Legal Services Board
LSB to begin probe into whether ‘general legal advice’ should be reserved
The investigation of whether ‘general legal advice’ should become a reserved legal activity will begin next year, the Legal Services Board has revealed. It has also given a strong steer on what it hopes to see come out of the Legal Education and Training Review
LSB lays down challenge to regulators – prove you can do the job or face action
The Legal Services Board (LSB) has told the regulators it oversees that now is the time for them to prove they can deliver what is expected of them, warning that it will put their promises “to the test”. The LSB said its focus in 2013/14 will be on the performance of the regulators.
New Bar chief keeps up anti-LSB rhetoric
The new Bar Council chairman has pledged to work towards proving that the Legal Services Board is not needed. In a stinging attack, Maura McGowan QC warned that “it is not the function of a regulator to seek the total dismantling and restructuring of the system”.
House of Lords gives Legal Services Board a bashing
The Legal Services Board (LSB) came under fire for “mission creep” in the House of Lords last night. In a debate initiated by Bar Standards Board chair Baroness Deech, several lawyer peers accused the LSB of going further than the oversight role envisaged for it.
MoJ slaps away Bar Council call to scrap Legal Services Board
The Ministry of Justice has thrown cold water on the Bar Council’s call to abolish the Legal Services Board (LSB). On Saturday, Bar Council chairman Michael Todd QC said the new Lord Chancellor, Chris Grayling, was sympathetic to concerns that the legal profession is over-regulated.
Bar Council to press "sympathetic" Grayling to scrap LSB
The new Lord Chancellor has said he is “sympathetic” with the notion that the legal profession is over-regulated, the chairman of the Bar Council has claimed as he stepped up his call for the Legal Services Board to be scrapped.
Concern over emergence of referral fees once will-writing and estate work is reserved
The regulation of will-writing and estate administration needs to be drawn widely to ensure that the referral fee culture that has prevailed in personal injury does not emerge in private client work, the Law Society has warned.
Bar Council steps up war of words with Legal Services Board
The Bar Council has issued a sharp rebuke to the Legal Services Board for criticising how it is approaching the legal services reforms, saying that while “our regulators talk about key performance indicators, we talk about the interests of justice”.
Repeat clients are main source of solicitors’ work, says major survey
The importance of law firms marketing to their existing client base has come through strongly from major new Law Society research that shows repeat clients are by far solicitors’ biggest source of work.
Legal Services Board head gives Bar Council public dressing-down
The chairman of the Legal Services Board has strongly criticised the Bar Council for its approach to dealing with the board, characterising its reaction to the Legal Services Act reforms as “walking backwards slowly”.