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The Solicitors Regulation Authority and Bar Standards Board are in discussions about creating a joint online consumer network involving the general public, Legal Futures has learned. The move follows pressure from the Legal Services Consumer Panel for the frontline regulators to improve engagement with consumers

Every chambers in England and Wales is to be quizzed on their approach to equality and diversity as part of a new monitoring scheme being rolled out by the Bar Standards Board. The 791 chambers (of which 391 are registered as sole practitioners) are also to face questions on how they handle complaints, their policies on pupillage, and compliance with anti-money laundering rules.

More than a third of barristers are likely to join a new business structure in the next five years, research has shown, and this number is likely to increase as understanding of the opportunities under the Legal Services Act improves.

The first barrister to become a partner in a legal disciplinary practice is a consumer credit specialist in the West Midlands, Legal Futures can reveal. Portia O’Connor, who practises from her own chambers in Birmingham, Pegasus Chambers, set up Pegasus Legal Research in conjunction with solicitor Sameena Kauser.

The Legal Services Board has told barristers’ regulator that it will need to up its game – and perhaps embrace outcomes-focused regulation – to keep pace with liberalisation of the bar. “We expect that the BSB will invest in its skills and regulatory capacity,” it said.