Members are at the heart of what we do at the Law Society. We want more of them involved. As part of our new corporate strategy launching in November, we will introduce a programme called 'Get Involved', which will give members more opportunities to input into our work and foster stronger connections between solicitors and their professional body. There are already many ways for members to participate and tell us what really matters: serving on our council or representative structures, contributing expertise to advisory committees and working groups, taking part in events and discussions, or bringing motions and questions to our annual general meetings.
Our diverse membership and range of views only make us stronger, so we particularly encourage members to engage with our council - an elected body of 97 solicitors representing the interests of the whole profession. Recent survey findings show that, in terms of protected characteristics, our council is a truly diverse body with female solicitors, disabled solicitors and solicitors from Black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds, all well represented.
We hope the profession can take confidence from this aspect of the council’s composition, but we also recognise that diversity of practice areas and settings is important if solicitors are to feel represented on the council and, in turn, by the Law Society. One of the changes that we are proposing at the upcoming annual general meeting in October, is to update the eligibility criteria for certain council seats to reflect changes in the market and firm sizes. To streamline processes and improve value, we are also looking to formalise in our bye-laws, the shift from paper ballots to electronic voting in elections to council.
A final proposal is in the number of members needed to call for a special general meeting for a specific purpose. Currently, only 100 members are needed to trigger one, which is equal to just 0.05% of our 216,000-strong membership. We have conducted a review and found that the Law Society’s threshold is well below those of comparable organisations, which typically range from 1% to 5% of their membership. Given the resources required to stage a special general meeting - both in financial terms and in the diversion of resources - it is not surprising that higher thresholds than those currently in place at the Law Society are generally required. After all, those resources are funded by every single member. Increasing the Law Society threshold to 0.5% of our members – equivalent to 1,000 solicitors - would bring us closer to, although still below, modern practices and would represent better value and use of resources for members as a whole.
The threshold of around 1,000 members would be easily achieved in today’s social media landscape, where support can be rallied almost instantly. This step is a practical response to balance the interests of all members while maintaining the many existing channels members have to share their views and concerns.
2025 has been a big year for the Law Society, as we’ve celebrated our 200 years of supporting solicitors. It’s an important milestone honouring the remarkable legacy of our profession. As we head into the last few months of our bicentenary, we’re making sure our organisation is ready to support solicitors for many more years to come. Keeping the Law Society relevant and representative will require us to seek members’ approval to governance rule changes like these, and we thank members in advance for considering the motions recommended by the council to this year’s annual general meeting.
The Law Society's annual general meeting takes place this year on 8 October, and the meeting papers will be published on our website on 3 September.
Members can register to attend the annual general meeting here.
Ian Jeffery is chief executive of the Law Society of England and Wales
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