Bar Council, BSB gear up for LSA and continued globalisation

The annual reports of the Bar Council and Bar Standards Board (BSB) show that the bar is committed to aligning itself for the Legal Services Act (LSA) and to the globalisation of legal services.

Bar Council chairman Tim Dutton QC said the bar now accounted for 10 per cent of the £20bn worth of legal services in the UK, and that one pound in every 10 was exported out of the UK.

He said: "2007 saw the Bar Council reinforcing the position of London as the legal capital of the world by promoting the bar in India, China, Russia, Kazakhstan and several other countries."

BSB director Mandie Lavin said the regulator has spent the past year looking at how reforms such as the LSA will impact on the profession. "As the BSB delivers its three-year strategy and 2008 business plan," she said, "quality will continue to be the central theme in the BSB's work as regulator."