More than just a new year

Planning long-term

It is just possible that by the time

you read this, somebody somewhere will have arrived at the conclusion that his or her new year resolutions are a little unrealistic. They may even have decided that it was a mistake to make them, and perhaps it would

In many ways, 2007 was about preparing the legal profession for change. Much of that change will take place in 2008, though the process will be far from complete. The Society is planning not just for the year ahead but for 2010 and beyond.

The new Scottish Legal Complaints Commission will gear up this spring and we will see it starting its work in earnest by October. Associated with that, the Society is working on the preparation of a new statement of the standards of conduct and service that we believe should govern Scotland’s solicitor profession. That process involves consulting fully with the profession and engaging with consumer and other groups. We hope that the consultation will lead to proposals being placed before the Society’s Special General Meeting in September, allowing for implementation by the time the Commission opens its doors in the autumn.

Proposals in the offing

The Society’s education and training project, which was the subject of a major online public consultation last year, moves into its next phase early in 2008. That will involve the publication of proposals for a new approach to the training of solicitors before and after admission to the profession.

Meanwhile, the current ABS consultation, which concludes at the end of this month (January), will give way to a policy formulation process. As a result, proposals should come before the Society’s AGM in May. We cannot yet say what those proposals may be, but it is fair to assume that the implementation process will carry forward into 2009.

As a backdrop to all this, we are also looking carefully at the important question of the governance of the Society. In a rapidly changing world, it is imperative that the internal arrangements for the Society are best suited to its aims and functions. Again, we hope to make considerable progress on this in 2008 and our current timetable involves bringing the issue to the September SGM if possible.

Change is only the beginning

All of these projects will carry through this year into 2009, with each producing conclusions that will bring about real change. And there are wider issues for which we will be planning in 2008. Some of those are developments of the current projects; for instance, we will have to monitor not only the operation of the new Commission but also its effect on the professional environment. We also now know that the Scottish Government has no plans to establish a legal services board to regulate lawyers and other providers of legal services; I agree that such a structure is inappropriate. However, the question of how to properly regulate non-solicitor providers in the public interest must still be addressed; it is something that the Society is already considering.

People sometimes talk in terms of a period of change being followed by a period of consolidation. The mistake we can make is to think that the hard work is over once change has been achieved. In truth, change is a fact of life that gives us the opportunity to build a better society in Scotland.

My resolutions for the new year include not only ensuring that we deliver on the projects I have outlined, but also that we plan for the future.

Those goals are not unrealistic: they are achievable.