Legal Services Act 2007

The Legal Services Act 2007 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that seeks to liberalise and regulate the market for legal services in England and Wales, to encourage more competition and to provide a new route for consumer complaints. It also makes provisions about the Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 2007.

Section 1 of the Act defines eight regulatory objectives:

The professional principles are:

Sections 2 to 7 and Schedule 1 create the Legal Services Board with a duty to promote the regulatory objectives. David Edmonds was appointed the first chair of the Board on 23 April 2008 and nine members were appointed on 17 July. The members took up post on 1 September 2008 and the Board became fully operational on 1 January 2010.

The Act also created a Consumer Panel to represent consumers (ss. 8–11) which started work on 1 November 2009. The Panel is independent of the Legal Services Board and consists of eight lay members whose appointments are approved by the Lord Chancellor. The Panel provides advice to the Board and publishes policy briefings, consultation responses, and research reports.

Section 12 and Schedule 2 define six reserved legal activities:

This list can be amended by an Order in Council of the Chancellor (ss. 24–26).

Section 12 then goes on to define, for the purposes of the Act, a legal activity as either a reserved legal activity or as the provision of legal advice, assistance or representation in connection with the application of the law or with any form of resolution of legal disputes. Legal activity does not include acting as a mediator or arbitrator.