Influential voice

Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill
We will champion the interests of justice and the right to a fair trial as the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill completes its passage through the Scottish Parliament.

The Bill legislative process has been delayed after the conclusion of Stage 1, however as part of the first Stage of the Bill we had ongoing engagement with justice sector stakeholders throughout the year, hosting two successful roundtable events, and meeting with interested parties to discuss aspects of the bill.

We attended three evidence sessions at the Criminal Justice Committee throughout Stage 1 and published a briefing ahead Stage 1 debate in April 2024.

We also published a number of public and member-facing communications on the Bill.

We will continue our work on the Bill in the next operating year.

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Legal Aid
We will push the Scottish Government to complete the necessary research work ahead of securing an agreed review and uplift mechanism for legal aid fees, and prepare for forthcoming legal aid legislation.

The Society executive team and Legal Aid Committee fully engaged with this project to secure a review mechanism. The Scottish Government however was unable to progress procurement to undertake this work, nor was it able to offer assurances around fee uplifts and implementing the output of this project.

The lack of progress led to the committee’s decision to withdraw from this specific area of legal aid work.

Despite these ongoing challenges, our Legal Aid Committee and executive team has continued to press the Scottish Government on the dire state of legal aid funding. We also decided to launch a public-facing PR campaign to ensure that legal aid remained on the government’s agenda which will commence in the next operating year.

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Reform of legal services regulation
We will work to deliver the best outcome on the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill, which provides us with a broader range of regulatory powers and stops proposals for direct political interference in regulation.

The Legal Services (Scotland) Bill was introduced during the previous operating year in April 2023. It followed many years of work by the Law Society to secure a modern, flexible and enabling legislative framework.

During our operating year 2023-24 we submitted a comprehensive response to the Bill Committee as part of its call for evidence, with our Regulatory Convener and Executive Director of Regulation appearing before the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee in November 2023 to give evidence.

Immediately following publication of the Bill, we argued strongly against proposals which would allow sweeping new powers for Scottish Ministers to, for the first time, intervene directly in the regulation of solicitors, leveraging in third party support from Scotland’s judges and legal organisations, both at home and internationally.

In January 2024, the Scottish Government announced major plans to remove the political control provisions, which we and others across the legal sector welcomed. We prepared and submitted a Stage 1 briefing containing amendments aimed at addressing issues in the legislation and to cover important reforms missing from the Bill.

We worked closely and constructively with Scottish Government officials on our detailed proposals throughout the year and are hopeful of progress as the legislation completes its passage through parliament. The timetable for Stage 2 was delayed by the Scottish Government, with a new deadline set for 28 February 2025 and we will continue our work on the Bill into the next operating year.

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The Law Society brand
We will implement a modernised look to the Society through a comprehensive rebrand that better reflects who we are, who we interact with and is better suited to a digital environment.

The Society’s rebrand, which aimed to better reflect our role within a contemporary, dynamic, inclusive, and sustainable legal sector, was implemented on time and on budget in March 2024. While most of the digital assets changed at launch physical assets, such as conference stands, were updated as required over the course of the year. The response to the new branding, which coincided with the Society’s 75^th anniversary year, was largely positive, with our updated and refreshed coat of arms, now used for certificates and other formal documents, particularly well received.

75th anniversary
We will celebrate the Law Society’s 75th anniversary, using this important milestone to showcase and celebrate the contribution of Scottish solicitors at home and internationally.

Our 75^th anniversary celebrations focused on our members, the important work they do and their achievements.

A flagship initiative during the year was the inaugural Legal Pioneers Award, launched to mark and celebrate incredible work and contributions of those within Scotland’s legal sector. Six winners were announced at our Annual Conference in October, with each receiving a special award. We also invited nominations for Honorary Members as part of our 75^th anniversary commemorations, with a special event planned for November 2024 at the Scottish Parliament.

In addition to running a year-long series of 75^th anniversary features and blogs from members and others in the legal sector, we produced a short series of videos with new solicitors, including Lawscot Foundation students, and senior members of the profession talking about their experiences and changes within the profession.

Other initiatives such as an anniversary timeline, the 75^th being a focus of our annual conference and highlighting in the press and on social media highlighted the progress within the profession and at the Law Society since 1949.

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Human Right (Scotland) Bill
We will engage with the Scottish Government as it finalises its policy plans on incorporating a range of economic, social and cultural rights into Scots law via a Scottish Human Rights Bill, ensuring that we press for enforceable provisions which promote access to justice.

We engaged with Scottish Government directly and via membership of the wider implementation working group over the course of the 2023-24 operating year, however a Human Rights (Scotland) Bill was not published by June 2024 as anticipated and was not included in Scottish Government’s legislative programme in September 2024. We are supportive of new legislation to enhance the legal protection of human rights and highlighted our concern in relation to the absence of the Bill from the legislative programme.

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