Friday, 10 October 2014
Legal Services Board follows up with regulators on de-regulatory activities
The Chairman of the Legal Services Board (LSB), Sir Mike Pitt, has written to his counterparts at the legal services regulators, welcoming progress on collaborative working following a meeting of the Chairs of the regulators on 2 October.
This meeting was arranged by the LSB as a follow-up to the Ministerial summit of regulators on 21 July last, at which Ministers tasked regulators with seeking further deregulatory measures to encourage growth and innovation in the legal services market.
Legal Services Board Chairman, Sir Michael Pitt, said:
"I am pleased with the progress that was made with our regulatory colleagues last week. We have identified a list of key actions on which immediate steps can be taken including:
- steps to communicate more clearly how the work of the legal services regulators already contributes to deregulation
- increased collaboration and knowledge sharing on specific initiatives such as financial protection arrangements, and
- working together to explore legislative changes to lighten the regulatory load both within the framework of the current Legal Services Act and beyond.
We will reconvene as a group in early 2015 to follow up on these and discuss further actions."
ENDS
For further information, please contact LSB Communications Manager Vincent McGovern or by calling 020 7271 0068.
Notes for editors:
- The copy of the letter sent to the Chairs of the front line regulators can be found here.
- 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.
- 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 Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys, the Association of Costs Lawyers and 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. - As at 1 April 2014, the legal profession comprised 138,243 solicitors, 326 alternative business structures, 15,279 barristers, 7,927 chartered legal executives and 5,404 other individuals operating in other areas of the legal profession such as conveyancing. The sector was valued at £29.2 billion in 2013 (total turnover).