Law Society Split Over Reform Plan Deepens

by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London

29 October 2004

The divide within the UK's Law Society over proposed reform of the industry body and regulator grew deeper this week with the news that a group of council members intends to write to Sir David Clementi, who is conducting a review of the regulation of the profession, contradicting the stance of Society president Ed Nally.

Despite a recent vote which postponed a decision on reform until the Prudential chief has delivered his findings next year, Mr Nally reportedly told the Law Society annual conference earlier this month that the representative and regulatory functions of the body would be split.

A statement released after the vote appeared to confirm this, announcing that the Law Society council had "signalled that governance of representation would be separate in future".

However, according to a Legal Week report, a group of around twelve council members are currently in the process of drafting a letter to Sir David, revealing that in actual fact, no decision has yet been made.

"It is absolute folly to commit ourselves to anything until we know what Clementi has to say," council member for Yorkshire, Philip Hamer explained to the news service, continuing:

"The executive are saying different things in different places and the key thing is that it leads to a withdrawal of trust."

A spokesman for the Law Society, however, countered that:

"The president wrote to Sir David Clementi to let him know of the council's decision in September. We are confident that the letter has the full support of the overwhelming majority of council members."

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