Now that the Regulatory Committee of the Law Society has been established, with the appointment of Carole Ford as its convenor, and James Allan as its vice-convenor, there is a small but significant question which needs to be answered. What is the purpose of a Law Society of Scotland Council of 50 to 60 people?

The Regulatory Committee was introduced by section 133 of the Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2010. It is autonomous and independent of Council with at least 50% of its members being 'lay persons'. It is this committee which regulates the solicitor branch of the legal profession in Scotland. This committee runs the show, so to speak. So what does Council do?

Effectively, Council now has the much smaller but important 'representative role' - in terms of section 1 of the Solicitors (Scotland) Act 1980 - yet that function is exercised within a number of smaller committees, made up from members of the wider legal community, amongst others. So what is the point of Council now? Do we really need 60 people travelling to Edinburgh each month at great expense to read minutes and have a cup of tea and chocky biscuit?

If we are honest, it's fair to say that Council is now, other than on paper, a Toom Tabard. As such there is a cogent case, particularly in this age of economic austerity, for slimming Council down to a membership of six – one elected solicitor from each of Scotland's six sheriffdoms. It could meet bi-monthly.

The role of the President and Vice-President could be combined within the Chief Executive and Deputy CEO's posts, to provide much better value for money for solicitors. All savings gained could be used to defray some of the costs solicitors have to pay for the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC).

You might have expected the Law Society of Scotland's costs to have reduced when the SLCC took over a big chunk of its complaints work, but no, in the legal world things go up, but rarely ever come down. As Kenny the Cabinet Secretary for Justice likes to say, 'No change is not an option'.


Mike