Scrap Legal Services Board, Bar Council says

Bar representative body calls for new regulators college to replace LSB

The Bar Council has called for the creation of a College of Regulators to replace the Legal Services Board, rejecting along the way suggestions for a single legal regulator.

In its response to the government's consultation on the review of legal services regulation, the council said a new approach was needed.

"The public interest demands a clear and robust regulatory structure where all legal professionals are held to the highest of standards," said Bar Council chair Maura McGowan QC. "What we have instead is an expensive oversight regulator which consistently seeks to impose its own vision of how legal services should be delivered and expects the legal profession to pick up the bill."

The Bar representative body's response goes further than the Law Society, which last week merely said the LSB's powers should be clipped back.

It proposes "a new model which would replace the Legal Services Board with a College of Regulators and rebalance regulation of the profession."

Reiterating concerns it voiced last year in response to the Ministry of Justice's triennial review of the LSB, the council said the super-regulator has been too costly to the profession.

"The ever-extending scope of the LSB's work has a direct impact on the work and cost of the Bar Standards Board, the Bar's independent regulator."

As it has argued before, the council said the LSB has gone "far beyond the scope envisaged by the Legal Services Act 2007, which is weakening the independence of the legal profession".

Its alternative model of regulation would involve a review of the scope of regulatory objectives under section 1 of the Legal Services Act 2007 and bringing back Approved Regulators, with the frontline regulators concentrating on disciplinary, leaving enforcement functions with the professional bodies setting entry and professional standards.

Its response also suggests a new 'College of Regulators' replacing the LSB. As with the Law Society's proposal, the college would comprise a strong judicial presence, lay members and representatives from each regulator and professional body, reporting to the lord chancellor.

McGowan warned that under the current system, the regulation of the legal profession was "at risk of spiralling out of control", and that there were growing concerns about the independence of the legal profession from government, under the aegis of an over-zealous oversight regulator with a vested interest in increasing its own remit.

"The model we have proposed today will provide a much clearer and less bureaucratic system, with expertise and the public interest at its heart," she said.

"By creating a new College of Regulators, including a mixture of the judiciary, lay members and both regulators and professional bodies, our new model will bring regulation back into balance, handing back standard setting to the professional bodies with appropriate consumer input and at proportionate cost.

"When the cost of publicly-funded legal services is under such scrutiny, it is more important than ever to ensure that our legal services are properly regulated. Our legal profession must be able to operate to high standards and compete successfully internationally. This review provides the government with a perfect opportunity to examine the regulatory structure again and ensure it is fit for purpose for the future."