No council negligence

I disagree with Denis Cameron when he says that the Law Society Council was ill-served by its executive committee at the debate on whether solicitor principals should be prevented from suing staff for negligence (see [2000] Gazette, 29 June, 16).The Council was notified that this matter was to be debated by papers posted to its intranet system on 27 January.

Those papers referred to the instructions to counsel and his advice and stated that copies would be distributed to any Council member on request.

All members of the Council had sufficient time to obtain and consider the advice in detail before the debate on 15 June.I have no reason to believe my fellow Council members were anything other than well informed in making their decision in June to issue a statement disapproving of the practice of solicitor principals suing their staff for negligence.

Both the Campaign for Regulations to Outlaw Solicitors Suing Staff and the Young Solicitors Group have campaigned for many years to ensure that the profession is fully aware of the issues involved.The Council's decision that the regulation review working party should carry out a consultation exercise and bring a draft practice rule back for further debate and approval has been welcomed in many quarters.

During the course of this consultation and to assist with the wording of the practice rule, the working party may wish to seek external legal advice, whether from a solicitor or counsel.Until the consultation has been undertaken and a practice rule drafted there is nothing further for the Council to discuss.

The Law Society will not win back the support of solicitors, the government or the public if the Council is constantly striving to re-invent the wheel rather than tackling the many challenges still faced by the profession.

Peter Sigee, Law Society Council member for newly qualified solicitors