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If we are to judge the success of a regulator by the degree to which it really annoys those it regulates, then the Legal Services Board (LSB) has done an absolutely bang-up job these past three years. It is just over 12 months since I first blogged about whispers questioning the long-term need for the LSB once independent regulation, the Legal Ombudsman and alternative business structures were all up and running. Well, they are whispers no more.

The Law Society has spent around £40,000 on a rebranding exercise rolled out this month, it has confirmed. The cost – equating to 33p per practising certificate payer – includes design costs, preparation and installation of new templates, new stationery and so on.

The Law Society has warned the Legal Services Board that it is overstepping its role as an oversight body by trying to become a market regulator. The society said the board plans for the future suggested an “inappropriately proactive approach for an oversight regulator”.

Flexible working combined with performance metrics that are not linked to hours in the office are needed to prevent a “female brain drain” from the legal profession, it was claimed today. A survey of 1,144 women lawyers around the world even found some support for quotas as a way to achieve gender diversity.

Barristers and solicitors are at loggerheads over whether plea-only advocates need to undergo judicial evaluation as part of the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates. If a resolution cannot be found, then the whole scheme could fall apart.