LSB publishes independent report examining the smaller approved regulators

22 June 2011

The Legal Services Board (LSB) is today publishing the results of an independent investigation into the operations of smaller legal services regulators.

The report was produced by former Ministry of Justice official Nick Smedley. In it, he describes what he found out about the way in which the smaller regulators approach the regulation of their particular sector of the profession. For the purposes of this exercise, the smaller approved regulators were identified as the Association of Costs Lawyers, the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers, the Master of the Faculties, the Institute of Legal Executives and the Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys.

The LSB commissioned the investigation to inform its understanding of these bodies - particularly who they regulate, how they regulate and how they understand the risks of consumer detriment in their markets. Each body covered by the work will want to reflect on the messages it may have for them.

Chief Executive of the Legal Services Board Chris Kenny said:

“The LSB does not start from a presumption that big is beautiful; we believe that regulators of all sizes have the potential to regulate effectively. This was shown most recently in our decision to recommend the approval of the Council of Licensed Conveyancers as an ABS Licensing Authority. However, all approved regulators face significant challenges in responding to the new environment stimulated by the Legal Services Act 2007. This is why we have published our consultation paper entitled ‘Developing Regulatory Standards’. This research, alongside wider work, will be one useful input into our decision on the standards of regulation and regulatory performance against which all approved regulators should be assessed; and we are confident that the external scrutiny it offers will be equally valuable to the regulators”.