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The Legal Services Board (“LSB”) will have powers to enter and search the premises of the Bar Council and other legal profession regulators under government proposals. The Ministry of Justice is consulting on the enforcement powers of the LSB when it assumes its role as oversight regulator early next year. Th ese include the power to take over some of the functions of any persistent or seriously failing regulator. Th e LSB will be able to apply for a court warrant to enter and search the regulator’s premises, and retrieve any documents needed to ensure a seamless takeover. Th e consultation asks whether any material should be exempt from search warrants and what a judge should take into account when deciding an application. It ends on 21 January 2010. In a first for the legal profession,
the LSB has appointed an independent consumer panel of eight lay persons to help shape the regulatory framework for lawyers. An early priority for the panel, which meets for the fi rst time at the end of November, will be the issue of referral fees. The experience of panel
membe r s cove r s t r ading standards, housing, business advice, employment law, health care, policing and refugee policy. Dr Dianne Hayter, the former vice-chair of the Financial Services Consumer Panel, who will chair the panel, said it would assess proposals “from the standpoint of users of legal services”. It will publish its advice.
The Legal Services Board (“LSB”) will have powers to enter and search the premises of the Bar Council and other legal profession regulators under government proposals. The Ministry of Justice is consulting on the enforcement powers of the LSB when it assumes its role as oversight regulator early next year. Th ese include the power to take over some of the functions of any persistent or seriously failing regulator. Th e LSB will be able to apply for a court warrant to enter and search the regulator’s premises, and retrieve any documents needed to ensure a seamless takeover. Th e consultation asks whether any material should be exempt from search warrants and what a judge should take into account when deciding an application. It ends on 21 January 2010. In a first for the legal profession,
the LSB has appointed an independent consumer panel of eight lay persons to help shape the regulatory framework for lawyers. An early priority for the panel, which meets for the fi rst time at the end of November, will be the issue of referral fees. The experience of panel
membe r s cove r s t r ading standards, housing, business advice, employment law, health care, policing and refugee policy. Dr Dianne Hayter, the former vice-chair of the Financial Services Consumer Panel, who will chair the panel, said it would assess proposals “from the standpoint of users of legal services”. It will publish its advice.
The Chair of the Bar reports back
By Kem Kemal, CEO, Henry Dannell
By BSK Financial Planning
Mário Barroso, Head of R&D and Method Development at AlphaBiolabs
Susie Griffin on the admin that keeps barristers from billable work
Clement Cowley, Partner at The Penny Group, explains how global events can influence the performance of pensions and ISAs, and why taking a long-term approach to investing is often the most effective strategy
Kick off your career at the Bar Council’s Pupillage Fair this October – it’s one of the most valuable opportunities for aspiring barristers, says Amelia Clegg
Join us on Saturday 21 November 2026 at Leeds Beckett University and see for yourself why the North continues to be an exceptional place to build a career at the Bar
The golden age of advocacy? David Langwallner pays homage to the filmic if contentious barrister Sir Edward Carson and some of his contemporaries
Henry Fingerhut outlines what the Bar Standards Board AI guidance means for early career barristers
Not yet, says Jacob Turner. Regulation, unlike the technology itself, is a domain the legal profession can still control
