Law Society Council member Derek French withdrew his motion proposing to allow barristers and legal executives to become members of the Law Society, at the Society’s council last week.

However, French said the Society’s Membership Board has agreed to prepare a paper on the issue, which will be put before the council for discussion by next May at the latest.

French said he had not dropped his plans to push for other lawyers who are not solicitors to be able to gain Law Society membership. However, he said he accepted that the proposal was more likely to be accepted by council, if council members had had the opportunity to read a ‘fully thought through’ paper on the subject by the board before making a decision.

French said he had received a ‘mixed reaction’ to his proposal from colleagues on council, but that many senior council members were in favour of it.

He said the board had assured him that it would prepare a discussion paper on the possibility of widening Law Society membership to other lawyers, and this would be put before council either in April or May, so that a decision could be made in time for the Law Society’s Annual General Meeting in July.

French added that if this did not occur, he would resubmit his own motion on the matter.

French’s original motion proposed that the Law Society should accept membership applications from all sectors of the legal profession, with fully-qualified non-solicitors entitled to seek full membership, and trainees and support staff able to apply for associate status.

Background papers to French’s motion indicated that the Society’s membership board is already considering whether membership or affiliate status should be offered to non-solicitors.

French is the Law Society Council member for the Birmingham District.