The abolition of the Legal Services Board (LSB) would not serve the public interest, the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx) has said in response to the Ministry of Justice Review of Legal Services Regulation. 

CILEx, the professional association for vocationally trained lawyers, said the current regulatory ‘maze’  was not in the interests of the consumer but said it was too early to introduce a single regulator as the LSB has not had time to ‘bed in.’

‘Any consolidation should be dynamic. Regulation requires constant evolution in order to keep up with changes and developments in the market,’ its consultation response says. 

The body says it is imperative that the LSB avoids becoming an expensive, bureaucratic ’burden on the profession, and ultimately the consumer’, but should be a flexible oversight regulator.’

CILEx also calls for the concept of reserving legal activities to authorised persons to be scrapped. Rather, it suggests all activities should be regulated for the benefit of the consumer.

The Legal Services Consumer Panel should ensure all consumer sectors are accounted for and support approved regulators on consumer issues, it says. 

The deadline for the consultation has been extended to allow contributions from the LSB and Bar Standards Board. Both the Legal Services Consumer Panel and the Solicitors Regulation Authority have called for a radical overhaul, with the Law Society calling for ‘relatively minor’ change.