Research Analyst

Background to the Legal Services Board (LSB)

The Legal Services Board is an independent body responsible for overseeing the regulation of legal services in England and Wales. We regulate nine approved regulators, each of which has responsibility for the day-to-day regulation of different types of lawyers. The LSB was created by the 2007 Legal Services Act to achieve eight regulatory objectives. We are an executive non-departmental public body funded by lawyers and law firms. The Board is appointed by the Lord Chancellor at the Ministry of Justice and supported by a staff of around 30.

In 2021 we announced a ten-year sector-wide strategy to reshape legal services in England and Wales. Our annual business plan details the programmes (including research) we will carry out to make progress against the strategy and regulatory objectives.

Research at the LSB includes large scale surveys on the legal needs of individuals and small businesses, as well as surveys on law firms’ use of technology and their prices of legal services. The research analyst will be working on these surveys. 

The role:

We currently have a vacancy for a Research Analyst to join our small team. This role offers a great opportunity to develop and consolidate practical skills in data analysis and data visualisation as a quantitative researcher. The LSB can support the successful candidate to gain relevant professional qualifications in statistical analysis. The role directly informs regulatory policy decisions with a clear link between research and real-world impact.

As Research Analyst, you will work on a range of research and policy projects - under the direct guidance of the Research Manager and the sponsorship of the Head, Policy Development and Research.

A key focus of the role holder is to undertake data collation and analysis to provide engaging insights to support policy development. This work will support the LSB’s sector-wide strategy to reshape legal services through fairer outcomes, stronger confidence and better services.

In practical terms this will involve:

• helping to collect primary or secondary data for our surveys (on individual legal needs, small business legal needs, use of technology and innovation, and prices of legal services)
• conducting primary or secondary statistical analysis, including of large datasets
• reporting insights through written reports, slide decks and data visualisations
• helping to engage LSB policy colleagues and external stakeholders with those insights, including through verbal presentations and briefings

We work hard to ensure that policy is informed by evidence, and we work with the regulators we oversee and other stakeholders to do the same. The LSB is a small organisation and the research team work closely with policy colleagues and communications colleagues through each project, to ensure insights are relevant and used to make a difference. We maximise our research capacity by doing research inhouse, in partnership with stakeholders and commissioning external research agencies.
 

Core responsibilities:

• Research design and management: helping the research manager to design, commission and manage individual research projects
• Source data: either by contributing to the design of survey questionnaires and sample quotas or by identifying and obtaining data from existing datasets
• Analysis: carrying out descriptive and inferential statistical analysis up to multivariate analysis and segmentation to develop relevant, clear and engaging insights
• Reporting: helping to draft/create project reports, slide decks, briefings and data visualisations (including on web-based dashboards) on results, insights and methodology, including (where relevant) statistical reporting
• Engaging: engaging Colleagues and stakeholders with the insights developed, verbally and in writing and data visualisations
• Statistical analysis advice: providing subject matter expertise within LSB on quantitative analysis, including appropriateness of different techniques, the inferences and insights that can be made and their level of robustness
• Data and analysis queries: Answering specific queries from policy and communications colleagues and external stakeholders about statistics and their meaning

Qualities and experience:

Essential

• Able to problem solve and think creatively, through identifying ways to navigate around gaps in information
• Strong team player with good interpersonal skills and confidence to engage LSB colleagues at all levels of seniority
• Able to work well in multidisciplinary teams and on own on multiple projects and adapt to changing priorities
• Able to independently analyse large datasets with confidence to test hypotheses and identify themes and trends, and to develop engaging, relevant and practical insights for regulatory policy makers and wider stakeholders
• Competent in using at least one of R or SPSS or Power BI
• Strong analytical skills, able to apply statistical techniques including knowledge of associated statistical assumptions, in interpreting and representing data findings
• Competent in using Word (writing, editing, formatting), Excel (incl basic formulae, creating charts, conditional formatting) and PowerPoint (creating and animating content and presenting it)
• Good communication skills, able to explain data trends and statistical insights clearly and engage nontechnical audiences verbally, through writing and data visualisations
• Demonstrable ability and desire to learn and consolidate new skills and knowledge

Desirable

• Experience of conducting research projects from initial project design to final dissemination of results and insights
• Experience of conducting research to inform regulation or policy making
• Good understanding of multivariate regression techniques and segmentations
• Experience of designing and creating data visualisations and dashboards to present complex research findings in a simple manner
• Some understanding of the legal services market

Experience

It is likely that the post holder will have an academic, professional or vendor qualification which include modules on statistical analysis. They will also have experience of carrying out research projects either as part of an academic or vocational course or from working in a research role.

Please note you do not need a background in law for this role.

Benefits

35 hours per week with a competitive salary, a defined contribution pension scheme with an employer’s contribution of 10% of salary, benefits allowance and an annual leave entitlement of 25 days in addition to statutory bank holidays.

Job Types: Full-time, Part-time, Permanent. 

Salary: Approximately £32k per year (more can be considered for candidates with proven experience).  Plus 10% flexible benefits allowance.

Further information

The LSB has a flexible working policy that enables colleagues to choose whether they want to work from home, the office or a hybrid of both

The LSB is committed to reducing inequality, valuing diversity and enabling inclusion. We welcome applications from people from all parts of the community, particularly where we are under-represented. Currently this includes people who identify as having a disability.

How to apply

Please send a covering letter setting out how you meet the essential qualities from the Person Specification (no more than two A4 pages) and your CV to recruitment@legalservicesboard.org.uk. 

Please send your covering letter and CV as a word document as we anonymise the applications before they go to the shortlisting panel.

Please note that applications that do not have a covering letter will not be considered.