The Council Member's Report

The Council Member’s Report

PETER WATSON-LEE

Law Society Council Member for Dorset

English law is still the best

Did you know that the law of England & Wales is still ‘the law of choice’ governing most major international transactions? Which is why London is still the centre for many large international dispute cases.

London is second only to New York – although many others, such as Singapore, are keen to challenge our position.

Our standing is based on the certainty of our common law, the reputation of our Judges and the quality of our legal services.

Most of the largest 50 UK law firms have a network of offices abroad – and not just the City firms, but firms across our regional centres as well. We export a massive £5.7bn of legal service to the rest of the world.

I chaired a session a few days ago about the Law Society’s input into the International Law scene – something about which I knew little.

There are 11,000 solicitors who work outside the U.K.. And every year, of the newly qualified solicitors, 10 – 15% of those are requalifying from other jurisdictions because of the standing of our qualification.

The E.U. was our largest foreign market and Brexit has not been helpful. Since leaving, rather than dealing with one set of rules, now each European country applies its own set of regulations on the terms we can practice there. The Law Society’s International Section has been at the forefront of helping to navigate the problems that have arisen.

Government proposals to review of the human rights legislation is now also causing further uncertainty.

At the same time, the Law Society are strongly involved in negotiating the opening of new markets elsewhere in the world. We are an open market in England & Wales – meaning foreign lawyers can set up branches here – but the reverse is often not the case. Delegations from the Law Society, often headed by our President, fly around the world to encourage legal markets to be opened. Visits to Japan and India are underway, as are approaches to Commonwealth countries. The task is to re-assure countries that rather than being detrimental, the opening of their legal market usually brings many benefits.

The Law Society is also active in many other ways. We are still involved with the CBBE (the Council of Bars and Law

And when our President attends and speaks at the annual International Bar Association, she is carefully listened to and is well respected.

The Law Society is also active in promoting the rule of law internationally. We are heavily involved in supporting the Lawyers at Risk programme and are at the forefront of work in helping identify those judges and lawyers at risk in Afghanistan.

In a nutshell, English law is still respected around the world and the Law Society’s work is much appreciated by those who have an international practice.

The shape of the profession

Some recent statistics that might interest:

 • 53% of the profession are female

• 25% of the profession work in-house (with 18% in the private sector and 7% in the public/third sector)

• Of the remaining 75% in private practice, there is now an equal split between those working in the largest 200 firms and those working in medium size and small firms

 • 51% of solicitors work in London and the South East (22% in the City itself) – the South West has 6% of Solicitors

• 20% of Solicitors are less than 5 years qualified; 31% have been qualified between 6 to 15 years and the remaining 48% over 16 years.

Legal heroes

Keep an eye out for the launch of the Law Society’s new Legal Hero award.

Replacing the old Excellence Awards aimed at celebrating excellent legal service, this new award is seeking out individual Solicitors who have carried out exceptional work that can be shown to have made a real difference to the lives of others.

We are looking to highlight real life stories of Solicitors who have really made an impact on helping others – be it probono or through their day to day work. I suspect many of us will know of colleagues who go that extra mile to help clients or local communities.

When you see the launch, do put them forward.