Society targets expansion in new five year strategy

An ambitious new five-year strategy is launched today by the Law Society of Scotland, in which it seeks to expand the range of services offered to its members and widen its membership to other legal professionals in addition to solicitors.

By 2020 the Society predicts its solicitor membership will have risen from the current 11,200 to 12,000 – but in addition it seeks to sign up 10,000 new paying members in the form of paralegals, legal executives and registered foreign lawyers.

Entitled Leading Legal Excellence, the new strategy is a revised and updated version of the Society's Towards 2020 plan agreed in 2010, in the light of further rapid change in a legal sector which has been affected by increased consolidation and reduced public spending, and now faces radical court reforms and further devolution. 

The Society is focused on maintaining the highest possible standards within the legal profession in Scotland, but has adopted a wider mission to be a world-class professional body. That involves playing a wider role on issues such as upholding the rule of law, protecting human rights and promoting access to justice, as well as working to ensure that its members have internationally recognised qualifications which allow them to practise across borders, whether elsewhere in the UK or overseas.

Christine McLintock, President of the Society commented: “We want our members to be able to thrive whatever their area of practice, wherever they are in the world. That is why we will develop new products and services, helping our members to meet the ever changing needs of their clients and employers. It is why we will continue to set high standards and take action when those standards are not met.”

On widening the Society's membership she explained: “The pace of change within the legal sector has been even greater than we anticipated, such as the rise in the use of paralegals, legal executives and legal technicians and growth in outsourcing of legal work. In recent years we have also seen the emergence of new types of business models delivering legal services, even without the regulatory provisions being in place which would allow the creation of ‘alternative business structures’ and see solicitors able to set up in partnership with non-lawyer professionals for the first time.

“That is why we needed to change our approach to ensure that we meet the needs of both our membership and the public they serve."

The Society intends to build on the experience of its Registered Paralegal Scheme to open its membership to other legal professionals.

Looking intenationally Ms McLintock added: “The majority of our current members work here in Scotland but increasing numbers are choosing to work elsewhere in the UK and overseas, while retaining their Law Society of Scotland membership.

“As the legal market responds to the challenges and opportunities of using new technologies and increased globalisation, we expect increasing numbers of our law graduates to work outwith Scotland. We want to offer the right kind of support to all of our members, wherever their careers take them in the world, and ensure that their Law Society of Scotland membership is valuable to them.”

Click here to access the strategy document and a video.

Click here for a feature on the strategy in this month's Journal.