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LSB slims down as members are reappointed

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Edmonds: we can operate to same level with smaller board

The Legal Services Board (LSB) is to be slimmed down, and variable length terms introduced, after most of its members were reappointed.

The original three-year terms of the LSB’s ordinary members expire this September, and chairman David Edmonds said he believed “we can operate at the same high level with a smaller board”.

The nine members will be reduced to seven after one lay member, Terry Connor, decided not to seek a second term, while the existing non-lay member vacancy will not be filled.

Two non-lay vacancies opened up during the first term with the resignations at different times of solicitors Michael Napier and Rosemary Martin, with former Law Society president Ed Nally filling one of them [2] last year.

All of the other members of the LSB have been reappointed, after approval by the Ministry of Justice, in consultation with the Lord Chief Justice. There was no open appointments process.

Mr Edmonds, who himself was recently reappointed [3] as chairman for a further three years, said “we also need to have future appointments phased so that there is continuity and renewal, while maintaining a lay majority”. The terms are:

LSB chief executive Chris Kenny, another non-lawyer, is also a member of the board.

For biographies of the board members, see the first part of our series Out of the shadows [4] from last year.