The Solicitors Regulation Authority has announced the appointment of three new members to its board.

They are solicitor member Moni Mannings, partner and head of City firm Olswang's finance group; lay member Shamit Sagger, professor of politics at the University of Sussex and former chair of the Legal Complaints Service; and lay member Jane Furniss, chief executive officer of the Independent Police Complaints Authority.

Saggar joined the board on 1 July as an additional lay member, and Furniss and Mannings will join on 1 January 2012 on the retirement of two current members.

SRA board chair Charles Plant said: ‘We are very encouraged by the strong response we received to our recent recruitment campaign for one solicitor and two lay member vacancies on our board.

‘This has enabled us to appoint three excellent candidates from a strong field who will bring to our deliberations a wide range of complementary skills relevant to our work.'

Plant welcomed the contribution that the new members will make as the SRA continues its ‘prodigious’ programme of work, with the licensing of alternative business structures and relocating to Birmingham.

Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson said: ‘The latest appointments to the SRA board will further strengthen its role in overseeing the work of the SRA.

'The new members come from very different backgrounds, providing different and valued perspectives on the work of the SRA at a time of great change in the legal services market, and the way it is regulated.’

He said: ‘The Law Society looks forward to continuing to work with the SRA board as it shapes the future of regulation of the profession, and we congratulate the new members on their appointments.’