News

Professor Mayson (UCL Centre for Ethics & Law) has led an independent review of legal services regulation. Responding to the publication of the final report, the Legal Services Board’s Chief Executive, Matthew Hill said: “Professor Mayson’s report offers a thoughtful analysis of a complex set of issues. We will consider the findings carefully. “As Professor…

Read more - Our response to Professor Mayson’s independent review of legal services regulation

LSB directs the exemption from the requirement for LSB approval of alterations to CILEx’s regulatory arrangements in respect of its Bye-Laws.

Read more - [Exemption Direction] Exemption Direction 152 CILEx Bye-Laws amendments

LSB directs the exemption from the requirement for LSB approval of alterations to ICAEW’s regulatory arrangements in respect of its PII Regulations.

Read more - [Exemption Direction] Exemption Direction 151 ICAEW PII Regulations amendments

This week we held our Board meeting virtually, once more. We discussed Covid-19, reserved legal activities and regulatory performance. We were also joined by the new Chair of the Office for Legal Complaints (OLC), Elisabeth Davies who gave us her first impressions on taking up the role and set out some immediate priorities. Covid-19: As…

Read more - Chair’s Blog – June 2020

The Legal Services Board (LSB) is reflecting on the ethical implications of technology to ensure people who need legal services are not harmed by innovation. This follows the release of a new episode in the LSB’s ‘Talking Tech’ podcast series on ethics, technology and education. In the episode, Professor Lisa Webley, Head of Birmingham Law School at…

Read more - LSB considers the ethical implications of technology to ensure regulation protects consumers

The Legal Services Board (LSB) is considering how education and regulation might change to ensure legal professionals embrace technology to better meet the needs of consumers. This follows the release of a new episode in the LSB’s ‘Talking Tech’ podcast series on LegalTech education. It comes as technology plays an increasingly vital role in enabling…

Read more - LSB considers how education might adapt to ensure legal professionals can use and shape new technology

LSB directs the exemption from the requirement for LSB approval of alterations to CILEx Regulation’s regulatory arrangements in respect of its Licensing Rules.

Read more - [Exemption Direction] Exemption Direction 150 CILEx Regulation Licensing Rules amendments

The Legal Services Board (LSB) has extended the deadline for its call for evidence on ongoing competence by six weeks in recognition of the continuing impact of Covid-19. The new deadline is 26 June 2020.   We know that some stakeholders have diverted resources in response to the crisis and would benefit from more time to prepare submissions and share information with us.   Although this work started before the Covid-19 pandemic, the crisis has…

Read more - LSB extends call for evidence on ongoing competence

We had three big ticket items on the agenda this month. We agreed the Board’s emerging response to the Covid-19 pandemic. We agreed the operational approach to our policy objective on public legal education (PLE). And we discussed the letter we received from the SRA asking us to take over Legal Choices, the cross-sector consumer-facing…

Read more - Chair’s Blog – April 2020

The Legal Services Board (LSB) has published a new collection of articles on legal technology by 11 individuals and organisations, including a judge, a national barristers’ chambers, tech firms and regulators. The publication comes as the efforts of everyone across the legal services sector are focused on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Technology is…

Read more - LSB leads lawtech collaboration and pushes regulators to explore new opportunities

The LSB directs the exemption [PDF] from the requirement for LSB approval of temporary alterations to approved regulators’ regulations that may be required as a result of the Coronavirus. The LSB has also produced Questions and Answers [PDF] for regulatory bodies.

Read more - [Exemption Direction] Exemption Direction 149 Blanket Exemption for temporary alterations required as a result of the Coronavirus

The Legal Services Board (LSB) has published its business plan for the year 2020/21, with plans remaining flexible over the coming months as the legal sector deals with and then recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic. The LSB is also committed to playing a role in supporting that recovery. The business plan was agreed by the…

Read more - LSB publishes ‘flexible’ Business Plan and will support legal sector recovery following Covid-19