Legal Services Board

There is near unanimity among the public that lawyers should have to demonstrate more actively than now that they remain competent throughout their careers, the Legal Services Board has found.

The Bar Standards Board places “a disproportionate weight on the impact of its work on the profession” and pays insufficient regard to the impact on the public, the Legal Services Board said today.

Lawyers should have to take online tests every 10 years to prove that they remain competent in their specialist fields, the chair of the Legal Services Consumer Panel said yesterday.

The Legal Services Board has commended the “impressive progress” made by the Costs Lawyer Standards Board – the smallest of the legal regulators – in meeting its performance framework.

A digital register of regulated and unregulated legal services providers would be “the simplest solution” to improve consumer navigation of the market, the Legal Services Board has said.

The Legal Services Board is set to recommend an accreditation scheme for review and comparison websites as take-up among both law firms and consumers continues to rise.

Performance at the Legal Ombudsman is finally improving, with more cases being closed, but dealing with the backlog is only lengthening wait times for new complainants.

New forms of intervention introduced in other countries to ensure the ongoing competence of lawyers – such as annual assessments and greater self-reflection – will influence reform in England and Wales.

Measures taken by frontline legal regulators to improve diversity and inclusion are insufficient and based on inadequate evidence, according to a report published today.

Government plans to impose a ‘good faith’ requirement on immigration lawyers have been strongly attacked by solicitors and barristers, while the Legal Services Board has also questioned it.

The Bar Council and Council for Licensed Conveyancers have warned of the dangers of using “one-sided” consumer reviews to assess the quality of lawyers.

The Law Society has outlined its opposition to the idea that law firms be required to signpost clients to review websites as part of moves to generate indicators of providers’ quality.

There is a long way to go to unlock the potential of technology to transform legal services and regulators have an important role in this, the chief executive of the Legal Services Board has said.

There must be a “third way” of ensuring that qualified lawyers are competent without relying on disciplinary proceedings, the director of regulation and policy at the Legal Services Board has said.

Changes to the regulation of lawyers – including altering the list of reserved legal activities – are part of Legal Services Board’s vision for the next 10 years of a changing legal market.