Mark Stobbs began his career by joining what was then the Lord Chancellor's Department. In his time there, he worked on a number of pieces of legislation, including the Courts and Legal Services Act, and helped establish the office of the Legal Services Ombudsman. He joined the Bar Council in 1993 to run their complaints system. He became Head of the Professional Standards and Legal Services Department in 1998. In that role he was closely involved in the Council's work on the Code of Conduct and rules of ethics. He provided much of the policy advice for the Bar's dealings with Sir David Clementi over his report and the initial stages of the Legal Services Bill. He became the first Director of the Bar Standards Board, the Council's regulatory arm, on its inception in 2006. He left the Bar Council in February 2008 to become Director of Legal Policy at the Law Society. He is responsible for the representative part of the Society’s work on law reform, professional policy and regulation.