CONSUMER CAPTURE AND THE LEGAL SERVICES ACT 2007

Abstract

It is now nearly 7 years since the Legal Services Act 2007 (LSA) was brought onto the statute books. It is now 5 years since the major provisions of the Act became effective. For those unfamiliar with the Act, it is a blockbuster piece of legislation which in its entirety runs to 214 sections (covering 120 pages) and 24 Schedules which make up the remainder of the total 389 pages.The LSA 2007 sought to fundamentally recalibrate the regulation of the legal services market. To achieve this, the Act introduced a new tier of oversight regulation, above the then existing regulators of legal services. This new oversight regulator, called the Legal Services Board (LSB) is armed with an arsenal of statutory powers. The LSA 2007 also established a new ombudsman in the form of the Office of Legal Complaints.