Lavender QC speaks out

Bar chair-elect Nicholas Lavender QC called for the abolition of the Legal Services Board (LSB) as currently constituted, in his inaugural speech on 9 December. “The Bar Standards Board, the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the other front line regulators should be free to get on with their job in the public interest,” he added. Lavender also pledged to speak out against cuts to legal aid fees for criminal advocates which would ultimately result in the system becoming “less effective at convicting the guilty, and less effective at ensuring that those wrongly accused go free”.