The chief executive of the Legal Services Board has claimed there is a strong argument for bringing solicitors and barristers under the same regulator.

Matthew Hill was speaking at this week’s Law Expo in London, in response to a point raised by Mark Neale, director general of the Bar Standards Board (BSB). Hill told the public forum that there is a strong argument in favour of a merger of the BSB and the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Hill did not elaborate, but his remark has alerted lawyers to the possibility of yet more regulatory turbulence. The SRA, which has said the prospect of a single regulator for lawyers remains a ‘live conversation’ at Westminster, is already planning to assume oversight of legal executives.

LSB offices, The Rookery

LSB offices, The Rookery

Source: Google Maps

A spokesperson for the LSB said Hill’s comment was ’intentionally thought-provoking’ as ’something to consider’, but merger is ’not something that the LSB is actively considering’. He added: ’However, our strategy does state that moving to a single regulator would have public benefits.’

The bar is likely to fiercely oppose any such merger. The Bar Council, BSB and SRA declined to comment.

David McNeill, director of public affairs at the Law Society, said: ‘Matthew Hill made a comment about the merits of consolidating the BSB and SRA into a single super-regulator. It was clearly intended to provoke debate and was not a firm proposal. Nonetheless it was an interesting intervention from the head of the LSB in the debate about the future of legal services regulation made at a time when the whole question is clouded by the highly problematic proposal from CILEX to fragment the regulatory landscape, abolish an existing front-line regulator and reintroduce a measure of self-regulation in the system.’

 

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