The Bar Standards Board (BSB) is seeking an outstanding and inclusive Chair to lead its Board.
The BSB is the independent regulator for barristers and specialised legal services businesses in England and Wales. Our regulatory objectives are laid down by the Legal Services Act and the primary role of the Board is to ensure that we pursue those objectives effectively in the public interest. We are responsible for ensuring that barristers serve the rule of law and provide an excellent and good value service to consumers. The BSB is responsible, to that end, for setting education and training requirements, establishing and maintaining professional standards, authorising organisations which provide Bar training or certain legal services, and dealing with questions of professional misconduct.
We seek to appoint a Chair who will work with the Board and executive team to lead the organisation through a time of far-reaching change in the legal services market and its regulation. The BSB welcomes applications from all candidates and values diversity in background, skills and experience. We particularly welcome applications from people from minoritised ethnic backgrounds as they are underrepresented on our Board.
Over the next ten years, barristers in England and Wales will continue to face major challenges. These include changing consumer demands and expectations, technological advances and the promotion of equality and diversity within the profession itself. The BSB must ensure that its regulation is risk-based, proportionate and agile in a changing legal services and regulatory landscape. It must ensure that barristers are themselves as diverse as the society they serve.
The Chair will be an experienced non-executive who has never been a member of the legal profession, ideally with previous chairing experience. They will have a significant and successful track record of senior leadership gained in either the public or private sector, together with demonstrable experience of working with and influencing boards. The Chair will have an understanding of public interest regulation and will be passionate about the role a professional regulator plays, demonstrated through a commitment to upholding standards and ensuring good governance and transparency. The Chair will be a visible leader, able to motivate those around them, exercising diplomacy and sensitivity when required yet willing to challenge the status quo when needed. They will have a commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and will have the ability to think strategically about where the Board might focus its efforts in this regard. The Chair’s integrity, standing and judgement will inspire public confidence in the regulatory arrangements and hold the respect of a highly educated, demanding and articulate profession.
For more information about the role at the Bar Standards Board, please download the candidate pack by clicking on the link below:
Bar Standards Board Chair Candidate pack (PDF) Bar Standards Board Chair Candidate pack (Word)
If you wish to apply for this position, please supply a detailed CV, a completed cover letter form and completed supporting details form.
All candidates must meet the definition of a “lay person” as defined by the Legal Services Act. They must never have been authorised to supply legal services by an approved regulator (e.g. as a barrister, solicitor, legal executive etc.) in England or Wales or have been a Scottish solicitor or advocate or a Northern Irish solicitor or barrister.
Closing date: 05 June 2022
Disabled candidates who require reasonable adjustments should contact Inclusive Boards via [email protected] or call 020 7267 8369. The Bar Standards Board is Disability Confident. Disabled candidates who meet the essential criteria for this role will be guaranteed a first stage interview under this scheme.