The Legal Services Board (LSB) has published its Annual Report and Accounts for the year 2012/13.
The report covers the third full year of the post Legal Services Act 2007 regulatory regime and describes how the LSB delivered the priorities set out in its 2012/13 Business Plan.
As well as looking back at the year the report also looks forward, in particular to LSB work that will look at whether unnecessary cost and complexity are being added to the legal services market by regulators and legislators.
The outcomes of this work will feed into the Governments call for evidence on legal services regulation.
David Edmonds, Chairman of the Legal Services Board said: “This has been the year we have seen emerging evidence of the LSB’s impact.
“Almost 200 alternative business structures are in place, innovation is gathering pace across the market and regulators are committing themselves to challenging programmes of change.
“Importantly, policy developments are increasingly underpinned by hard evidence of where business and individual consumers alike are seeing both excellence and problems in their legal services."
Justice Minister, Helen Grant MP said: “It is crucial in any industry that bad practice is kept out and that customers know they are dealing with someone they can trust – and the legal sector is no different.
“Proportionate and well-targeted regulation plays an important role in protecting consumers, underpinning the law and enabling firms to efficiently meet clients’ needs.
“The LSB is championing these objectives and continuing to challenge approved regulators to raise standards as they modernise their approaches.”
