WHAT DOES THE PRESIDENT DO? The first role of the President is to chair the Council and strategy committee meetings.

The Council meets eight times a year and the strategy committee every three weeks during the period from October to July.

Four strategy committee meetings are full days looking at a restricted number of items in depth, the rest are half days.The second role is to represent the Law Society and the profession to the outside world.

This involves meetings on a formal and regular basis with the Lord Chancellor's Department, the Bar and other professional bodies.

It involves meeting frequently at lunch or dinner people with a variety of other interests which impact on the work of the profession.The third role is representing the Council to the profession.

A lot of time is spent travelling to and speaking at dinners and meetings of local law societies and regional groups.

There is also substantial correspondence with members.HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU SPEND IN YOUR OWN OFFICE? My intention was to spen d at least part of every Monday in my firm.

In fact, it has been less than half and for an average of about two hours a time.HOW MUCH TIME HAVE YOU SPENT ON LAW SOCIETY AFFAIRS? There are no two days precisely the same but a pattern for non-Council and strategy committee days usually starts at 9am with meetings with my secretary and Patricia John, the private office adviser, first to look at the day ahead and make sure that I know the timetable to which I am working and, secondly, to look further ahead to ensure that any briefing material has been put in hand and to consider future engagements.

Often there are meetings of committees which I have to attend apart from the Council and strategy committee.On other days meetings will probably be with a variety of individuals, members of the Law Society staff, MPs, representatives of other organisations.

In between those I will spend time dealing with correspondence, telephone calls and any other matters which I write myself such as this article.

There is an engagement most lunchtimes.

The afternoon may include an admission ceremony for new solicitors and by mid or late afternoon I have to be on my way to a local law society function.

Most evening functions finish between 11pm and midnight and I spend an hour reading papers.This will give an average working day including travel and reading time of around 15 hours.

I have had two completely free weekends, others have been taken up with some engagement in connection with the Law Society or at least part of the weekend.

My rough calculation is to date around 1500 hours.WHAT DO YOU FEEL ABOUT PAYMENT TO YOUR FIRM? Ambivalent.

I started the job out of a sense of commitment and did not expect any payment to be made.

Nevertheless, I recognise my partners have paid heavily for me to take this role and it would be wrong to refuse to accept any payment which was now made.

I do think that if the President is to continue to be drawn from a wide variety of firms a payment is essential.BUT YOUR FIRM WILL GET A LOT OF CLIENTS FROM THE PUBLICITY? As one of the Rodger Pannone's partners is reported to have said: 'I live in hope.' My partners report that we have had enquiries from potential clients who tell us that their four previous solicitors have failed to obtain justice and, although they are not able to pay, they are sure that I would take on their case.HOW CAN THE COUNCIL IGNORE THE PROFESSION AND INSIST ON SEPARATE REPRESENTATION IN CONVEYANCING? The Council has not done so.

We must make rules in the public interest, not just in the interest of the profession.

So far the Council decided in November to look at the possibility of making a rule to bar joint representation.

The matter comes back to the Council on 15 December.

The Council is well aware of the strength of feeling in the profession.WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT THE SCB? We have an excellent staff in the SCB who work hard to resolve complaints to the satisfaction of the complainants and solicitors.

Although there are comparatively few complaints compared with the total number of transactions (20,000 out of an estimated 8 million private client transactions), the staff are overwhelmed due to their number and complexity.

We could resolve this by employing more staff but that would increase the practising certificate fee.

The SCB is therefore looking at different ways of handling the work to reduce delays at no extra cost.ISN'T THE NCC RIGHT, WE SHOULD HAND OVER RULE MAKING AND COMPLAINTS HANDLING TO SOMEBODY ELSE? As long as complaints are made, somebody has to handle them.

It is unlikely that a new body on which solicitors would have only a minority presence would reduce regulation.

If the NCC's proposals are followed this new body would be paid for by the profession out of a levy.

There would be no accountability to the profession for the money spent and no need to restrain spending.

Looking at the other proposals, the cost of complaints handling would rise substantially.

The legal profession should be self-regulating.

As the NCC acknowledges, its research was based mainly on complainants who responded to advertisements seeking dissatisfied clients.

Its report ignores the fact that appeals in the case of complaints about the service of a solicitor are to a committee comprising two lay people and one solicitor.

That coupled with the lay dominated policy advisory committee ensures that there is a substantial independent lay element already incorporated within the SCB and there is a final right of appeal to the legal services ombudsman who is a layman.WHAT WILL THE ROADSHOWS ACHIEVE? They are an opportunity for members to hear what the Law Society can offer.

More importantly, they give us the opportunity to hear from members and to discuss their questions.ARE YOU ENJOYING IT? Yes.

I have met so many solicitors and other interesting people.

There is enthusiasm and optimism in some quarters in the profession.

I want to see this spread and I shall continue to do my utmost for you all.