Having received nearly 19,000 replies to its consultation, the Law Society will put what solicitors say they want at the heart of its plans, says Janet Paraskeva

The three-month consultation of the entire solicitors’ profession on the future work of its national representative body ended on 21 April. Nearly 19,000 of you took the opportunity to have your say. That is a huge level of involvement for such an exercise, which is clearly a sign of the importance that solicitors place on their national representative body.


The research shows that solicitors agree that there is a unique role for the national Law Society to play. It is the only organisation that can speak for all solicitors. The weight that gives the Society with the regulator, Parliament and governments both here and overseas is immense.


The Law Society is now working to make sure that it has fully understood what solicitors have told us and is building on that as it designs the future Society. The Law Society Council will be making decisions in May and July about the blueprint for the future Society.


There is already a lot of work going on to provide the information and analysis to inform those decisions.


And change has already begun. One of the key messages from the profession has been that you feel the Society does not listen closely enough to you. You also told us that you want more services to be provided electronically, something that is backed up by the fact that the majority of responses to the consultation were provided on-line. We also need to work harder to make sure that you know what the Society is doing for you and to make sure that we know what you need from us.


We have already increased our direct communications with members. Many of you already receive Professional Update, a regular round-up of legal news and developments at the Law Society. There are other newsletters on, for example, tax law, EU developments, and e-business that can help you in your day-to-day work.



But the Law Society is not just getting better at letting you know what we are doing on your behalf. We are also looking for you to tell us about your concerns and to provide us with information to help you. We are using the Web to bring together campaigns to support our work lobbying government and others. Our campaign to get changes to the stamp duty land tax regime was the most high-profile example so far, but we are also running campaigns on changes to the small-claims limit, home information packs, the child care proceedings review, faster family justice and capital gains tax. All of these campaigns need the support of members, and we are asking you to provide us with your views so that we can lobby more effectively on your behalf.


We have already seen how successful this approach can be. If there are issues that you think we should be addressing, then let us know. Speak to your council member or write to the president.


If you are not already being kept in touch, you can sign up for one of the Law Society’s newsletters or take part in a campaign by visiting our Web site at www.lawsociety.org.uk and clicking through to ‘News and Events’ from the menu at the top left of the page.


But communicating better is just a start. We want to be absolutely sure that our clear focus in everything we do is on supporting solicitors. The president and office-holder team have met many of you as they have travelled around England and Wales promoting the consultation exercise and listening to what you have to say.


That is also being fed into the work of redesigning the Law Society. The president will be keeping solicitors up to date on progress and in the autumn will be able to tell you a lot more about the new Law Society.


The Law Society is already making changes to our work priorities for 2006 based on what you have told us so far, and we plan to reduce the practising certificate fee as an example of our commitment to delivering what you say you want – a leaner machine. But we want to be absolutely sure that our clear focus in everything we do is on supporting solicitors. The results of the consultation will tell us more about how exactly you want us to do that.


Then the profession’s representatives on the council will be able to do their work, but will go on consulting the profession both informally and through continued market research. If you are asked to take part, please take the opportunity to help build the future Law Society.


In the remaining months that I spend as chief executive of the Law Society, I will be working to ensure that what you say you want from the Society is the foundation of its plans for the future. I hope that you will want to keep in touch as we develop those plans. The Society needs your help. After all, it is your Law Society.


Janet Paraskeva is the chief executive of the Law Society