Statement of Edward Macey-Dare

MANIFESTO: THE CITY OF WESTMINSTER

Statement of Edward Macey-Dare

I am a partner in Lee Bolton Monier-Williams Solicitors in Westminster, specialising in employment law.

I trained at Brown Cooper in Southampton Place, London between 1994 and 1996 and remained there until 2002, when we merged with Monier-Williams and Boxalls and moved to Lincoln's Inn Fields. During this period, I was a member of the Holborn Law Society.

In 2008, my firm merged with Lee Bolton & Lee in Westminster. I started to attend City of Westminster & Holborn Law Society (CWHLS) events and was soon co-opted onto the Litigation subcommittee. In due course, I put myself forward for election to the office of Junior Vice President (JVP), to which I was duly elected in 2013.

In my year as Senior Vice President, it came to my attention that the future of the LCGP – which, although founded originally by the Holborn Law Society, had for many years been run by a stand-alone committee – was in serious doubt; in short, the committee had run out of steam and the default proposition was to disband it. I felt, very strongly, that this should not be allowed to happen given that, if the LCGP was disbanded, it would never be reformed and therefore all the legal charities that it supports (namely: the Solicitors' Benevolent; the Barristers' Benevolent; the Institute of Barristers' Clerks' Benevolent; the CILEx Benevolent; and Lawcare – many of which are very reliant on donations from the LCGP) would suffer. Accordingly, I set about trying to save the LCGP and, after much deliberation, the Committee agreed not to disband the LCGP and to hand over the running of the event to CWHLS. A new sub-committee was formed, of which I was Chairman; we persuaded the two previous patrons, Lord Neuberger and Sir John Mummery, to continue their patronage; and we convinced representatives of the charities we support to rejoin. The event was a huge success, such that we were able to continue running it until its 50th anniversary in 2018.

In October 2015, I was elected President of CWHLS, my "manifesto pledge" being to do whatever I could to increase membership and members' participation. I was successful on both counts and CWHLS is now a thriving organisation once again.

In February 2016, a casual vacancy arose on Council for a City of Westminster seat. Having already experienced law society workings at the micro level, I decided to throw my hat into the ring and experience the macro picture. I was successful and, when the seat came up for re-election in July 2016, I decided to re-apply and was re-elected for a full 4-year term.

What have I achieved on Council? As a result of sitting next to our current President, who urged me to make my maiden speech in the chamber at my second Council meeting, I have been a regular contributor in debates and have championed causes such as the status of paralegals who have passed their professional law exams but have been unable to secure a training contract. I have also repeatedly highlighted the continuing existential threat facing the Law Society and the importance of carving out a defined role for itself, so that it is fit for purpose in the 21st century.

Due to the fact that my firm's partners' meetings have invariably clashed with CWHLS meetings, I have not been as actively engaged with CWHLS at committee level as I would have liked, but with 4 other Council members on the Main Committee, I do not think this has had a material adverse impact. Fortunately, this will not be an issue going forward, given that we have now moved to weekly partners' meetings, during working hours.

Why should I be re-elected again? Council is a very idiosyncratic beast and you spend much of your first term getting to know your way around its structures and trying to understand how it works. This has been compounded during my tenure by the fact that, early on, there was a root and branch governance review which resulted in a major overhaul of the (then) structure and the appointment of an overarching board.

I am Clerk of the Worshipful Company of Distillers, and given my involvement with CWHLS and the LCGP, I am very used to sitting on committees. Much of the excellent work that Council does is carried out through its various committees. The Membership and Communications Committee (MCC) develops and oversees the services the Law Society provides to its members and how it communicates with members and other stakeholders. Earlier this year, I was invited by the Chair of the MCC to apply to join and I was one vote away from being elected. If I were to be re-elected to Council now, I would certainly wish to stand for the MCC again and feel I have a good chance of being elected and making a real impact on that committee – particularly championing the interests of my constituents.

I believe we belong to a great profession, but we live in times of enormous change and therefore, in order to meet the major challenges ahead – which, in the post-COVID era, will be greater than ever – we need to evolve and diversify sufficiently, such that we can continue to provide legal services effectively to an increasingly discerning public, in a market that is set to become ever more competitive. I am firmly of the view that, if we are to achieve these things, we are better off together – and thus all solicitors need to get behind the Law Society. Increasing our membership engagement is therefore at the very top of my list of priorities.

In conclusion, having had the advantage on sitting on Council for the past 4.5 years, I now have an excellent understanding about the workings of Council, what is expected of me as a constituency member and how I can make a meaningful contribution. I therefore believe that I am best placed to represent the City of Westminster for the next four years. ■