The Law Society has joined the Solicitors Regulation Authority in dismissing the case for mandatory lay chairs of frontline regulators. The Society said the proposal, by the Legal Services Board, was based on ‘very limited evidence’ and wrongly assumed lawyers would inevitably act in the profession’s interest.

The LSB is consulting on independent chairs as it tries to address the perception of regulators being too closely tied to the legal sector. The SRA, whose chair is former Herbert Smith partner Charles Plant, has already rejected the idea of compulsory lay chairs.