Bahl set to mediate

The reconvened special general meeting on the Law Society's handling of the Kamlesh Bahl affair was last week adjourned indefinitely.

The meeting was originally adjourned on 31 January to allow for the Society and Ms Bahl to engage in mediation.

Law Society Deputy Vice-President Peter Williamson told members last week that a pre-mediation meeting was held on 9 May and an agreement to mediate signed.

He said both sides agreed not to make any other comment.

Nigel Dodds, the Law Society Council member for Northumbria, moved an adjournment of the meeting sine die to allow the mediation to run its course.

This was approved by 61 votes to 28.

It pre-empted plans by the meeting chairwoman - Vice-President Carolyn Kirby - to ballot the profession on the resolutions before the SGM.

Attendance was fewer than half of the 250 or so solicitors who attended the January meeting.

Law Society chief executive Janet Paraskeva said: 'There has already been a successful pre-mediation meeting and we look forward to working with all parties.

We believe this is the best course of action to resolve this complex matter.'

London solicitor Imran Khan, who moved the resolutions, which at their heart called for an independent inquiry, told the meeting: 'The people who called for mediation missed the point.

This is about the organisation as a whole: the way it is run, the way it is structured, the way it is accountable or not, and the way it treats its members.'

The council has pledged to consider an inquiry once legal proceedings are concluded; both sides' appeals of the original employment tribunal ruling are still pending.

Neil Rose