MANIFESTO: HOLBORN
Statement of
Paul Sharma I
seek election to the Law Society Council not to praise it but to change it. You may think that the Society is just a professional association. But you’d be wrong. The Law Society is also a trade union that dare not speak its name. Does the British Medical Association speak its name? On the first line on its home page, it boldly proclaims: “The British Medical Association is the trade union and professional body for doctors in the UK.” What does the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy say? It says: “…professional, educational and trade union body for the UK's 59,000 chartered physiotherapists, physiotherapy students and support workers.” What about the Law Society? In contrast, it cannot bring itself to admit its true function. Individual members only As you know, there is no corporate membership of the Law Society, only individual members can join. True, for most of us, the employer pays the membership fee, but it is you and not your firm who is the member. So, we have to ask: what has the Law Society ever done for you as an individual member? The truth is very little. Yet there is so, so much to be done. Where was the Law Society? The government’s imposition of employment tribunal fees in 2013 hurt hundreds of thousands of employees seeking justice in the employment. But it also hurt thousands of solicitors who lost their clients. Between April and June 2014, claims had fallen by 81%, compared with the year before. Solicitors firms lost income and solicitors livelihoods were jeopardised. But it was a trade union that acted. Unison mounted a legal campaign and won in the Supreme Court, overturning the fees. Where was the Law Society? The withdrawal of legal aid from family law and its run down for criminal law have left clients struggling and solicitors impoverished. There needed to be a high-profile campaign and lobby to challenge this. But where was the Law Society? In both cases, the Law Society failed its members with its meek response. As far as governments are concerned, the representatives of solicitors can be bypassed. It’s not as if lawyers are not in a position of influence. Yet, given that lawyers are the single biggest grouping in the House of Commons, the Law Society’s failure to make use of this and influence government policy is truly remarkable. In contrast, even a small trade union like the RMT is able to muster its MP trade union sympathizers to greater effect. Refusal to represent members Hapless Claire Matthews, a junior solicitor, suffering mental health was prosecuted by the SRA. While they used a heavy weight legal team, she was left to represent herself. The result was that the SRA ended her legal career there and then.
16 | CENTRAL LONDON LAWYER
The Law Society is lost. It fails to represent its members as a group and it refuses to represent it members individually. The Law Society does not represent its members before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. Why? Why does the Law Society abdicate its primary function of representing its members at the most crucial time of their career? Abdication does not happen with the BMA or the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. They manage to be professional bodies and provide advice and assistance to its members when in trouble. The BMA has the BMA Law. What the Law Society should be Whilst the Law Society will always be a professional organisation representing its solicitor members, it has much to learn from the BMA on how to be effective. Whilst I, of course, respect the professional role of the Society, I want it to act resolutely in the interests of members. The job of your council member is to represent your views to the Law Society Council and to report back to members the actions (inaction) of the Law Society. To do this your Council member should deliver a written report to Westminster and Holborn Law Society following Council meetings. Accountability is fundamental. I will do that. I am currently the Senior Vice President of Westminster and Holborn Law Society and I strongly believe that through its structure the Council members should be democratically accountable to all solicitors in our constituency. But there is more. The Law Society should put resources into being a better campaigner and a better lobby than it is now. It should also represent its individual members like Claire Matthews. I seek election to the Law Society Council to radically overhaul it, to make it truly represent our members like the BMA represents doctors. ■
