The Legal Services Act received Royal Assent on 30 October 2007. Two of the key elements of the Act are the provision of a Legal Services Board (LSB) and the establishment of an Office for Legal Complaints (OLC). The LSB will be an over- arching regulator and the OLC will deal with all complaints about regulated legal service providers.

I am pleased to announce that following open and fair competition, regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments, the Lord Chancellor has appointed:

Terence Connor; Stephen Green; William Moyes; Barbara Saunders; and Nicole Smith as the lay members; and

Rosemary Martin; Michael Napier; Andrew Whittaker; and David Wolfe as the non-lay members.

The board members will take up post from 1 September 2008. The appointments will run for three years.