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LSB welcomes regulators’ action plans to deliver greater market transparency

The Legal Services Board welcomes today’s publication by regulators of their action plans following the Competition and Markets Authority’s legal services market study.

Legal Services Board Chief Executive Neil Buckley said:

“The Legal Services Board (LSB) welcomes today’s publication of action plans to deliver greater transparency for consumers. It means the regulators remain on track to implement the recommendations in the CMA’s legal services market study report.

Effective collaboration by regulators via the Remedies Programme Implementation Group has played an important part in maintaining good progress on this vital agenda.

The LSB will, in keeping with the CMA recommendations directed to the LSB, assess these action plans over the summer and continue to monitor progress on reforms thereafter.”

Notes for editors:

  1. The approved regulators action plans can be found here.
  2. The CMA’s final report and recommendations and further information about the process can be found here.
  3. The CMA’s recommendations to regulators can be found on pages 277 to 282 of the report.
  4. The LSB’s response to the recommendations of CMA report can be found here.
  5. The LSB’s initial response, and subsequent comments, to the CMA regarding this study can be found here.
  6. The Legal Services Act 2007 (the Act) created the LSB as a new regulator with responsibility for overseeing the regulation of legal services in England and Wales. The new regulatory regime became active on 1 January 2010.
  7. The LSB oversees nine approved regulators, which in turn regulate individual legal practitioners. The approved regulators, designated under Part 1 of Schedule 4 of the 2007 Act, are the Law Society, the Bar Council, the Master of the Faculties, the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers, the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys, the Chartered Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys, the Association of Costs Lawyers and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.In addition, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants are listed as approved regulators in relation only to reserved probate activities.
  8. As at 1 April 2017, the legal profession in England and Wales comprised 148,690 solicitors, 15,281 barristers, 6,809 chartered legal executives and 5,958 other individuals operating in other areas of the legal profession such as conveyancing. The UK legal sector turnover was £31 billion per annum (2016) which is up 19% in cash terms since 2012. For more information see here.