The Legal Services Board was created by the Legal Services Act 2007. The Board came into being on 1 January 2009 and became fully operational on 1 January 2010. Its overriding mandate is to ensure that regulation in the legal services sector is carried out in the public interest; and that the interests of consumers are placed at the heart of the system.

The Board itself is responsible for overseeing legal regulators in England and Wales. It is independent of Government and of the legal profession. It oversees ten separate bodies, the approved regulators, which themselves regulate the lawyers practising throughout the jurisdiction. The Board also oversees the organisation established to handle consumer complaints about lawyers, the Office for Legal Complaints.