News story

Appointment of a new Chair to the Legal Services Board

The Lord Chancellor, in consultation with the Lord Chief Justice, has appointed Dr Helen Phillips as Chair of the Legal Services Board with effect from 18 June 2018 to 31 March 2023.

LSB is the oversight regulator for legal services in England and Wales. It is independent of government and of the legal profession, and oversees the bodies that regulate approximately 147,000 lawyers.

Dr Phillips was previously the Interim Chair of the Legal Services Board, and lay member of the Board since 2015. She has also chaired the Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust since 2015 during which time she has improved its Care Quality Commission rating from ‘Requires improvement’ to ‘Good’ within 2 years. Dr Phillips is also a Director at The Mount Trust (Independent Boarding School) and an Advisory Board member at the Sheffield Business School.

From 2012 Dr Phillips was Board Director of Yorkshire Water with responsibility for customer services and networks. Prior to that her career as a regulator was as founding Chief Executive and Board member of Natural England from 2006 and before that as Director Wales of the Environment Agency.

This appointment has been conducted in accordance with the Commissioner for Public Appointments’ Governance Code on Public Appointments.

Dr Phillips has declared no political activity.

Published 21 June 2018