The Law Society said that the LSB draft business plan would cost the profession through its increased regulatory burden, and accused the LSB board of ‘usurping the role of the approved regulators’.

Regulation

The Law Society Gazette reports that both the Bar Council and the Solicitors Regulation Authority have already fired warnings over the draft, complaining that it is not clear if the LSB has the knowledge and experience to conduct the level of regulation proposed.
The Society yesterday called for a ‘frank dialogue’ between the LSB, regulators and the profession, adding that current work to make the LSB a licensing authority should ‘be dropped’.
Although the Society supports the LSB’s equality and diversity targets, it said that a ‘regulatory obligation’ on firms to conduct diversity surveys will deter employees in smaller firms from providing the information.