Regulatory bodies love a bit of corporate lingo, and it appears the limitations of a pandemic are not going to stop them indulging.

So it was that the Legal Services Consumer Panel embarked on what it called its ‘strategy away day’, which consisted of exactly the type of virtual meetings we’ve grown accustomed to over the last year. It would appear the nearest any contributor got to going away was a trip to the kitchen to make a brew.

Still, the show must go on – and what a show it was, described by the panel chair Sarah Chambers as ‘possibly one of the liveliest in recent years’. One can only imagine how lifeless the others must have been.

Chambers’ big reveal following the (home) away day was the adoption of the same strategic objectives as the Legal Services Board – namely fairer outcomes, stronger confidence and better services. Observers might question why these objectives, obtuse and basic as they are, were not already being pursued by the panel.

Chambers later noted: ‘There was a lively debate about the pros and cons of this approach. It was a close call, but in the end the panel concluded that the alignment approach was appropriate.’ Sounds like edge-of-the-seat stuff.

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