Legal Services Board - Supervision of Regulators

Supervision of Regulators

The LSB provides cross-sector oversight regulation of the eight separate bodies named as approved regulators in the Legal Services Act 2007. These bodies directly regulate the circa 120,000 lawyers practising in England and Wales. These include:

• For Solicitors:
  • Law Society
  • Solicitors Regulation Authority (independent regulatory body of the Law Society)
• For Barristers:
  • Bar Council
  • Bar Standards Board (independent regulatory arm of the Bar Council)
• For Legal Executives
  • Chartered Institute of Legal Executives
  • ILEX Professional Standards Board (independent regulatory arm of the Institute of Legal Executives)
• For Licensed Conveyancers
  • Council for Licensed Conveyancers (regulatory body for Licensed Conveyancers)
• For Patent and Trademark Attorneys:
  • Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys
  • Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys
  • Intellectual Property Regulation Board
• For Law Costs Draftsmen:
  • Association of Law Costs Draftsmen
• For Notaries:
  • Master of the Faculties

The Board has the power to recommend to the Lord Chancellor that he approve further approved regulators. This means that new bodies can apply to the LSB to become frontline regulators of parts of the legal profession. Once the Act comes fully into force and the Board is operational, all changes to these bodies' internal professional regulatory arrangements must be approved by the Board.

Approved regulators also have a duty to promote the regulatory objectives. If they fail to do so, or if they fail to comply with the 2007 Act, the Legal Services Board can:

• Issue directions to the regulator to correct the deficiency;
• Publish a public censure;
• Impose a financial penalty;
• Make an intervention direction whereby the regulatory function is performed by a person nominated by the Board;
• Recommend that the Lord Chancellor cancel the regulator's approval.

The Board has a duty to regulate practising fees, resolve regulatory conflicts, and work with the Office of Fair Trading, the Competition Commission and the Lord Chancellor on competition issues.