President

I recently attended the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce’s President’s Dinner. The guest speaker was Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham. Some of you may have read his comments on independence; but it wasn’t his views on our current constitutional situation that struck a chord with me, although I did think it was brave of him to address the elephant in the room. It was two other elements of his speech that inspired me.

The first was his comment about his role to advocate unapologetically for the people of Greater Manchester. I feel that this is how we as a Society should be thinking when it comes to speaking up for our profession as a whole. I think we do a reasonable job, but of course more could, and should, be said. We need to be more positive about our impact on civic life in Scotland, the immensely powerful impact solicitors have in their local communities, and our cooperation and engagement with our various partners in Government, the court services and with other stakeholders. We have a great story to tell: for example, we have hard evidence of the support we have from the general public as a profession and we should not be shy about shouting this from the rooftops.

Andy also talked at length about being in the Westminster “bubble” and about not understanding the strength of feeling around centralised politics – how Westminster politicians do not fully appreciate how disenfranchised the people of Scotland and the north of England feel. I think there are some similar comparisons for those of us in the Law Society of Scotland “bubble”. It is easier for Council members and committee members to be aware of the work of the Society, to feel informed about our strategy and what support there is for members. However, when you are in the bubble it can be easy to forget that others may not know as much about what we are working on, and that the information received at committee meetings or in Council may not be common knowledge across the whole profession. It is this “bubble” that I want to pop.

Your agenda

Traditionally, it is Council that sets the agenda – telling you what we think is right for you. Now in the regulatory framework that is, of course, correct but from a members’ perspective we need to be engaging more and providing more opportunities for you, our members, to have input into what we do – whether that’s at formal meetings such as our upcoming SGM this month or more informal opportunities to discuss our work.

This is your Society, and we need your help to shape its present and future.

This is why we encouraged a more involved discourse around the Society’s strategic direction earlier this year. We opened that up to a wider group than just Council, and I believe this has helped us to formulate a more inclusive strategy for the next five years. Our new strategy will be launched this month and we are inviting all of our members to join an online session on Thursday, 20 October to present its key aims. There will of course be an opportunity to ask us questions at the meeting about our plans for the future.

The success of our engagement with members on the strategy is the reason I want to continue that discourse throughout my presidential year. This has started with my constituency visits – for most of them you will get the chance to meet our new CEO; you will hear about what the Society has been doing; but it is absolutely crucial that you come along wanting a discussion. I don’t want these visits to be a presentation which ends with tumbleweed at the point of “Any questions?” I want it to be a conversation. I want to hear your issues and your concerns.

I want to know what you think the Society can do to help you, what we do well at the moment, and where we can improve. So this is a call to action to all of you to come along, get involved and, just maybe, we can make a difference!