As the Law Society seeks to expand its advocacy role, Grania Langdon-Down looks at the future for regional representation




With the Law Society freed from its regulatory and complaints-handling shackles, it is aiming to take up the mantle of the profession’s advocate with greater vigour. But where does that leave the local law societies who have been quietly representing their members for many years? Is it time for these mice to roar too?



Chancery Lane has the ‘potential’ to become a much more effective voice for the profession in the post-Clementi world, ‘and I hope it does because we certainly need one’, says Sukhdev Bhomra, the incoming president of Birmingham Law Society.



While any rumblings of discontent about the national body have quietened since the split, there is a growing determination among the 120 autonomous local law societies to step up their representational role and become much more proactive to prove their relevance to their own members.



The City of London Law Society, with its 12,000 corporate and individual members, is positioning itself to take on a much more active representative role. It has set out a business agenda for 2007, which focuses on lobbying government and regulators on both national issues and those specific to City solicitors, such as appropriately targeted education and training and the need for improved facilities for commercial dispute resolution.



Mr Bhomra, a criminal law specialist, takes over as president of the 2,200-member Birmingham society next month. He says relations – which had been quite rocky – have improved since the Law Society’s separation. He says: ‘Regional law societies have a very important role to play. They have the ear of local solicitors and are better able to pitch their region’s key issues than the national body. At the same time, the national body is now more focused in terms of what it can do.’



Liverpool Law Society was established in 1827 and has more than 2,000 members. President Donal Bannon says: ‘It’s very early days yet, but at the last local law societies’ conference [organised by Chancery Lane], the idea of creating a federated structure wasn’t even mentioned. The focus was more on better communications and that is being delivered by email and regular reports.’



He says there will always be a need for a national body to raise local issues with a common theme at governmental level, to campaign on domestic legislation and to serve an international function. ‘Five years ago, the national body was struggling to deal with its dual role and it inevitably had to spend more time on the regulatory front and therefore had to compromise its representational functions.



‘Since the divorce between the two, there has been a noticeable change in terms of the national body now seeking to truly represent its members. It is actively communicating with all the local law societies, as well to trying to work in partnership with them, which is very welcome.’



Desmond Hudson, the Law Society’s chief executive, says he respects the independence of the local societies. ‘It is for them to decide what level of contact and joint working they want. There may well be issues that we may disagree upon because we are dealing with a complex period of change. But it seems to me that an informed and lively debate is in the interests of all solicitors.



‘Beyond that, the things that bind the national and local law societies together – supporting solicitors and our profession and its vitally important role in our communities – are much stronger than anything that would drive us apart.’

Elizabeth Howe, Kent’s Chief Crown Prosecutor, is president of the county’s law society. Set up in 1818, the society has about 700 members and has twinning arrangements with the Lille Bar in northern France and the New York County Lawyers Association. She wants to build up the society’s representative role, without setting up in competition with the national body. She sees the relationship as one of ‘mutual support’, though she would like Chancery Lane – ‘the only “home” we have got’ – to be ‘a bit cheaper and more accessible’.



‘I think we would lose a lot if we didn’t have a national body. In France, lawyers have to join their local law societies because they are their professional bodies. They are very robust organisations and the presidents are very different animals to me because they are heads of the profession. But, interestingly, they say that, when it comes to trying to influence legislation or public policy, they don’t have the benefit of a national voice.



‘So, if you can have a happy marriage between a national voice and local influence, I think it is the best option.’



However, there is one area where she wants to see an improvement. ‘I would like to see the Law Society show more interest in public lawyers. A lot don’t think it does anything for them and sometimes it has even pitted itself against my own organisation, which I have found very offensive.



‘We have nearly 3,000 solicitors – we are the biggest law firm in the country. But many Crown Prosecution Service solicitors don’t feel any connection with either the national or local law societies. Sadly, I haven’t increased membership from my own organisation because, even though I am the president, they still feel it isn’t very interested in what they do – and to be fair they have every reason to believe that.’



What Mr Hudson has found is that ‘high street practitioners think there is too much focus on City firms and vice versa, while employed solicitors, who make up about 20-25% of the profession, tell me there is too much focus on everyone apart from them. We are clearly not perfect. We don’t get it right all the time. But I think there is a broadly equitable allocation of our resources either planned or under way’.



One key issue between the national and local law societies has been over the future of the regional Law Society offices, viewed with mixed feelings by the local bodies.



While the physical offices are closing, Mr Hudson says they are going to increase the nine regional officers to 11, who will work from home or make local arrangements. ‘We are looking at the enormous area of south-east England, which needs dividing up, and within Greater London. However, we don’t need to be the owner of bricks and mortar in expensive city centre locations to support their work. We are going to reduce the number of administration staff and have one central hub running out of our Cardiff office, which will involve some redundancies.’



John Dunstan, a partner in Chellews in St Ives, is president of Cornwall Law Society, which was formed in 1883 and has 340 members. ‘A lot of disgruntlement about the national body is over communication. Historically, we have had a very close relationship with our regional officer and we would be concerned if that role is going to be diminished.’



Mr Bannon, on the other hand, says closing the regional offices is a sensible move. ‘I don’t think we need expensive offices around the country. Frankly, it tied down the regional officers in seeking to provide commercial services to pay for the building and overheads when what they ought to have been doing was liaising full-time with the local societies and member firms.



‘There was also competition over training. But now they won’t be competing with us in terms of black-letter-law courses – any they put on will be to do with new rules or professional conduct issues.’ This has long been a major issue for the local groups as training courses are a major source of revenue for them.



For the big societies, another key resource are their law libraries. In Birmingham, Mr Bhomra says the combination of their freehold building in the city centre and their library ‘holds us together’. He adds: ‘We are trying to bring our library up to speed by introducing programmes so members can access material online as we are anxious to keep our edge.’



The Birmingham society also offers training courses, holds social events and open meetings, and has a recruitment agency ‘with a moral conscience’, says Mr Bhomra. ‘We don’t look to place someone in a practice and then pinch them for another. It may make us less competitive but it is better than alienating our members.’



While the membership of the big societies may be thriving, some of the smaller ones find it difficult to drum up support. Rochdale Law Association, which celebrated its centenary in 2005, has 77 members. While most firms in the area are represented, president Ian Mann says it is very difficult to get members to come to social events, apart from the well-attended annual dinner. It held a wine tasting recently and eight people turned up.



‘Has the association a future? Yes, but its relevance has been watered down,’ Mr Mann says. ‘We meet every two months for about 45 minutes, which puts things in perspective. Traditionally the association has been the bastion of older people. My view is we must get the younger solicitors involved – that is where the future is.’



One issue which is high on the national agenda is the size of the 100-member Law Society Council. The consensus among Liverpool members, says Mr Bannon, is that the council should have between 30 and 50 members. ‘But if you shrink it too far, it will inevitably mean some geographical areas may have to expand, which will make it difficult for the representatives to feed back information to the local law societies.’



Mr Dunstan agrees: ‘I wouldn’t be happy if they reduced the geographical seats. It might be more efficient with fewer members but I think they have to be careful not to become remote.’



At present, the main focus of the Law Society’s campaigning work is over legal aid and it is asking local law societies to join in. It is also seeking input in crafting responses to the latest proposals from the Solicitors Regulation Authority. As Mr Hudson says: ‘It is a small step but it is about making good our promise to involve local societies in what we are doing.’



Grania Langdon-Down is a freelance journalist