This follows the recent exit of board chair Alan Kershaw
Craig Westwood has resigned as UK Legal Services Board chief executive for personal reasons, reported the Law Society Gazette.
He had held the role for a little over a year. His departure, which is set for the summer, follows the recent exit of ex-board chair Alan Kershaw.
LSB interim chair Catherine Brown lauded Westwood's brief leadership run what she said was a "demanding year."
"Craig will leave the LSB in a strong position to continue delivering effective regulation in the public interest," Brown said in a statement published by the Gazette.
During Westwood's term as LSB chief executive, the board initiated enforcement action against the UK Solicitors Regulation Authority due to how the Axiom Ince collapse was handled. The board is also investigating the SRA's handling of SSB Law's failure.
The LSB recently slammed the SRA in a regulatory performance assessment, describing its delivery as "insufficient" for authorisation, supervision, and enforcement according to the Gazette. Nonetheless, the board was also criticized by Stone for being "no more experienced" than those they supervised.
"Oversight gives responsibility, but it does not, in itself, give sharper insight into, or greater care for, the public interest. Still less does it give a better understanding of the challenges of front-line regulation," Stone said in a snippet of her outgoing speech in June which was published by the Gazette.
In addition, with Westwood at the helm the LSB put a spotlight on legal ethics by serving as a consultant on measures to mitigate what it considered a drop in the profession's standards.
In the meantime, the LSB's regulation and policy director, Richard Orpin, has been named interim chief executive. The board will conduct a formal recruitment process to find a permanent replacement.
Westwood's stepping down as LSB chief executive marks yet another major leadership shift at a UK legal regulator this year. Bar Standards Board chair Kathryn Stone exits her role in the summer as well, and Sarah Rapson was recently announced as the new chief executive of the SRA following Paul Philip's decision to retire.
