alan every success in serving the Board and the wider sector to deliver its broad and important mission and remit.”
Alan Kershaw said:
“As the newly appointed Chair of the Legal Services Board, I am delighted to take on this role as we seek to lead in delivering effective regulation of legal services for the public. Working with the legal regulators and professions, I aim to ensure that the regulation delivered across the sector is effective and inspires public trust and confidence. I am eager to make a positive impact and look forward to the opportunities ahead. While I have experience in regulation in the legal and other sectors, I will engage widely and work collaboratively to build on the vital work of the Legal Services Board.”
Alan will continue in his roles as Chair of the Architects Registration Board and of the National Register of Public Service Interpreters. Ahead of the start of his tenure with the LSB he will stand down from the following roles:
- Chair – Education Visitor Panel, General Optical Council
- Lay Advisor – Royal College of General Practitioners
- Member – Intellectual Property Regulation Board
- Member – Admissions and Licensing Committee at CILEX Regulation
ENDS
For further information, please email paul.nezandonyi@legalservicesboard.org.uk or call 07884 498799.
Notes for editors:
About Alan Kershaw
Alan has specialised in professional regulation since 1983. He has worked in both executive and non-executive roles, and has served as an independent member of a range of professional bodies. He has been involved in standards setting for professional groups across the main sectors: healthcare, law, finance, property, science. He has experience in all parts of the regulatory process, with a particular focus on standards and education, governance and strategy, and the effective handling of fitness to practise cases. He has published articles on regulation in professional journals and has delivered papers at national and international conferences. His other principal appointment is as Chair of the Architects Registration Board. He is also Chair of the Board of the National Register of Public Service Interpreters. He was a lay member of the original SRA Board and more recently served as a member of the Intellectual Property Regulation Board and of the Admissions and Licensing Committee of CILEX Regulation.
About Dr Helen Phillips
Helen has been a front line regulator for much of her career. She joined the LSB as a lay member of the Board in 2015, become interim Chair in 2017 and was appointed Chair in 2018. Helen also chairs the Boards of the Chartered Insurance Institute and Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. She has been a founding Board member of Social Work England. Prior to taking on a portfolio of non executive roles, Helen held a regulated Executive role as a Board Director of Yorkshire Water, and prior to that was the founding Chief Executive and Board member of Natural England.
Before that she was Director Wales of the Environment Agency. Helen graduated from University College Dublin from where she also gained her PhD in zoology. Helen is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Insurers.