Legal Services Act – The Sequel

Speakers

• Sir Michael Pitt (Chairman, Legal Services Board)
• Neil Rose (Founder and Editor, Legal Futures)
• Iain Miller (Partner, Bevan Brittan)
• Christina Blacklaws (Deputy Vice President, The Law Society)

Chair

Professor Richard Moorhead (Professor of Law and Professional Ethics and Vice Dean-Research, UCL Faculty of Laws)

About the talk

An opportunity to discuss and debate the Legal Services Board’s recent ‘Vision for legislative reform’. A line-up of eminent speakers explore the issues raised, and whether (and if so, how) the current framework for regulation should evolve to keep up with a rapidly changing environment.

We encourage all attending to have a peruse of the Vision Paper ahead of the event.

About the speakers

Sir Michael Pitt has been appointed as the second Chairman of the Legal Services Board (LSB), and took up post on 1 May 2014. The appointment was made by the Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary after consultation with the Lord Chief Justice.

Mike graduated from University College London with a first class honours degree in Engineering. During the first half of his career he was involved in the planning, design and construction of transport and other infrastructure in this country and abroad, working for the private and public sectors. He has held Directorships in the country’s largest local authorities. From 1990 to 2005 he was Chief Executive of Cheshire and Kent County Councils.

More recently, he has worked on a wide range of consultancy assignments, including a year-long appointment as independent Chair of the Government’s review of the 2007 floods. He has also been Chair of a number of other organisations including NHS South West, two companies and a charity. His most recent post before becoming Chairman of the LSB was as Chair and Chief Executive of the Planning Inspectorate.

Neil Rose is a qualified solicitor and has been a legal journalist for more than 20 years. He is the founder and editor of Legal Futures, a news-driven website providing market intelligence for law firms of the future. He is a recognised market commentator on ABSs, legal regulation and the future of the market. He also runs Litigation Futures, the first independent website dedicated to costs, funding and the Jackson reforms. 

In 2014, he won the Legal Journalism of the Year award at the Halsbury Legal Awards. Neil has freelanced for a wide range of publications, including The Guardian and The Times. He is also a co-director of Black Letter PR, a specialist public relations agency for the legal sector.

Iain Miller is Head of Regulation at Bevan Brittan LLP and General Editor of Cordery on Legal Services.  He specialises in legal services regulation where he acts for a range of clients including law firms and in house solicitors as well as the SRA, BSB and CILEx.  His recent cases have included acting for the BSB in Lumsdon v LSB [2016] AC 697 and acting for the Law Society and the Bar Council in Hemming v Westminster City Council [2015] AC 1600.  In Chambers 2016 he is ranked as a Star Individual for Professional Discipline and in Band 1 for Administrative and Public Law.

Christina Blacklaws studied Jurisprudence at the University of Oxford and qualified as a solicitor in 1991. A family lawyer by background, she has successfully run and managed both large scale high-street and virtual law firms. Christina set up the Co-operative Legal Services family law offering in 2011 and then moved into the role of Director of Policy.

Christina now holds the role of  Chief Operating Officer at a top 100 firm, Cripps LLP and is responsible for strategic change and operational management.

Christina has an extensive record of high-profile representative roles, which currently includes a public appointment as an executive member of the Family Justice Council.

She is a long-standing member of the Law Society’s Council, representing the Women Lawyers Division; the author of numerous articles, a well-known speaker and lecturer and a frequent media commentator.