On 13 September 2023, the Legal Services Board hosted a stakeholder event at the Senedd in Cardiff – Reshaping Legal Services in Wales. The event was sponsored by Peredur Owen Griffith MS. Alan Kershaw, Chair of the Legal Services Board opened the event. His speech is below. Check against delivery.
Speech by Alan Kershaw, Chair of the Legal Services Board
Good afternoon to you all, I am Alan Kershaw.
I’m pleased to be here in Cardiff to meet you all.
I’m less than six months into my tenure as the Chair of the LSB. Although I’ve visited Wales many times, this is my first official LSB event in the country. I’m also joined by LSB Board members, our Chief Executive, and other LSB colleagues. Can I ask you all to wave so that everyone knows who you are?
As the oversight regulator for both England and Wales, it is important to me that we invest in understanding perspectives across the two nations and indeed their regions.
Yesterday, we held our September Board meeting across the Bay. And earlier today, LSB Board Members and colleagues were privileged to meet with colleagues from Cardiff Law School, Cardiff School of Management, the Speakeasy Law Centre and the Law Council for Wales. Thank you to everyone who met with us, including lawyers, aspiring lawyers, academics and researchers. It is one thing for us to sit in London and commission reports and research on Wales when shaping our policy and regulatory work, and quite another to actually be here, on the ground, and meet with you.
I won’t hog the floor because I’m keen to hear from our guest speakers and then from all of you who have given up your time to be here.
I’ll just briefly say a bit about the LSB and our ambition for the sector.
Our research tells us that in Wales, 31% of people have an unmet legal need. We have set out a strategy to make sure that anyone needing legal advice can shop around easily and compare the quality of the services on offer. Whether you live in the heart of Cardiff or rural Llansannan, you should be able to find a legal services provider that best meets your needs at a price you can afford.
Consumers and small businesses should have confidence that the legal support they receive is provided by a competent lawyer with up-to-date skills and training and a high standard of professional ethics. They should also know they are protected and can seek redress if something goes wrong.
Technology has the potential to transform how legal services are provided and accessed. And innovation could contribute to solving the problem of advice deserts in Wales. However, our research shows that firms in Wales are less likely to offer online services or regularly use social media than firms in England and Wales overall. We want regulation to support and enable the sector to be competitive and innovative. So while it is, of course, important for regulators to understand and respond proportionately to risk, we want them first and foremost, to adopt an open stance on technology and innovation. That’s why we are currently consulting on proposals aimed at unlocking the benefits of technology and innovation to improve access to legal services. AI is not yet firmly on our agenda, but trust me we have it firmly in our sights.
We have taken steps to improve price transparency and make it easier for people who need legal services to shop around. This could benefit the sector in Wales. The prices of common legal services, such as conveyancing, divorce and wills, trusts and probate services, are as it happens significantly lower in Wales than in England. So, lawyers in Wales could potentially attract customers from over the border. So, what’s stopping you? Perhaps this is something we will explore later.
We want to encourage an independent, strong, diverse and inclusive profession. Hopefully, we all share this ambition for legal services in Wales, and that’s why you are here today. Because achieving this vision will require every single one of us to play our part.
You don’t need me to tell you that the legal services sector isn’t homogenous. There are significant differences between England and Wales – and, indeed, within Wales. There is increasing divergence between Welsh and English law in some practice areas, and it is vital that Lawyers have up-to-date knowledge. We are ensuring this through new requirements on ongoing competence. These set clear outcomes that regulators must meet to ensure that lawyers have the necessary skills, knowledge and behaviours to provide good quality legal services.
I’m also committed to doing all I can to foster and encourage collaboration that supports access to justice. So, I’m particularly keen today to hear examples of where the LSB can support collaboration and where organisations are working together effectively to drive improvements for consumers and the profession.
Closing remarks
Thank you to our speakers and to all of you. You have given us plenty of food for thought and ideas that we will take forward.
As I said at the start, I am committed to ensuring that regulation contributes to a legal services sector that better meets the needs of society.
We continue to be engaged in the issues unique to this devolved nation and next month, we have the first meeting of the forum for legal regulators in Wales. Today’s discussion will be used to shape that agenda.
I hope you, too, have taken something away from today. Perhaps an idea for a project, a new connection or two, or an opportunity to collaborate.
There is still time for you to continue the discussion and network over lunch. I want to wrap up by thanking Peredur Owen Griffiths for sponsoring this event and thank his office for their support and advice. Thank you, also, to Warren Palmer and Mick Antoniw for speaking today.
I would also like to thank Welsh Government colleagues for their support in the lead-up to the event, and we look forward to continuing to work together. Thank you also to the events team at the Senedd for helping to ensure everything ran smoothly today – we are very grateful.
Finally, thank you all for coming, welcoming us to Cardiff, and sharing your views so candidly. We will share a note of this discussion in the coming days and send you details of how we can continue to keep in touch and explore ways to collaborate.
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the rest of your afternoon.
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