Legal first

A former banking chief and senior civil servant is to oversee how lawyers are regulated. David Edmonds, a former director of the NatWest Group, has been appointed as the first chairman of the Legal Services Board (LSB). Although the LSB will not be fully operational until 2010, Edmonds starts his new role in May. His regulatory experience includes five years as director general of telecommunications and two years as a founding member of the board of Ofcom. Edmonds is currently the chairman of the board of NHS Direct and has served for four years as a commissioner at the Legal Services Commission. He will leave both those posts in the next few months.