FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, 10 May 2016
Standards improving but more to do
The Legal Services Board (LSB) today publishes the conclusions of its latest performance reviews of the eight legal service regulators alongside individual performance reports for each regulator.
The reports reviews the progress that legal service regulators have made in developing and improving their regulatory standards since the LSB first reviewed their performance in late 2012.
Legal Services Board's Chairman Sir Michael Pitt said:
"The LSB's work to hold the legal services regulators to account for their performance is at the core of our statutory duties. It is key to delivering public confidence in legal services.
The eight organisations who are the subjects of this review vary widely. No two regulators are alike. The smallest regulates less than a thousand individuals; the largest regulates over a hundred thousand individuals plus thousands of firms.
We have seen evidence of substantial progress since our last review. The areas where improvements have been made include developing outcomes-focused approaches to regulation, risk assessment processes and risk-based approaches to supervision. But there is much more that needs to be done. This varies depending on the regulator and we will be working with each of them to develop tailored action plans which address their specific areas of improvement.
Of most significance is the need for improvements to transparency, understanding the impact of rule changes and the need to focus on developing their understanding of consumer needs and use of legal services."
ENDS
For further information, please contact the LSB's Communications Manager, Vincent McGovern (020 7271 0068).
Notes for editors:
- The Regulatory Standards 2015/16 report and individual regulators reports can be found here.
- The eight regulatory bodies whose regulatory standards have been assessed in this process are the:
- Bar Standards Board (BSB)
- CILEx Regulation
- Costs Lawyers Standards Board (CLSB)
- Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC)
- Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)
- Intellectual Property Regulation Board (IPReg)
- Master of the Faculties, and
- Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). - The LSB developed four regulatory standards that it considers necessary for the approved regulators to effectively regulate lawyers in England and Wales in accordance with the requirements of the Legal Services Act 2007 (the Act)*. These standards are:
- outcomes focused regulation: An approach that gives the correct incentives for ethical behaviour across diverse markets
- effective risk assessment: An evidence based understanding of the risks in the markets they regulate and the ability to profile those regulated according to the risks they pose
- proportionate supervision: Supervision of the regulated community according to the risks they present, and
- an appropriate enforcement strategy: A compliance and enforcement approach that deters and punishes appropriately.
The LSB considers that regulators must also have the capability and capacity to deliver the regulatory objectives in the Act and adhere to other relevant statutory responsibilities. - Previous exercises in this process were:
- 2012/13 self-assessment exercise and the
- 2015 update report - 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 2015, the legal profession comprised 142,109 solicitors, 326 alternative business structures, 15,237 barristers, 7,848 chartered legal executives and 5,678 other individuals operating in other areas of the legal profession such as conveyancing. The sector is valued at £32 billion per annum (2015) which is up 23% in cash terms since 2012. For more information see here.
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*LSB (April 2011), Developing regulatory standards: Summary of responses and decision document, http://www.legalservicesboard.org.uk/what_we_do/consultations/closed/pdf/20111214_regulatory_standard_v11.pdf