The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has appointed five external members to its education and training committee as the body gears up for the imminent wide-ranging review of the sector.

The new appointments include Slaughter and May HR head Louise Meikle (pictured), the General Pharmaceutical Council's head of education and quality assurance Damian Day, and Chitra Karve, director of performance and development at the Parole Board.

Leicester De Montfort Law School head Sheree Peaple and City Solicitors' Educational Trust lecturer Steven Vaughan have also been added to the committee.

The appointments follow the announcement in November last year that the SRA, the Bar Standards Board and the Institute of Legal Executives Professional Standards are launching a review of legal education and training.

The review will look at the educational requirements for entering the profession, the requirements for continuing education for practitioners, and the requirements placed on the law schools and those delivering the education to individuals and entities.

SRA committee chair Susan Bews said: "The SRA's education and training committee undertakes a critical function in the setting and development of standards for those delivering legal services, so that members of the public can be assured that they will receive high quality legal advice.

"In 2011 the committee will be playing a major role in relation to the fundamental review of legal education and training. These five members will bring a breadth of expertise to this vital and complex work."

The review will also look at requirements of legal education and training in the delivery of the regulatory objectives set out in the Legal Services Act.