Solicitors are likely to be allowed in the future to opt out of part of the practising certificate fee, the incoming Law Society President announced to the Gazette.


In what would be a dramatic restructuring of how Chancery Lane finances representation activities, Fiona Woolf said a voluntary fee was a likely part of the on-going reforms of the Law Society, which has seen it split into three operational sections.



Ms Woolf forecast a model in which representation activities would form an opt-in payment. Solicitors would be given an opportunity to decline to pay for that element of the overall practising certificate fee, which would also include mandatory payments to fund regulation and complaints handling, and a levy for law reform work. The latter would be agreed with the proposed legal services board (LSB) under clause 43 of the Legal Services Bill.



'In the future, we may see a voluntary membership fee for some services,' said Ms Woolf. 'It is our challenge to offer attractive and useful services that solicitors want to purchase.'



Ms Woolf also emphasised the need for the Society to be transparent with its certificate billing process, detailing exactly how much would be spent on which activities.



David McIntosh, chairman of the City of London Law Society, said the idea was 'worth examining', although he warned that the LSB must allow the Society to set a levy for 'essentials' such as human rights work and access to justice campaigns.



Mr McIntosh said City solicitors would then 'value the opportunity of deciding whether or not to pay extra to allow the national Law Society to conduct other activities'.



Jonathan Ames