For the love of it

Well, that’s me a month in.

I thought it might be helpful if I set out what I’ve done in that period. A workload which Richard Henderson assures me is not an untypical agenda for the President of the Society.

• 29 May. Assumed office and delivered the traditional new President’s speech. Spent the afternoon at Drumsheugh Gardens working on the early stages of implementing the Presidential manifesto and related press work.
• 31 May. Wrote my first President’s column.
• 1 June. Various press commitments dealing with the follow-up to the AGM.
• 2 June. At the Society all day in meetings with senior staff. Lunch at Edinburgh Castle as guest of Brigadier Joe D’Inverno of the Territorial Army to celebrate the Queen’s birthday. (Yes, that Joe D’Inverno!)
• 3/4/5 June. Various correspondence, including concluding negotiations to resolve the Society’s successful appeal to the Court of Session against one of the early decisions of the SLCC.
• 6 June. Open forum at New Partners’ Course with fellow board members Jamie Miller, Alison Atack and Christine McLintock.
• 8 June. Dinner with colleagues from the Law Societies of England & Wales, Ireland, and Northern Ireland, in Edinburgh for our twice yearly meeting. Anybody who thinks the recession couldn’t be worse than it is here should try moving to Ireland.
• 9 June. Board Meeting at Drumsheugh, followed by an informal reception for the Fellows of the Smith Trust, visiting the Society from their various countries in the former Soviet Union.
• 10 June. Informal meeting with the officers of the Glasgow Bar Association.
• 11 June. Final of the Donald Dewar Debating Competition (only I didn’t make this as I couldn’t get out of Glasgow Sheriff Court in time). Jamie deputises.
• 12 June. Edinburgh Bar Association dinner.
• 15 June. Series of discussions to finalise the Society’s response to questions raised by members at the AGM.
• 16 June. Dinner with the editorial staff of the Scotsman.
• 17 June. Speech to the senior school at Hutcheson’s Grammar School on the role of the Society (lucky them).
• 18 June. Reception at the Faculty of Advocates for the Abbotsford Trust.
• 19 June. Admission Ceremony for newly qualified solicitors; Airdrie Faculty Dinner.
• 22 June. Speech to Holyrood Conference on ADR. Interview with The Firm.
• 24 June. Board orientation meeting.
• 26 June. Council meeting.

None of the above includes the numerous emails and other pieces of correspondence requiring my attention, let alone the daily phone calls with Lorna Jack, our CEO, simply to keep on top of the Society’s routine activities.

And then there was the real job:

a four day divorce proof at Glasgow Sheriff Court; four ordinary courts at Airdrie; coping with the unexpected absence, through ill health, of two of my five own, long suffering, staff; the day-to-day legitimate demands of clients demanding to know the whereabouts of their lawyer; and the constant hassles with SLAB incumbent on those of us trying to make a living from legal aid work.

Don’t get me wrong, I sought election to this job. If it gets too much, I have the consolation of knowing that I could walk away and return to a reasonable living from the litigation base of my own firm.

In that I have the distinct advantage over so many of my colleagues, with businesses based on property work, who, I am only too aware, are suffering grievously in the current recession.

Unfortunately among all of the above, there has also been one irritating subtext from those unwilling to move on from the result of the AGM.

The idea that I, or indeed any of my past or present colleagues, are doing so to line our own pockets or enjoy the high life at your expense, is not simply misconceived; it is offensive. I don’t know, specifically, the business that might have been brought to my office during my regular absence this month. I do know that, during June, I have declined, for want of time, to accept instructions in two matters (a residence dispute in a distant court and a slam-dunk personal injury claim with complex quantum issues), either of which, alone, would have earned a larger fee than the monthly compensation paid to me as President of the Society. You would expect however that for the next 12 months, my priority must be the affairs of the Society and its members. I accept that as well, not to promote myself but because I believe there is a job needing doing here and that, with due modesty, I am up to the task of undertaking it. Time, not bean counting, will be the ultimate judge of that.

Anyway, point made. The more attentive of you will note that, at least, I have had no commitments after 26 June. That is because, the next day, wee Mo and I departed to the Province of Perugia for our summer holiday. For those of you stuck in the office during July that is where, God willing, I will be when you read this. Can I therefore wish all of you yet to get away, a very happy holiday, and can I console those of you reading this on your return from warmer climes that you can’t beat Scotland when the sun shines!