Northern light Page at C&I helm

Ann Page - who takes over this week as the chairwoman of the Law Society's Commerce and Industry (C&I) Group - continues the pattern of northern in-house solicitors leading the group.

Approaching her 50th birthday, Ms Page brings experience from several contrasting areas of in-house legal work to the job.

Qualifying in 1980 from her hometown university, Leeds, she worked for six-and-a-half years at the in-house legal office of Citibank in London.

Afterwards, she moved to Next - where entrepreneur George Davis was revitalising the design of the retailer which went on to become one of the success stories of the 1980s.

After this, and a brief spell with the National & Provincial Building Society in Bradford, Ms Page applied for - and became - the first in-house lawyer for the then brand-new Co-operative Bank in 1989.

'I had to hit the ground running when I arrived, but we have never lost a client at this bank,' says Ms Page.

She is no newcomer to the C&I Group, for she was one of the original founders of the north-west group ten years ago.

A testimony to that achievement is the enduring capacity of the north-west to provide national leaders.

Edward Smethurst, then a senior legal adviser at British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL) in Warrington, was replaced as chairman of the group by the current incumbent, Alvin Shuttleworth, head of legal at BNFL.

Ms Page has been the group's director of training, and has been responsible for the successful partnership with Central Law Training.She says the current debate over the future role of employed solicitors will be pivotal during her time as chairwoman.

The Law Society's Council will this week consider whether the rule - which broadly prohibits in-house lawyers from acting for third parties - should be abolished, paving the way for in-house lawyers to offer legal services directly to the public.

Ms Page says: 'The C&I Group currently considers that removal of the ban would place an unnecessary regulatory burden on individual solicitors.'

l The group has launched a Web site at www.cigroup.org.uk

Jeremy Fleming