Council Member’s Report

Council Member’s Report

By Alastair Logan

We are living in strange, unpredictable and indeed dangerous times. Who would have imagined in the spring of this year that we would be where we are now? Who could have prepared for the devastation that COVID-19 has brought to all of us? But faced with the pandemic our profession has met the challenges and continues to do so.

The Law Society officeholders and staff have done an awesome job providing the profession with guidance, assistance and support. In addition to supporting solicitors, whether members of the society or not, they have continued to challenge on issues such as the crisis in our justice system, the effect of government actions on that section of our profession who work in the criminal law, the backlog that had grown because of austerity and starvation of funds to the Ministry of Justice causing court selloffs, drastically reduced judge time on top of the effect of the cuts to legal aid. These are some of the challenges but by no means all. Not since 1949 has the chasm between the rich, who can afford access to justice and those of limited or modest means who cannot, been greater. Our profession has tried to plug the gaps by pro bono and other gifts of their time and skills but there is no substitute for a properly funded justice system. We now face an attack on the Rule of Law which fundamentally underpins our democratic society and our justice system.

Throughout this time the Council of the Law Society has continued to address many other issues. Of particular concern to the solicitors of Surrey is a proposal by the Council Membership Committee to reform Council which in its original state would have removed from Surrey a large quantity of postcodes reducing Surrey’s area significantly and effectively making it a rural constituency. Sushila and I, together with the Committee of the Surrey Law Society, robustly contested this proposal with the result that Surrey has now been expanded by the addition of postcodes hitherto allocated elsewhere.

However, this is not the end of the matter because there remains the proposal that Surrey’s two Council Members should be reduced to one. The argument is that some of the geographical seats must surrender their council members so that more seats can be allocated to specialisms and other interest groups. This proposal was formulated before the massive changes that COVID-19 has brought in the way in which meetings and business are conducted. Surrey remains one of the largest constituencies in the country based on the number of firms and the population per square mile.

The Surrey Lawyer is one of the few organs that allow your Council Members to communicate with you. This is because the SRA has refused to part with the information they hold that would allow us to communicate directly with you. There seems no likely solution to this in the near future but the advent of MyLawSociety will enable all members in Surrey to customise the information that they need for the management of their practice and careers, update the information on Find a Solicitor - thus enabling them to attract more clients - and keep up-todate with developments that affect the profession or sections of it that you have an interest in. If you have not already done so, I earnestly ask that you take the time to create your profile on MyLawSociety; there is a helpful guide on YouTube.

Lastly, Sushila and I urge you to stay safe and well, to be alert to the impact that this pandemic has had and will have on you and your staff both mentally and physically and to feel free to contact us if there is anything that we can do for you. ■