News

On 28 April 2026, the Legal Services Board (LSB) discussed the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA) regulatory performance. With one month until the deadline for SRA’s compliance with LSB’s Directions regarding Axiom Ince Limited, the LSB Board has this week asked the SRA to commission an independent external audit to assess and evaluate the SRA’s compliance…

Read Legal Services Board Statement on SRA Regulatory Performance – 6 May 2026

This is my final blog from my time as interim Chair of the LSB, and I would like to begin by saying what a privilege it was to serve in the role during a period of such significant activity for the sector. I am grateful to Board and executive colleagues for their support, challenge, and…

Read Chair’s blog: strengthening ethics and setting priorities

We are deeply concerned by the scale of harm caused to former clients of PM Law Ltd. The reported loss of £39.5m of client funds and the significant disruption to tens of thousands of people at what were already stressful and important moments in their lives is extremely serious. The Legal Services Board is closely…

Read Statement on PM Law

The Legal Services Board (LSB) has today published its business plan for 2026/27, setting out how it will strengthen the performance of legal services regulation in England and Wales through more proportionate and targeted oversight.  The plan responds to ongoing change across the sector, including technological innovation, shifting consumer expectations, and the growth of unregulated services. It sets out how the…

Read Smarter, risk-based oversight to drive up regulators’ performance 

The Lord Chancellor has approved the appointment of Monisha Shah as Chair of the Legal Services Board for four years from 1 April 2026. The appointment follows a Justice Select Committee pre-appointment scrutiny hearing on 25 March and the publication of the Committee’s report on 27 March. Monisha Shah is an experienced chair and non-executive…

Read Monisha Shah confirmed as the new Chair of the Legal Services Board

The Legal Services Board (LSB) has confirmed the appointment of Richard Blakeway to the post of Chair of the Office for Legal Complaints (OLC) after an open competition. The OLC is the Board of the Legal Ombudsman for England and Wales. This follows Richard’s appearance before the Justice Select Committee for pre-appointment scrutiny on 11…

Read LSB announces Richard Blakeway as the Chair of the Office for Legal Complaints

The Legal Services Board (LSB) notes the judgment of the Court of Appeal in CILEX’s appeal against the High Court’s decision in Mazur. A spokesperson for the LSB said:  “The Legal Services Board welcomes the clarity provided by the Court of Appeal on how the reserved legal activity of conducting litigation under the Legal Services Act should be interpreted and applied in practice.  “We will now carefully consider the judgment’s implications…

Read LSB statement: Court of Appeal judgment in Mazur

Legal services regulators must do more to strengthen lawyers’ ethical standards, the Legal Services Board (LSB) has said, setting out new expectations designed to reinforce lawyers’ role in upholding the rule of law. Regulators will need to put “professional ethical duties” at the heart of how lawyers are expected to behave. The LSB has confirmed that where duties conflict, lawyers must prioritise their duties to the court and the rule of law over their duty to…

Read LSB leads sector-wide effort to strengthen legal ethics

The Legal Services Board (LSB) has today issued a formal public censure against the solicitors’ regulator, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). This follows the regulator’s failure to protect consumers affected by the collapse of Sheffield-based law firm SSB Group Limited (SSB). SSB specialised in so-called ‘no win, no fee’ cases – a type of legal…

Read Solicitors’ regulator censured over failures to protect SSB Law consumers

The Legal Services Board (LSB) has announced Richard Blakeway as its preferred candidate for the post of Chair of the Office for Legal Complaints (OLC) after an open competition. The OLC is the Board of the Legal Ombudsman for England and Wales. The LSB’s recommendation has been approved by the Minister of State for Justice,…

Read LSB announces preferred candidate for the Chair of the Office for Legal Complaints

The Legal Services Board (LSB) is pleased to be participating in the Ministry of Justice’s Public Bodies Review. All arms-length bodies of Government are subject to periodic review, with the LSB last being reviewed in 2017. We welcome this opportunity to reflect on the positive impact of our work, our role supporting independent legal services regulation, and areas where we…

Read LSB statement on its Public Bodies Review