Legal Services Board

The Legal Services Board is a regulatory body in England and Wales with power to regulate the activities of lawyers and law firms. It is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Ministry of Justice.

Constitution

The Board was created by the Legal Services Act 2007 [Legal Services Act 2007, ss.2-7/ Sch.1] and has a duty to promote the regulatory objectives defined under that Act: [Legal Services Act 2007, s.1] cite web | url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/acts/acts2007/en/ukpgaen_20070029_en_1 | publisher=Office of Public Sector Information | year=2007 | accessdate=2008-03-03 | title=Explanatory Notes to Legal Services Act 2007 ]
*Protecting and promoting the public interest;
*Supporting the constitutional principle of the rule of law;
*Improving access to justice;
*Protecting and promoting the interests of consumers of legal services;
*Promoting competition in the provision of legal services;
*Encouraging an independent, strong, diverse and effective legal profession;
*Increasing public understanding of the citizen’s legal rights and duties;
*Promoting and maintaining adherence to the professional principles;

The professional principles are:
*Authorised persons should act with independence and integrity;
*Authorised persons should maintain proper standards of work;
*Authorised persons should act in the best interests of their clients;
*Persons who exercise before any court a right of audience, or conduct litigation in relation to proceedings in any court, by virtue of being authorised persons should comply with their duty to the court to act with independence in the interests of justice, and
*Affairs of clients should be kept confidential.

upervision of regulators

The Board has a degree of supervision of various self-regulatory bodies of lawyers, known under the 2007 Act as approved regulators:
*Law Society
*Bar Council
*Institute of Legal Executives
*Council for Licensed Conveyancers
*Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys
*Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys
*Association of Law Costs Draftsmen

The Board will have the power to recommend to the Lord Chancellor that he approve further approved regulators [Legal Services Act 2007, s.20/ Sch.2, Pt.2] 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. [Legal Services Act 2007, s.20/ Sch.3, Pt.3]

Approved regulators also have a duty to promote the regulatory objectives. [Legal Services Act 2007, s.28)] If they fail to do so, or if they fail in some other way to comply with the 2007 Act, the Legal Services Board can:
*Issue directions to the regulator to correct the deficiency; [Legal Services Act 2007, ss.32-34/ Sch.7]
*Publish a public censure; [Legal Services Act 2007, ss.35-36]
*Impose a financial penalty; [Legal Services Act 2007, ss.37-40]
*Make an intervention direction whereby the regulatory function is performed by a person nominated by the Board; [Legal Services Act 2007, ss.41-44]
*Recommend that the Lord Chancellor cancel the regulator's approval. [Legal Services Act 2007, ss.45-48]

The Board has a duty to regulate practising fees, [Legal Services Act 2007, s.51] resolve regulatory conflicts, [Legal Services Act 2007, ss.52-54] and work with the Office of Fair Trading, the Competition Commission and the Lord Chancellor on competition issues. [Legal Services Act 2007, ss.57-61]

As of July 2008, no date is fixed for the coming into force of these provisions.

Membership

Members are appointed by the Lord Chancellor. David Edmonds was appointed the first chair of the Board on 23 April 2008 and nine members were appointed on 17 July. The members will take up post on 1 September 2008 but the Board is not exptected to be fully operational until 2010. [ cite web | url=http://www.justice.gov.uk/news/newsrelease230408a.htm | title=Jack Straw appoints first chair of Legal Services Board | publisher=Ministry of Justice | accessdate=2008-04-27 ] [ cite web | title=Jack Straw appoints new Legal Services Board | url=http://www.justice.gov.uk/news/newsrelease170708a.htm | publisher=Ministry of Justice | accessdate=2008-08-08 ] The Board is to have a Consumer Panel to represent consumers. [Legal Services Act 2007, ss.8-11] As of July 2008 no date has been fixed for the coming into force of the provisions about the Consumer Panel.

References