The Legal Services Board (LSB) has announced that it will be conducting research to assess the risks for clients if firms switch regulator, and whether there are unintended consequences of this practice.

This announcement follows warnings from the Law Society and other stakeholders of the risks to client protections inherent in proposals put forward by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) on removing barriers to solicitors’ firms switching regulator.

Law Society chief executive Catherine Dixon commented:

‘The Law Society’s response to the SRA’s consultation on switching regulators highlighted the disparity in client protections required by the different legal services regulators, and therefore the risk to vital client protections. We therefore welcome the LSB’s research to examine these issues in depth.

‘The LSB will also be looking into a number of other concerns that we raised about the mechanics of switching regulators, such as the extent to which new regulators scrutinise an individual’s or firm’s regulatory history. We will be watching the progress of this review with great interest.’