Law Society Council member Walter Semple has issued an emotional call to solicitors to "put matters back on the right track" at the forthcoming Law Society AGM, saying the profession "dare not support the policy of the Law Society’s Council".

Writing on the Scottish Law Agents Society website, Semple says the current split amongst the members of the profession over the issue of ABS is "appalling and unprecedented," and warns that the Law Society Council is in danger of acting ultra vires.

"We solicitors have to decide the position of the profession on the external ownership issue at our AGM. We approach the decision with the profession fundamentally split and with the prospect of a decision being made on the basis of which part of the profession can muster more proxies. This is an appalling and unprecedented situation for the profession to find itself in," he says.

"We have been living through a period where market values and increased competition have been treated as the route to a prosperous future for the UK. Although this has real benefits in some areas, it has caused havoc in others. In the finance sector, great institutions with centuries of history of serving the community would have been destroyed but for massive state assistance.

"The debate on the Legal Services Bill has made it clear that the Legal Services Bill as drafted would allow outside financial forces to dominate the solicitor’s profession. Investors would be able to share profits with lawyers on the pretext of increased competition and consumer benefit. But the elaborate mechanisms being set up by statute to protect legal ethics would not prevail against the pressure from external financial interest any more than they have in the banking industry."

Semple, re-elected to serve on the Council only last week, adds that external investment in law firms would prove to be a "false friend".

"The Council of the Society wishes to regulate persons with no legal qualification or training. But section 1 of the Solicitors (Scotland) Act 1980 states that the object of the Society includes the interest of the solicitors’ profession in Scotland and the interest of the public in relation to that profession. The Society has no mandate in statute to promote the interests of unqualified persons beyond section 1. The Council is in danger of acting ultra vires," he says.

"Solicitors are not there to find the best way to make a fortune. The Council of the Law Society is not there to favour the big firms or any one section of the profession in favour of any other. Minister Ewing seems determined to pursue a policy which he believes will provide commercial advantage for some at the expense of others. On the contrary there is a real risk that the introduction of investor capital will be seen as a dilution of legal ethics and could inflict irreparable harm on all firms large and small.

"The debate led by the Law Society’s Council has lead to a deep split, proxy battles, referenda and the prospect of continuing conflict. Members of the Society should put matters back on the right track at the AGM. The issue is fundamental. We dare not support the policy of the Law Society’s Council. We should bless the democratic procedures which underlie the Law Society’s governance and allow members to intervene."

Semple's remarks can be read in full here.