Approved Regulators

The Legal Services Board is the oversight regulator for the eight separate bodies named as Approved Regulators in the Legal Services Act 2007. These bodies directly regulate the circa 120,000 lawyers practising in England and Wales. If you have a query about a particular type of lawyer you should contact the relevant Approved Regulator.

If you have a complaint about a particular type of lawyer you should contact the Legal Ombudsman, which opened on 6 October 2010.

Links to each of the Approved Regulators can be found on this page.

Please note that, as the Legal Services Act requires the Approved Regulators to separate their representative functions from their regulatory functions, there may be more than one link for each Approved Regulator.

Solicitors

• Law Society
  
• Solicitors Regulation Authority (independent regulatory body of the Law Society)

Barristers

• Bar Council
• Bar Standards Board (independent regulatory arm of the Bar Council)

Legal Executives

• Institute of Legal Executives
• ILEX Professional Standards Board (independent regulatory arm of the Institute of Legal Executives)

Licensed Conveyancers

• Council for Licensed Conveyancers (regulatory body for Licensed Conveyancers)

Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys

• Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys
• Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys
• Intellectual Property Regulation Board

Law Costs Draftsmen

• Associaton of Costs Lawyers
• Costs Lawyer Standards Board

Notaries

• Master of the Faculties

The following are listed as Approved Regulators in relation to reserved probate activities only:

• Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland (ICAS)
• Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)