The 10,500-member Law Society of Scotland is to face a vote of confidence on its future as the voice of Scottish solicitors, as grassroots opposition to the introduction of so-called ‘Tesco law’ intensifies.

Members disillusioned by the body’s policy of support for external ownership and alternative business structures are behind a new referendum of members, which could leave Scottish solicitors free to choose which body to join to represent their interests. The president of the Law Society has warned that the initiative could split the Scottish profession to its lasting detriment.

Some 64 solicitors from firms in Glasgow and Edinburgh have signed a formal ‘requisition’ which compels the holding of a referendum under the Society’s constitution. Organisations backing the poll include the Glasgow Bar Association, top-10 firm MacRoberts and Govan Law Centre in Glasgow.

They claim the Society cannot continue in its ‘dual function’ as both regulator of and representative body for solicitors in light of the Legal Services (Scotland) Bill.

The bill will give the Scottish government power to set the number of non-solicitors on the Law Society’s ruling council, as well as setting the criteria for such appointments. Opponents of the bill believe this ‘ends the independence of the Law Society, and requires a split in representative and regulatory functions, as has already taken place in England and Wales’.

The Law Society decided earlier this month that it would hold a separate referendum on the ‘Tesco law’ provisions of the Bill, in what was interpreted as a bid to outflank lobby group the Scottish Law Agents Society, which is effectively operating as an alternative ‘voice’ for Scottish solicitors who oppose ABSs.

The major cross-border corporate firms, such as Dundas & Wilson and McGrigors, are firmly in favour of reform as they fear they will suffer in the absence of a ‘level playing field’ with England and Wales. Smaller firms, particularly in remote rural areas, appear much less keen.

Meanwhile, a survey of more than 1,000 people across Scotland commissioned by consumer group Which? appeared to demonstrate public support for the reforms, with eight in 10 people saying legal services should be easier to understand and more user friendly.