Appointment as Chair of the Legal Services Board

The Lord Chancellor has approved the appointment of Monisha Shah as Chair of the Legal Services Board for 4 years from 1 April 2026. The appointment follows a Justice Select Committee pre-appointment scrutiny hearing on 25 March and the publication of the Committee's report on 27 March.

The Legal Services Board (LSB) is the oversight regulator for legal services in England and Wales. It oversees eight regulatory bodies who carry out the day-to-day frontline regulation of legal services. It also has responsibilities in relation to the Office for Legal Complaints, which is responsible for administering the Legal Ombudsman scheme, and the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. The LSB is independent from both the legal profession and government and operates within a statutory framework set out in the Legal Services Act 2007.

Monisha Shah is an experienced chair and non-executive director. She is chair of Publishers' Licensing Services and co-chair of the Copyright Licensing Agency. She also chairs the Kings Counsel Selection Panel and serves as council member of the Advertising Standards Authority. She is a serving trustee of the Royal Collection Trust, Art Fund and chair of trustees of Caterham School. Ms Shah's previous experience includes non-executive roles at the Office of Students, the Ofcom Content Board, and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. She has also served as a member of the Committee on Standards in Public Life

Appointments to the LSB are made, under the Legal Services Act 2007, by the Lord Chancellor after consulting the Lady Chief Justice. Appointments are regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments; recruitment processes comply with the Governance Code on Public Appointments.