Legal Services Board

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is applying for charitable status as part of becoming a distinct legal entity within the Law Society Group, it has emerged.

It was “fundamentally wrong” for Legal Services Board rules to force the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants to withdraw from legal services, another accountancy body has argued.

The Law Society and SRA need to do more to show that they take on board what solicitors have to say about the cost of practising, the Legal Services Board has warned.

The frontline regulators may be forced to fund the Legal Choices website if it is to reach its potential to become a “flagship consumer resource”, the Legal Services Board has hinted.

The LSB has issued a damning diagnosis of weaknesses in the structure of the market, including inadequate transparency by law firms and smaller regulators unable to cope with the change needed.

The Legal Services Board has launched its review of the quality of the Bar Standards Board’s decision-making – but is not going to look at the controversy around last month’s Bar exams.

The Ministry of Justice is considering whether to create a register of unregulated providers of legal services and give their clients access to redress if things go wrong, it emerged yesterday.

Research showing significant regional variations in the price of legal advice “for what are fundamentally the same services” should encourage consumers to shop around, the Legal Services Board said today.

Legal regulators will have to explain more clearly how they spend their practising certificate fees under revised rules proposed by the Legal Services Board.

A former president of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives has become the first member of that branch of the profession to be appointed to the Legal Services Board.

Progress by the legal regulators in understanding and tackling ongoing inequalities in the profession is “too slow” and lacks “strategic direction”, the Legal Services Board (LSB) has said. The oversight regulator said there were “fundamental shortcomings” in the collection of… Read More

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to launch a review of its approach to solicitors’ continuing competence, amid calls for spot checks or accreditation schemes to reassure consumers.

The First-tier Tribunal has upheld the decision of the Legal Services Board not to release an email exchange with the Solicitors Regulation Authority over the Leigh Day case.

A revised accounts code that expressly allows firms of licensed conveyancers to use third-party managed accounts has been approved by the Legal Services Board.

The Legal Services Board is set to conduct a major review on the extent to which it can reform the regulatory regime – including the reserved legal activities – using its existing powers.