Mike Dailly, principal solicitor of the Gocan Law Centre, the latest firm to join the Glasgow Bar Assocaition and lobby against the drive towards ABS, has accused Law Society President Ian Smart of mounting a "rearguard PR exercise" to defend the Society's "failure" to represent the legal profession in the face of the substantial changes envisioned by the ABS regime.

 "David Mamet, the American playwright observes that “People may not say what they mean, but they always say something designed to get what they want’. Let’s hold that thought for a moment while we consider the future of Scotland’s legal profession. In a statement to The Firm magazine, Law Society President, Ian Smart states it is ‘regrettable that it has taken until this stage for some of our members to engage in this debate’. Yet in the same breath he espouses the success of the Law Society’s forthcoming ‘sell-out’ road shows to engage members in that same debate. You can’t have it both ways, unless, to paraphrase Orwell, it’s a case of ‘Law Society good’, ‘Critics bad’," Dailly says.

"So let’s be clear, the Society is not engaged in an open debate on this issue. It is mounting a rearguard PR exercise to defend it’s failure to do its job in representing the interests of all Scottish solicitors, and safeguarding the independence of our profession.

"People say things designed to get what they want. But I like to say what I mean. In the case of the Legal Services (Scotland) Bill, my feet are firmly on the ground, and I feel no antagonism. Rather, I believe that the Law Society of Scotland has failed to negotiate anything in the Legal Services (Scotland) Bill which improves access to justice in Scotland, or provides any long term benefits for the profession. They have embraced this Bill like a drowning sailor might sezie a rope, without appreciating there’s an anchor attached to it."