The Law Society has ‘lost its way’ and is caught between its former position as a regulator and its current position as a membership body said the chair of pressure group the Property Lawyers Alliance (PLA) in stinging criticism of proposals to increase the number of votes required to hold the body to account at a Special General Meeting.
In a feature piece published today in Today’s Conveyancer, chair of the PLA Stephen Larcombe describes the decision to delegate the regulatory responsibilities of the Law Society to the Legal Services Act-created Legal Services Board as a big mistake. He admonishes the body for its failure in representing members of the legal service profession with ongoing cuts to Legal Aid, the Post Office Horizon scandal, and ill-thought through legislation such as the Building Safety Act as examples of its declining influence and ability to take a stand.
Larcombe is calling for ‘all solicitors to spare an hour or so to defend their right to hold the Law Society to account especially in conveyancing’ ahead of proposals to increase the number of votes required to instigate a Special General Meeting; as happened last year in the wake of the TA6 furore.
In an article in the Gazette, Law Society CEO Ian Jeffery said the Law Society proposed to review the mechanism by which an SGM could be called, currently a threshold of 100 member votes, as part of efforts to ‘modernise its governance.’ The current threshold of 0.05% of its 216,000 members is well below other comparable organisations which range from 1% to 5% of their membership. The impact of hosting an SGM was significant said Jeffery, ‘both in financial terms and in the diversion of resources’ which came out of members fees. The proposal is to set the threshold at 1000 members/0.5% of member, 10 times the current level, and a level which is still achievable in today’s social media landscape said the CEO.
But the Property Lawyers Alliance has pointed out there are 5,838 conveyancing firms, which is 63% of the total number of firms (9,300), and 15,589 conveyancing solicitors, which is 7.2% of the total number of members (216,000). In effect, they said, 92.8% of solicitors have no real interest in the problems of conveyancers putting the proposed 1000-member threshold to requisition a SGM into more context. Larcombe added if the threshold were increased this would undermine democracy and accountability by making it harder for members to collectively voice concerns and hold the Law Society’s leadership to account. This change would hinder diversity and inclusivity, as smaller or marginalised groups would find it disproportionately difficult to gather enough support to trigger an SGM, concluding:
“Critically increasing the threshold would also diminish the sense of a unified profession by reducing collective member power.”
In today’s feature article Larcombe writes:
“Too many Law Society Council meetings are taking place in secret. Too many topics suggested for debate are by its employees not practitioners. Debating critical issues affecting the legal profession should take place in the open, not behind closed doors with journalists excluded.”
“Sadly, in its Bicentenary year, it appears the Law Society has lost its way and has become a mere hollowed out shell, occupying an unclear position between two stools, since it neither regulates solicitors nor represents them.”
The Law Society Annual General Meeting will take place on 8th October as a hybrid event. Registration closes on Friday 26th September and the deadline for notices of motion is 5pm on Tuesday 26 August via governance@lawsociety.org.uk.
