Tuesday, 19 December 2017
LSB responds to Government’s response to the CMA 2016 Legal Services Market Study report
Legal Services Board Chief Executive Neil Buckley, said:
"We welcome recognition by the Government of the positive response of the LSB and regulators to the CMA's 2016 Legal Services Market Study report.
In our consultation on the review of the internal governance rules we stated that we continue to believe that regulation should be structurally, legally and culturally independent of the profession.
We understand that the current framework will be in place for some time and we will continue to maximise the potential of the current arrangement."
ENDS
For further information, please contact the LSB's Communications Manager, Vincent McGovern (020 7271 0068).
Notes for editors:
- The CMA's final report and recommendations and further information about the process can be found here.
- The LSB's initial response, and subsequent comments, to the CMA regarding this study 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 General Council of the Bar, 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.
- 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.