Key Contacts:

Robert Pirrie, Chief Executive
Email: rpirrie@wssociety.co.uk

Elaine Bird, Director of Information Services
Email: ebird@wssociety.co.uk

Philly Nicholson, Events and Marketing
Email: pnicholson@wssociety.co.uk

Lindsay Kelly, Education Manager
Email: lkelly@wssociety.co.uk

The WS Society is a lively centre for information, research, education, events, social activities, literature and other activities for today's lawyers. Scotland's independent association for lawyers, the Society was constituted over 400 years ago. It is one of the oldest professional bodies in the world.

The Society has a tradition of promoting the best. Most recently, the Society is undergoing an exciting phase of transition and modernisation to keep pace with the requirements and expectations of the very best of today's legal practices.

The Signet Library in Parliament Square, Edinburgh, is the Society's base. The building, next door to the Supreme Courts, is a national treasure, providing an historic setting for the Society's services and activities.
Membership of the Society is open to individual Scottish solicitors who have practised for a minimum of 3 years. The Society is a national body and is seeking to widen its membership from its traditional Edinburgh base to include solicitors throughout the country. The Society is also looking to attract the new generation of up and coming lawyers to continue the Society's tradition of representing the best.

Law firms can benefit from the Society's services where more than 50% of the firm's partners (or members, in the case of an LLP) are members of the Society.
One of the Society's flagship initiatives is The Signet Accreditation, a revolutionary new way of accrediting lawyers at a crucial stage in their career. The accreditation is based on rigorous assessment, not only in technical knowledge, but also practical issues important to success in practice, such as client communication and relationships.

The Society employs an executive team to run its business, headed by its Chief Executive, Robert Pirrie, a former partner of Dundas & Wilson and Maclay Murray & Spens.