Westminster and Holborn merger creates legal muscle

A force in legal London is to be launched this week with the merger of the Holborn and City of Westminster law societies, creating a body with more than 1,600 members.The merger has taken two years and will result in a society boasting five elected representatives of the Law Society Council, including deputy vice-president, Peter Williamson.The president of the City of Westminster and Holborn Law Society is Richard Henchley, law and public affairs consultant at the Periodical Publishers Association and a former head of legal at Blue Circle and Rolls Royce.

He said: 'We will have the most significant block of council members, so we should be able to make an impact.'That doesn't mean we're going to block vote, but we should at least be able to talk about issues - it's a powerful group.'Mr Henchley said the merger made sense because the 'societies are fairly compatibility with relatively similar membership'.

According to Mr Henchley, other benefits include lower costs of administration - 'enabling us to spend money improving other areas' - and an interactive Web site 'to allow smooth and effective communication'.Andrew Towler