The CCBE has missed an opportunity to increase its standing with the European Commission by failing to amend its constitution to take into account the users of legal services as well as the legal profession, British lawyers said last week.

A proposal put forward by the UK delegation, which would have allowed the organisation to consider consumers' interests in making decisions, failed to gain the requisite two-thirds of votes from member countries.


Colin Tyre QC, a Scottish advocate and head of the UK delegation, said the issue was more than a presentational point.


He said: 'This would have been helpful in the way the CCBE is seen by the European Commission. Commissioner Monti has said that lawyers have rules for their own self-interest, and we must do our best to counter that. The CCBE is not a lawyers' trade union, and our proposal would have made that clear. It would have emphasised that rules about conflicts of interest and other issues are concepts that exist for the benefit not of lawyers, but their clients.'


Alison Hook, director of the Law Society's international department, said: 'This was a missed opportunity to send out a signal that the CCBE is not just about representing fat cat lawyers.'


Meanwhile, Mr Tyre was elected as the CCBE's second vice-president for 2005. All things being equal, he will become president in 2007, the first from the UK in 14 years.