As the Law Society debates aspects of its role – such as the balance between regional and national, regulation and representation – solicitors have a real opportunity to help shape its future, writes Janet Paraskeva

Work on redesigning the Law Society is continuing. There has been considerable discussion up to now about the overall structure for the Society, and about the detail of regulatory arrangements, and these are being implemented.


What the Law Society Council is now concentrating on is the future of the Society in representing the profession and promoting law reform. Last week those discussions began in earnest with questions on how the Society should in future represent the profession, what its role should be on the national stage and which services it should provide.


That discussion will help to shape the consultation paper that will be prepared and sent to the profession in the new year. The drafting of a consultation paper will also be influenced by the views from local law societies, regional associations and other professional groups in meetings in the coming weeks and months.


The content of the consultation paper on the future of the Law Society will also be shaped by the results of the market testing exercise that we have commissioned from the polling organisation NOP. Over the next few months, NOP will be approaching members of the profession and inviting them either to participate in a focus group or to give a telephone interview.


It will be telephoning 1,200 solicitors with the purpose getting an insight into what the profession wants from its professional body and how much solicitors would pay. I hope that, if the researchers call you, you will take part and help us with the financial planning that we have to do.


In preparing the consultation paper, we have so far identified some of the key questions we will need to ask. These include the need for the profession to agree the principal objectives of a new Law Society. We need to determine how best to represent the profession’s interests and fulfil its public interest functions. We need to know whether the profession wants the Society to continue with its highly-regarded law reform work.


We also need to know about services the Law Society will offer in the future. What are the distinctive services that a national professional body can offer? Is it more than being a national voice and the primary consultee of the solicitors’ front-line regulator?


Then there is an issue that needs careful consideration, and that is the membership structure. It is possible to offer something much more sophisticated than the simple choice between becoming a member or not. The intention is that the Law Society delivers to its members the services they want and in the way they want to receive them. The question is how should those services be targeted? Should services be provided through sections, which would be aimed at solicitors in particular areas of practice, and divisions, covering demographic groups? Should services be offered at local and regional level?


It is of course also necessary to look carefully at the governance structure for the organisation. The council has already decided that governance and arrangements for the regulation and representation of solicitors will be separated, although both functions will remain within the Law Society, with its regulation functions operating independently through a subsidiary company. In choosing an appropriate governance structure we need to strike a balance between democratic involvement of solicitors in the work of the Society and the ability of the organisation to operate efficiently and effectively. Larger boards tend to be more democratic, smaller ones more efficient. How should the Society ensure that we get the right balance between the two?


Finally there is the issue of the relationship between autonomous regional and local law societies and the future national Law Society. The establishment of new arrangements for the Society may be an opportunity to put the relationship between the national and local law societies on a new footing in a way that is beneficial for all. Therefore, this issue needs careful consideration.


Several questions are being asked. For example, might regional and local law societies be offered affiliated membership of the national body? How might mutual co-operation and support be facilitated without compromising the autonomy of local law societies and regional law societies? Are local and regional law societies an appropriate potential vehicle for delivery of the Law Society’s programmes, wholly or in partnership?


The council had a stimulating and wide-ranging debate on all these issues – and it will just be a taste of what we have to come. The Law Society will begin a full consultation of the profession in January, by which time there will be many questions to ask. I urge you to engage with this process. The more involved you are, the more likely it is that we can create a new organisation that meets the needs of more of its members.


Janet Paraskeva is the Law Society Chief Executive