In the Media

Marsh joins SRA?s first lay majority board

PUBLISHED November 14, 2012
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Wednesday 14 November 2012 by Catherine Baksi

A former Law Society president is among four new members appointed to the first board of the Solicitors Regulation Authority to have a lay majority.

Paul Marsh was president in 2008/09 and since then has been central to the creation of the Society's Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS).

A conveyancing practitioner for 42 years, Marsh was chair of the solicitor's indemnity fund for three years and served on the Society's conveyancing and land-law committee, which he also chaired for two years.

Marsh (pictured) told the Gazette: 'I would like to think I have a reasonable understanding of the issues and how a major sector of the profession operate, and I hope this will be useful. Having been a practitioner for 42 years and my involvement as the creator of CQS, which involved setting standards to manage risk, will also bring value.'

Marsh said it is too early to suggest how the board may develop, saying: 'I need to work out where we are first.' But he said he would like to help improve communication between the regulator and the members of the profession.

He will join the board in January, along with three new lay members - Enid Rowlands, Bill Galvin and Peter Phippen.

Rowlands is currently chair of victim support and, according to the SRA, has extensive board experience at the General Medical Council, Consumer Focus and a variety of other public bodies.

Bill Galvin is chief executive of the Pensions Regulator and was formerly an IBM executive. Peter Phippen was president and chief executive of BBC Worldwide Americas and managing director of BBC magazines for 10 years.

Two other new members, lay member Julia Black and solicitor Chris Randall, will join in January 2014. Julia Black is a professor in the law department at London School of Economics, with experience of legal services regulation in England and Wales. Chris Randall is chief executive of Sussex firm Mayo Wynne Baxter.

In December six members will leave the board: lay members Dr Susan Bews, Sir Ron Watson and Ian Menzies-Conacher, and solicitor members Lorrette Law, Lucy Winskell and Mark Humphries.

Lay member Peter Duffy and solicitor Malcolm Nicholson will leave in December 2013; and solicitor Tom Keevil will leave in December 2014.

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