"The Council of the Law Society changed their policy, on 30th April, from supporting outright ownership of legal practices by non-solicitor investors (venture capital or Tesco Law) to support for minimum solicitor/regulated non-solicitor owner managers ownership of 51% of the business and, therefore, theoretically, control in the hands of solicitors.

" At least we are now agreed that Investment owners (Venture Capital or Tesco) should not have outright ownership of legal practices in Scotland. The Law Society itself of course at its most recent general meeting, on 21st April, voted to exclude all external ownership of law practices. This appears to clarify the issue which may face the profession at the Law Society AGM on 27th May and that is whether or not venture capital or Tesco Law has any place at all even in the minority ownership of legal practices in Scotland.

"One thing is certain and that is that all those practitioners who decided that Tesco Law was inevitable and that there was no point in opposing it were dramatically wrong and the efforts made by so many of their colleagues have borne fruit in the move away from Tesco ownership of legal practices to allowing a maximum of 49% venture capital ownership.

"This new policy of the LSS Council is a new departure which, however, has not been voted upon by the LSS membership or approved by the Scottish Parliament. The policy of no external ownership, on the other hand, has been approved by the Law Society in general meeting and was the firm policy of the whole profession, including the LSS Council, ever since the issue first surfaced back in the nineties until approximately November 2007 when LSS Council had a change of heart. It is also, to the best of the knowledge and belief of this writer, the policy of all European states, other than England and Wales, and of all North American states but this is an area in which more expert information about other jurisdictions would be interesting and instructive.

"A second issue turns on the question as to whether or not law practices should be permitted to include a percentage of non-solicitor professionals or employees among its owners and, if so, what maximum percentage should be permitted.

"Members and other colleagues are invited to submit their comments to the profession for publication on this website and it may be fair to say that one can have less complaint about unwelcome change where the opportunity to speak out has not been taken when it was available. It would be particularly interesting, and something of a rarity, to hear the views of colleagues who are aged on the south side of, say 40, because it is they who still have to face half, or more, of their careers under whatever new regime comes out of the current changes. "