Platt aiming to push forward

Already it’s safe to say Joe Platt has an impeccable sense of timing.

Assuming the Society’s Presidency at a time when its ponderous constitutional structure starts to be replaced by a more streamlined, corporate framework gives him an unprecedented platform to get things done.

A new Board has been established to explore issues, formulate policy and determine strategy objectives. Coupled with delegated powers, which will free-up Council’s time by empowering committees, and at last the Society’s mode of operation can start to resemble a lean, modern professional body fit for the 21st century.

“The Board is probably the most exciting change for the Society in terms of corporate governance. The focus of the Society can now run from year to year rather than being overly dependent on someone’s 12 month term. The three Council Board Members and two Executive Board Members will serve for three years before being replaced. The Chief Executive and the Chief Accountant are permanent members.

“It’s a great way forward because by the time a President comes into office he or she will already have a number of policy and strategy objectives set by the Board.

“ I am also hopeful the more streamlined decision making process will allow early and better communication with the profession.”

Central to the year ahead will be the deliberation of the Future Delivery of Legal Services Working Party.

With an open remit, the Working Party is tasked to examine how legal services are likely to be delivered in the future across the entire range of service expectation from clients, be they multi-national corporations or individuals seeking advice. The working party will report to the new Board, allowing Council to have a long, clear look at how legal services ought to be delivered in the future. The ultimate aim will be to try and respond to the public’s changing needs for legal services.

It might seem unlikely that anyone can come up with a strategy that at the same time meets the concerns of rural firms and the global ambitions of the big firms.

“My own view is that market forces will prevail. We know that rural areas in Scotland are having difficulty attracting doctors and dentists as well as solicitors. Elsewhere worldwide there is a drift from the country to the city and that has affected societies on every continent.”

So, could the answer be a government imposed community legal service?

“In my view, we have a community legal service, provided by solicitors, many of whom have branch offices in various parts of both city and country areas. But that service is under threat because of the closure of a number of branch offices. There are many factors involved in the decision to close an office but it is a matter of great concern that practitioners are reporting that offices are closing because of legal aid.”

Platt shares concerns expressed elsewhere on these pages about the shortfall of new entrants into criminal legal practice.

“Firms that provide legal aid assistance say that they are struggling to provide a training budget to bring on new practitioners in civil or criminal legal aid work and I hope that will change.

“We are told that newly qualified solicitors do not want to go into legal aid work, and that many don’t want to do court work at all.

“ The Executive must recognise the need for professional legal representation for people accused of crimes or people seeking to enforce their rights. This is a cornerstone of any democracy. For that reason the Society is committed to doing its best to help to improve the civil and criminal justice systems in Scotland.”

The question remains as to whether the Working Party’s deliberations will be relevant to large corporate firms.

“The Working Party will take into account the concerns of both large and small firms and will work to establish solutions to the principal challenges faced by the profession. Some of the larger firms have been astonishingly successful and their drive, ability, commitment to succeed and to their clients is clear by their success.  The success of firms who have moved outwards and southwards is something of which to be proud.

“However, part of that success derives from the core values of the profession. Independence, putting the client first and confidentiality within the law are the values which allow them to succeed and I think, post-Enron, it is likely these are values the successful firms will be proud to extol.”

Evidence of the regard in which these values are held can also be found in the growth in the number of solicitors working in-house. The fact that just under 25% of the profession are now employed in-house is, says Platt, a tremendous tribute to the high regard in which the profession is held by business at large in Scotland.

“It is testimony to the value organisations place on the availability of quality legal advice on tap that so many now employ teams of in-house solicitors.”

Platt is also keen to continue with the Society’s outward looking agenda in the year ahead. He’s particularly positive about the Schools Project education initiative to teach children about the law and for the Society and the profession at large to contribute to civic life in Scotland.

“We are actually quite a young profession and the involvement of younger members of the profession in the Society matters is something

I hope to see growing.”