Editorial: Bowing out

This is it, folks. I have run my race to the finish. Next month the Journal will be in new hands, as you can read elsewhere in this issue.

I am quite bowled over by all the compliments that have been paid, and very grateful to everyone who has expressed their appreciation of my efforts over my 20 years as editor. I have made it my mission to try and keep the Journal relevant across the very wide spectrum of disciplines and types of work in our profession, with a mix of content intended to provide something of interest to as many readers as possible each month, while keeping up with the major events that have shaped the law and the profession over that time. Others can judge to what extent I have succeeded, but it is a good feeling to be leaving on a high of recognition.

I could never have done the job on my own, and huge thanks are due to all who have volunteered their time to write for the Journal, some very regularly. For me, this evidences that we still have a collegiate profession whose members are willing to share their expertise for the benefit of others, and I am proud to have played the coordinating role to make that possible. Long may that ethos continue.

Nor could I have done the job without the support of the team at Connect. I may be the public face of the magazine, but a whole succession of editorial, design, commercial, technical and production colleagues have all played essential parts in ensuring the magazine has come out on time and to a high standard every month; likewise the digital versions that we developed. (On press days we have taken everything in our stride from "Hurricane Bawbag" to the death of Queen Elizabeth! That’s teamwork.)

Finally, I must thank the Law Society of Scotland itself. I know there are those who still regard the Journal as simply the voice of the Society. As is obvious, the Society does provide a proportion of the content, but it has always insisted that the Journal is its members’ magazine and given me full independence over choice of features, briefings and much else each month. I am very grateful for the trust the Society has shown, and take full editorial responsibility for what has been published. I hope I have not given the Society much cause to question its approach; I am sure the Journal has benefited from it.

It only remains for me to wish each of you a happy and relaxing Christmas season, and success in the new year and for the future. Don’t ask (yet) what I intend to do with my time – the big prize for now is freedom from the hamster wheel of publishing deadlines! All the best, and good luck to Rebecca Morgan as she takes over.