WHLS News
Founder Member, Arthur Weir, shares the secrets of five decades of success 57 years after Holborn Law Society was founded (in 1962), I met with our original founder member, Arthur Weir, to discuss the Society’s successes over the decades. Now aged 86, Arthur is a past president of the Society, retired Deputy Chancery Master and charity trustee, who only put down his pen as Chair of the Law Reform Committee at the end of 2019. His reputation as one of the Society’s most outstanding members preceded him and it was clear from early in our conversation that the success of the Society and the legal profession depends on us all being a bit more like Arthur Weir.
I
t was fascinating to hear first-hand from Arthur about the metamorphosis of the Society; how Holborn Law Society and The City of Westminster Law Society were originally conceived together, although kept separate as there were too many members for one society. However, some large member firms relocated to the City of London and the administrative burden of running two societies increased, so the societies, whose aims had always been aligned, merged back together; and they have remained so ever since. The Law Reform Committee Some of the Society’s best work can be viewed through the eyes of the Law Reform Committee. Arthur recounted numerous instances of family cases involving child kidnapping by a parent and where the police refused to become involved; leaving him, his investigative skills and the court tipstaff (with their powers of arrest) to locate the missing child. Following its inception, he was asked by then president, Simon Mosley, to join the Law Reform Committee and he quickly had to draw on these experiences when the Committee dealt with a proposal for new legislation to assist with child abduction. In fact, such was their expertise that in 1972 the Lord Chancellor (Quintin Hogg, 2nd Viscount Hailsham) invited the Committee to meet to discuss the proposals. The Law Reform Committee is indeed one of the most revered groups of its kind; renowned for providing detailed consultation responses on a variety of matters. A personal favourite of Arthur’s was the Capital and Income in Trusts report, where the Society’s arguments against a rule-based approach to the classification of corporate receipts by trustees received two pages of consideration in the final 2009 Law Commission response. Flagship events and another encounter with Viscount Hailsham The Society has always hosted several flagship annual events and a highlight was always the President’s Dinner. For Arthur, the best and one most full of laughter was the President’s Dinner in 1973, attended by the usual array of law lords, high court judges, the Master of the Rolls and the Lord Chancellor. At the dinner, the then president, Alfred Goldman, entertained the Lord Chancellor (Quintin Hogg, 2nd Viscount Hailsham) with an entry from the diary of the president’s father – recalling a chance meeting with Douglas Hogg, 1st Viscount Hailsham, where he had promised to send his son (the now Lord Chancellor), a new member to the bar at the time, a brief!
The ongoing changes Arthur observed countless changes in the Society and its members over the past five decades, a few of which he summarised as: 1. the increasing work demands on lawyers, leaving little if any time for matters of professional interest – this is why the work of the Society providing social and educational events in close proximity to members is vital; 2. a changing concept of professional loyalty; historically lawyers had a stronger loyalty to their firms and the profession than today where moving is more frequent and made easier. We are seeing a significant increase in colleagues working inhouse and the Society now provides a legal community for those counsel where that network might be absent in their place of work. Many members also report that they moved jobs or met new clients and intermediaries through the Society; and 3. the growing size of firms means that most are large enough to run lectures and events for their staff that were previously the preserve of local societies. As a result, the Society is constantly adapting to provide benefits outside of those provided by law firms – introductions to intermediaries; knowledge sharing discussions with counterparts at other firms; and marketing through awards and the magazine. In a consumer-driven world Arthur noted that the temptation is to sell the Society as what it (and the legal profession) can do for its lawyers; however he believes that the Society has always been successful because its members pride themselves on considering what they can offer the profession (and society) and working on the Committees accordingly. The key is cooperation and that is why the Society is thriving, because it brings together people with a passion for creating a community and pooling the skills of the profession to make a difference. As a past president, I asked Arthur for his advice to continue the success of the Society and he was resolute in his answer – to continue to reflect on how the profession looks and ensure that the Society relates to it. So it seemed fitting that as the current president, I interviewed him whilst holding my five month old baby daughter, discussing our celebrations to mark the centenary of the admission of female solicitors to the roll and the Society’s growing number of Committees and events to satisfy the interests of all members, including the new Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Committee launched this year. ■
Laura Uberoi
Immediate Past President, WHLS
CENTRAL LONDON LAWYER 21
