Scottish Solicitors Vote in Favour of Law Society of Scotland

Thu, 27 May 2010

Scottish solicitors have voted in favour of being represented by the Law Society of Scotland . The body currently has the dual function of protecting both the interests of the public and the profession, while some lawyers have called for more choice in deciding who represents them. These voices of discontent, prompted by the Legal Services (Scotland) Bill, and driven by the Glasgow Bar Association among other solicitor groups, prompted a referendum to be held deciding whether the Law Society should continue to be Scotland’s representative body. Despite these calls for change, a sizeable 73 per cent of the 10,500 solicitors in Scotland who voted opted to retain the current system of representation.

The Law Society claims that by having a single body performing both functions of representation and regulation, it is possible to have a single voice which ensures solicitors are represented while preventing legal costs from rising. 40 per cent of Scottish solicitors voted in the referendum, and despite less than half of Scotland’s solicitors voting, the president of the Law Society for Scotland, Ian Smart, claims the result provides the organisation with a mandate to continue in its role.
add to favouritesnewsletterlink to this pagesend to friendpost comments

Link to this page

Copy and Paste the following HTML into your page.