Having your say in the Law Society’s consultation is crucial to how the Society will change in the next 18 months, says Janet Paraskeva

If you’re feeling gloomy, don’t be. It really should not be a time for doom and gloom. Of course there are pressures, and it may seem to some as if they are coming from all directions.


Clients expect higher levels of service for less money, competition is increasing, and there is closer scrutiny of everything a solicitor does.


But there is also an upward trend in the demand for legal services. The government’s White Paper Putting consumers first has confirmed that alternative business structures will promote new opportunities for small and large firms alike. It heralds the possibility of external funding for innovation and for investment in long-term growth. It paves the way for the development of new business structures, including mergers with other businesses, and the development of practices offering a range of different professional services.


It may, of course, be difficult for the small practice, with increasing demands and the cost of efficient electronic administration – especially so for legal aid practices facing the possibility of a more market-driven future.


But the Law Society is becoming better equipped to support its members. Now that it has separated the governance and management of its regulatory functions and established a consumer-led board to lead its Consumer Complaints Service, it is concentrating on a metamorphosis – changing itself into a more representative professional organisation, promoting the image of the solicitor, protecting its professional status and helping its members not just to survive but to thrive.


And that is why we launched the ‘Have Your Say’ consultation, to which there has been a great response so far. In the first few weeks, more than 11,000 solicitors have filled in the questionnaire. The consultation asks for your views on what the Law Society should do for you and your profession. But we want to hear from many more of you so that we can accurately represent the needs of our 120,000 members and 10,000 trainees working in a wide range of locations, areas of law and types of organisation.


Between now and the close of the consultation on 21 April, we need you to help us generate as many responses from different solicitors as possible. A copy of the questionnaire is included in the centre pages of this week’s Gazette. Alternatively, you can complete it on-line at www.haveyoursaylawsociety.org.uk. You could also turn up at one of the events we have organised at a location near you – telephone your nearest regional/Wales office, details available on www.lawsociety.org.uk – if you would like an invitation.


The consultation is important because it helps to direct the new design of the Law Society. We already have the results of independent research commissioned from GFK NOP and it tells us that 91% of those involved confirmed the need for a national representative body. When we have all the results, your elected representatives on council will consider them together with the analysis of the ‘Have Your Say’ consultation and be able to make the right decisions on your behalf about the future of your Society.


We need to make sure that we get as high a response as possible. So far we have learned that you want us to change and that you want us to change quickly. We need to demonstrate to you – so you tell us – that we can implement those changes within 18 months. That is a very challenging timescale but we are planning to meet it. We expect the council to determine the future overall shape of the professional body by July of this year. Implementation will then take place in the council year 2006/2007.


The Law Society has already shown that it can change to help the profession. The moves it took to establish the regulation board and the consumer complaints board ahead of the White Paper meant that the Lord Chancellor has been able to indicate already the likelihood of the Law Society becoming the front-line regulator for solicitors under the new regulatory machine.


The Law Society has secured profession-led regulation for solicitors – and it was able to do so because it took radical decisions to change, and to change quickly. Now we need to invigorate our representative work and to deliver a national body that represents the shared values of the entire profession and speaks with the authority of the whole profession.


The Law Society is changing, but we need you to help us. The consultation sets the tone for the future. It makes it easier for you to have your say.


You can help us by making sure your colleagues see the consultation document and complete it – in hard copy or on-line.


And don’t forget to fill it in yourself. The future could be far from gloomy – but you need to help us know how to shape it.


Janet Paraskeva is the Law Society chief executive