Just days after the Legal Services Board (LSB) chairman delivered a scathing speech accusing the Law Society of being entirely self-interested, the representative body has been stripped of its power to appoint the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s new chair, in a move designed to give the regulator greater independence.
Announced on Wednesday (30 April), the LSB has amended its internal governance rules following a consultation period that began in February. All future appointments or reappointments to the boards of the front line regulators are now the responsibility of the profession’s regulatory rather than the representative arms, in contrast with a checks and balances approach originally envisaged by the Legal Services Act 2007.
This means The Law Society will have no say over Charles Plant’s replacement when his term as current chairman of the SRA ends in December.
The Law Society said in April, during the consultation, that it was ‘surprised’ and ‘opposed’ to the changes adding: ‘The latest proposal is not backed by sufficient evidence, goes beyond what was envisaged by Parliament in the Legal Service Act 2007 and is unnecessary.’
It said that after a considerable amount of effort had been put into compliance by both the Law Society and the SRA there was ‘no clear evidence for the need for change.
‘Given that there is no evidence of any risk to regulatory independence we are surprised and disappointed that the LSB should be creating additional work and red tape for both organisations.’
The news, which comes after months of infighting, comes just days after outgoing LSB chair David Edmonds, whose term of office also ended on Wednesday, gave a scathing speech at a conference in London, commenting: ‘Where could we be if all those concerned with representing the profession had spent their time working on solutions, working for outcomes to benefit the consumer, working above all in the public interest, rather than as so often pursuing policies that reflected self-interest; and where obstruction and delay were normal tactics?’
On the latest amendments to internal governance rules, Edmonds, yesterday said: ‘This further removes the representative bodies from involvement in regulatory activities. During the earlier consultation on lay chairs it was suggested to us that the robustness of the appointments was a very important factor in securing independent boards.
‘I am pleased that my last act as chairman of the Legal Services Board is to announce this change to help secure demonstrably independent and robust boards.’
Sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk