ELECTING THE PRESIDENTMany practitioners have been forced into silence over the years through the mystery that is Law Society democracy.

To this day there are practitioners who do not even know who their Council members are, let alone what function they perform.

The procedure of the Council is rarely made known to its members, and the hidden agendas are unclear even to the local societies' members.Those who purport to represent us, often through our own indolence and overwork, are elected by virtue of what could appear to be ancient rights of succession.

This status quo began to be changed by the removal of the automatic knighthood of the President, and more recently the membership's opposition to the indecent, some would say obscene, salaries to be paid to those in high office.

But for the dismay of the membership, hitherto this would have been passed without comment.

This mood has paved the way for change from the cosseted existence that has been the Law Society to date.Constitutional challenges to the established layers of the Society are going to increase as it is becoming self evident that a profession run along the lines of an 18th century gentleman's club are of no use or import to the modern demands of a 21st century service industry.The news that there are to be elections for the top posts within the profession is simply a logical extension to the move, desire and insistence of the profession for the need for change, and to be able to adapt and react to the challenges that we face.

In recent years we have experienced the most dramatic changes to the legal system in decades.

In many areas the old tried and tested methods of the Society have been proved to be wanting.

Failures, as demonstrated in the continuing demise of legal aid, fixed fees, and conveyancing practice have caused deep resentment and loss of income.The challenge to the automatic accession to the presidential positions of the Society could be the coming of age for the Society.

Rather than treating the challengers, whoever they may be, as precocious three year olds who forever ask the question why, those individuals' interests and enthusiasm to make this a respected profession again should be encouraged by the powers that be, instead of being denigrated and called arrogant by those who have vested interests.

On this basis, the forthcoming elections should be welcomed.

The prospect of democracy in action, and a chosen representative leadership, should not be the cause of concern or division.We must ensure the credibility of the Society by re-establishing it as a political power with the ability not just to influen ce, but radically to change.

There is no divine right of kings, there cannot be any guarantee that the right person is going to be the right President publicly to deal with the increasing pressures that the government and other bodies are putting on the Society.

There is no man for all seasons, but we need to have the flexibility to elect the people whom we feel will be of most influence, and who are seen to have the best experience.For these reasons an election is an essential process of the self examination which we must conduct on a regular basis.

It will encourage debate and analysis and, most importantly, the participation of the profession in the way we want to be led.Of course every Council member has the democratic right to seek election as President.

But democracy needs to be effective in practice as well as theory.

The reality is that the Council's nominee as President is already selected by a rigorously democratic process.

The safety net under which the members can reject the Council's choice should be kept for exceptional circumstances.In state elections the candidates are normally selected through the party system.

The Council has been refreshingly free of party factionalism.

The 61 members elected by local constituencies with the 14 non-constituency members form a mix of members from different backgrounds with a wide range of views, sometimes 75 different ones.

From this mix the Council recommends its choice of President to the profession.The choice is not made in smoke-filled, gin-soaked rooms, nor in solar-heated offices equipped with bottled water and decaffeinated Nicaraguan coffee.

Each Council member selects from a list the two from whom he or she thinks the choice of Deputy Vice-President should be made.

The list includes all Council members who have served five years unless unwilling to stand.

The four names with the most votes are then voted on in order of preference and counted on a transferable cote system.

This gives the successful candidate a general consensus of support.

There follow three years as Deputy Vice-President, Vice-President and President.The choice is made by those who have seen the candidates in action at close quarters for several years, usually as committee chairmen.

It does not produce clones.

By way of example, the last five Presidents have been Messrs Holland (Plymouth), Ely (Southampton), Sheldon (London), Pannone (Manchester) and Elly (High Wycombe), all different, all strong personalities, all alive to the problems facing solicitors up and down the country and all willing to criticise the establishment of the national or (internally) the Law Society if they have thought fit.It is, of course, satisfying to indulge in simplistic expressions of discontent and seize the chance to register a protest vote, ignoring all that the Society in difficult circumstances has achieved.

No banks or building societies are doing conveyancing.

It is the profession, not the Society, which charges conveyancing fees at lower rates than the legal aid fees which it rightly complains are inadequate.

The artificial ceiling on rights of audience and judicial appointment has been removed.A President elected as a protest could not solve problems alone.

The Society is not a dictatorship.

The President, Vice-President and Deputy Vice-President operate as a rolling team which follows S-bends rather than U-turns.

A Council member wishing to challenge the Council's nominee should stand in opposition as Deputy Vice-President and if successful then pass through the office of Vice-President before becoming President.Even a team of all three senior officers elected directly on a protest vote is not likely to be effective in producing solutions.

Success depends of laborious ground work carried out by many members of the profession and staff over time.

The concerns of the profession are too important for campaigning by slogan and gesture politics.