Legal Services Board
About the Board
The Legal Services Board is an independent statutory authority, responsible for regulation of the legal profession in Victoria.
The Board was formed on 12 December 2005 under the Legal Profession Act 2004 (Vic) (“the Act”). Under the Act, the Legal Services Board gained responsibility for regulatory functions previously performed by the Legal Practice Board and Victorian professional associations.
The Act disestablished the Legal Practice Board.
The Board aims to:
- ensure the effective regulation of the legal profession and the maintenance of professional standards
- address the concerns of clients of law practices and legal practitioners through the regulatory system and provide for the protection of consumers of legal services
- ensure the adequate management of trust accounts
- ensure that the Victorian system is at the forefront of regulation of legal practitioners.
Key responsibilities
Some of the Board’s key responsibilities are:
- Maintenance of the register of legal practitioners and law practices, and the register of disciplinary action
- Issue, renewal, suspension and cancellation of practising certificates
- Setting professional indemnity insurance requirements
- Administration of the funds under the Act
- Administration and management of legal practitioners’ trust accounts
- Investigation and determination of claims against the Fidelity Fund
- Appointment and/or conduct of external intervention of law practices
- Making and approving legal profession rules
- Prosecution of breaches of the Act.
Some of these functions are currently delegated to legal practitioners’ professional associations – the Law Institute of Victoria and the Victorian Bar.
Please note the Board does not provide legal or professional advice to legal practitioners or members of the public.
View the Legal Profession Act 2004.
Regulatory Statement
The Board has developed a statement of regulatory approach, which sets out the strategic direction which the Board will take in regulating the legal profession in Victoria. The regulatory statement is outlined below:
The Legal Services Board, where appropriate or relevant to Victoria, will work within the framework of a nationally consistent approach to legal practice and will develop and maintain effective legal practice regulation that both identifies and appropriately ameliorates the risk for Victorian legal consumers and addresses the issues of the legal practitioners. The Board will also promote high professional standards amongst legal practitioners and will work with other professional bodies to achieve these standards.
The Board’s mechanisms for maintaining these standards range from less formal persuasive processes to formal legal enforcement processes where appropriate, all of which are aimed to achieve maximum regulatory compliance in accordance with the Legal Profession Act 2004. As an independent Victorian statutory authority, the Legal Services Board does not act on behalf of particular interests. The Legal Services Board does not provide professional or commercial advice, mediation or conciliation services.
Corporate Policies
Download our:
- Privacy policy (45KB PDF)
- Freedom of Information policy (36KB PDF)
- Whistleblowers Protection policy (33KB PDF)