Given that it was announced in the same week as the departure of SRA chief executive Paul Philip, the resignation of Legal Services Board chair Alan Kershaw rather went under the radar. Kershaw, who still had more than half of his four-year term to serve, stepped down with immediate effect, citing ‘personal considerations’.

Fair enough, but it’s all a bit peculiar. These considerations are not going to stop him from staying on at the Architects Registration Board, where it is confirmed he will continue as chair. That listing also states that he has further paid employment with four other bodies.

We don’t even know what was being discussed at the LSB in the immediate run-up to the resignation. The super-regulator has yet to publish minutes or board papers for its 25 February board meeting – three days before the resignation announcement. This is despite repeated requests from the Gazette (think about that the next time the board gets on its high horse about transparency). An agenda was belatedly published on 5 March which revealed that Kershaw was not even present for the meeting. Catherine Brown chaired.

Neither did the LSB announcement include any words from Kershaw – not even a cursory ‘thanks for the memories’ quote. This from a figure who had led the LSB into unprecedented scrutiny of the SRA over the way it handled the collapses at Axiom Ince and SSB Law.

Just a week ago Kershaw posted on LinkedIn about his excitement ahead of this week’s conference on reshaping legal services. Kershaw said the event promised to be a ‘day full of stimulating content and rich debate’, adding: ‘I look forward to a day of learning together.’

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