Ian is currently the President of the
Leeds Law Society
President's Column
I recall that a couple of years after qualifying I discovered that by just filling in a form I could become a member of The Law Society, applied, and was duly accepted, and have the certificate to prove it. By so applying I was joining a representative body having already, by qualifying and obtaining my first practising certificate, agreed to comply with the regulations either laid down by or administered and enforced by the Law Society. For years the argument raged as to whether there should be a segregation of the two functions of the Law Society, and the issue has of course now been put to rest by the Clementi Report with which we are all too familiar. I, for one, am confident that the regulation of our professional will continue efficiently and effectively in the hands of “RegCo” which is accountable to the profession and to the Legal Services Board, primarily through the New Law Society. They deserve our support, which could justifiably be cautious at first, and I am sure will earn our respect and full support. We should be confident that both the lawyer and lay members of RegCo understand the unique requirements of our profession, the ethics and professional rules which govern it, which are the glue which makes us a cohesive, effective and formidable profession, with arguable the highest and most exacting standards of all professions. Ours is a complicated life, and our judgment requires to be exercised every single day in our practice as solicitors. We all recognise that we require from our professional colleagues not just a minimum standard of compliance with professional rules, but integrity and a strong sense of fairness, with wrap like a cloak around our technical expertise. The members of RegCo are entitled to expect our support, but at the same should anticipate an exceedingly strong reaction from more than 100,000 qualified solicitors should they let us down. They know, and we know, that while they operate as a safety net to catch those whose conduct lets down their professional colleagues, their primary role is to ensure that we all strive to work at the highest possible standards for the benefit of our clients with whose affairs we are fortunate enough to have been entrusted. This is a great responsibility, of which we should be proud.
And so it was with some considerable pride that I was witness to the acknowledgment of the professional and extra-curricular activities of a most select group of individuals, the recipients of the Yorkshire Lawyer Awards, the details of whom are to be found among these pages. It struck me that what we were publicly acknowledging were performances at exceedingly high levels of competence and professionalism, which could not have been achieved without technical expertise, – even brilliance, – dedication to the cause of the client, and an ability to know instinctively, through a thorough understanding of a role of a solicitor in the 21st Century, how to deliver for the client the desired result. I told the great and good at the ceremony that it was my view that indirectly one of the objectives of the Awards was to ensure that we set out targets high, that we all strove to achieve the very best for our clients with this combination of technical ability and ethical code, so as not just to maintain but to improve the standards of the entire profession. We have a phenomenally gifted group of lawyers in Leeds and Yorkshire, although few will ever be publicly acknowledged. We know that for the most part it is satisfaction enough that the client achieves the best possible result, even if this were not their stated objective.
We all look to the Law Society, and the New Law Society, to continue to provide proper regulation which of course is of far more importance than the menu of membership services which the Law Society can deliver. Nevertheless, the latter cannot be ignored, not least because of the direct and indirect benefit which we derive from such services as the ethics helpline and international practice advice, through to the Gazette and specialist support for practice areas. I am a strong supporter of both functions of the Law Society but the Law Society itself requires to know the views of you all so such decisions are made are fully informed about your views. Please send your comments to transition.feedback@lawsociety.org.uk, or to me at ianmccombie@mccombie.co.uk and I shall compile and forward them on. But I warn you: although the Law Society may well be accused of consulting within too short a time frame, or of not informing its members of what good things it is actually doing, it is a fact that it is very hard for both them and me to obtain feedback from members of the profession, all of whom are understandably swamped with more immediate daily problems. I urge you all, from Judge through to Trainee, to consider the issues carefully, consult your Gazette, browse the Law Society website, inform yourself, and present your views. I look forward to hearing from you.
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