The Scottish Law Agents Society
Recruitment Memorandum
The Scottish Law Agents Society was founded by Royal Charter of Queen Victoria in 1884 as the original, national representative society for the legal profession in Scotland. It continues to be the only voluntary, wholly representative Society for that profession in Scotland. Membership is open to all practising solicitors in Scotland. The Society is governed by a Council of 15 members drawn from all areas of practice, which meets each calendar month at various locations around Scotland.
The constitution of our Society provides that the membership of Council may revolve so that, each year, a proportion of the membership may retire and allow new members to join. Most members are busy practitioners and cannot be expected to attend all meetings or participate in all current matters but, any member who is prepared to make, on average, 3 or 4 hours a month available for a one or two year period is invited to consider Council membership. No salary is currently payable but reasonable expenses are met by the Society. As well as an opportunity to help further the interests of the profession and the public which it serves, Council membership brings you into contact with a network of experienced solicitors and is likely to increase your insight and knowledge as a practising solicitor. Members who may be interested in Council membership but are doubtful about the commitment are invited to consider participation in our Virtual Council i.e. by electronic communication only.
While legal issues are always our main focus, we hope that our Society might help to stimulate a social community also. Events proposed for 2014 include the SLAS Mountain Challenge, climbing Schiehallion, on the 1st June, and a professional tango lesson at our AGM on a date yet to be fixed. If any of these events are of interest to you, please contact the Secretary by email to to let him know.
The Society is quite separate and distinct from the Law Society of Scotland, which was created by Parliament in 1949. While the Law Society has a statutory remit to promote the interests of the legal profession in Scotland, it is nevertheless subject to statutory control by parliament and, being subject to compulsory membership, cannot properly be described as a representative body. For example, when the Law Society, on behalf of its members, argued against the imposition of certain parts of the Legal Aid and Legal Profession (Scotland) Act 2007, Parliament added a section to the Act which threatened imprisonment of any officials of the Law Society who failed to comply with that legislation. Even more significantly, the Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2010 specifically discriminates against solicitors by imposing changes to the constitution of the Law Society to the effect that it is regulated by a committee of which neither the majority nor the chair may be solicitors. The Scottish Law Agents Society, on the other hand, was created by the legal profession, is wholly owned by the legal profession and is subject to control only by that profession. It is entirely free to form policies within the profession and to promote these policies to the Scottish and UK Parliaments and Governments and all other relevant institutions such as the Scottish Legal Aid Board, Registers of Scotland, The Public Guardians’ Office, HMRC and so on.
About five years ago, the Scottish legal profession was confronted by government proposals to change the law to enable non solicitors to own legal firms. The vast majority of the membership of the Scottish Law Agents Society opposed this in principle, however the change was supported by the large Scottish firms and the Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2010 was passed. It is the considered wisdom of our Society that this legislation is an anathema to the independence of the legal profession and gravely contrary to the interests of the public in that independence. The regulations required to bring the changes about have never been created and we simply do not know where we stand in relation to this very important issue. Furthermore, most of the large Scottish firms are now owned by entities outwith Scotland. These issues are of great importance in relation to the future of the Scottish legal profession and of Scottish solicitors. Our Society is not aware of any forum for discussion of these issues and the Council of our Society wishes to provide the profession with such a forum. However, since the inception of the Law Society and the widespread assumption that it operates as a representative body for the Scottish legal profession, membership has dwindled to about 10% of the profession. The ability of our Society to ascertain and promote the views of the profession are greatly restricted by lack of resources and the future existence of the Society is very much at risk for the same reasons. It is therefore down to yourself, as a member of the legal profession, not only to maintain that Society by subscribing but, even more essentially, to call upon the knowledge, experience and wisdom which derives from your practice as a solicitor and to make your views and interests known to the Council of the Society so that properly representative policies may be formed and promoted on your behalf and on behalf of the public which we serve. Moreover, the Scottish Law Agents Society is visible mainly through its quarterly Gazette, its annual Memorandum Book and its ongoing website at www.slas.co.uk, but these publications exist only to the extent that members provide content for publication. This enables us to exchange and develop views and information about the various affairs which affect our profession. Again, it is down to yourselves and your colleages what use shall be made of these resources and what their content shall be.
In view of the changes now taking place in the structure and governance of the legal profession, and even in the meaning of the title solicitor, the importance of supporting and maintaining SLAS as solicitors’ own representative body cannot be overstated.
Scottish Law Agents Society
166 Buchanan Street
Glasgow, G1 2LW
TELEPHONE: 0141 332 3536
EMAIL:
Visit our website www.scottishlawagents.org