From the Council Chamber

A New Year is upon us and the new President Lubna Shuja began her presidency in October. Here are some recent matters to come from Chancery Lane and includes Lubna’s hopes and objectives for her year as President.

Diversity and Progression within the profession and the judiciary

• There was an event celebrating 100 years since the first woman solicitor, Carrie Morrison, was admitted on 18 December 1922 followed closely by Mary Pickup, Mary Sykes, Maud Crofts, as well as Agnes Twiston Hughes who was the first Welsh woman solicitor to be admitted in 1923.

Other speakers were fellow Council Member Dana Denis-Smith and The Rt Hon Victoria Prentis MP, the Attorney-General.

I (Donna) was invited and attended this evening and it was uplifting seeing the appetite for change and for diversity to continue to be promoted within our profession.

• There has been an event discussing the success of the South Eastern Circuit Judicial Mentoring Scheme which will be rolled out to other regions. We will work closely with the judiciary to ensure solicitor members across England and Wales are well represented in the next scheme.

• Meetings with solicitor judges to discuss their concerns around diversity.

Professional Ethics

• The Law Society has held three preliminary roundtables to discuss ethics with city firms, in-house solicitors and mid-size firms.

A further virtual roundtable is took place with small firms and sole practitioners on Thursday, 26th January 2023.

Business Support – Listening to Members

• Lubna has attended meetings around the England and Wales to listen to the issues and challenges that our members face.

• A virtual President’s Surgery will be held in early in 2023 and we will let you know the date if you wish to attend.

A leading and influential voice on justice, the rule of law and the value of solicitors

• We continue to put out press releases highlighting issues impacting on the public and on the justice system – this is in diverse areas of Mental Health patients, the Family Law Court system and of course the Legal Aid system.

By Donna Taylor, Tony Fisher

• Our 5 point plan to resolve the court backlogs received good coverage across the national as well as the legal press.

International promotion of the profession and jurisdiction

• The Tokyo Bar Association celebrate their Centennial Anniversary at an event in January 2023. Lubna recorded a congratulatory video message for them and Vice President, Nick Emmerson, also recorded one in Japanese!

• Lubna also attended the UK-India Legal Partnership Annual Dinner and Awards and spoke about the numerous opportunities in UK-India trade and investment which will grow with the implementation of the UK-India Free Trade Agreement and the liberalisation of legal services in India.

In addition to the above activities, there have been meetings with the Lord Chief Justice, the CEO of HMCTS, the Chair of the SRA and various government ministers discussing a whole range of topics that impact on our members. While Nick Emmerson (VP) has been making use of his fluency in Japanese, Deputy Vice President Richard Atkinson has been presiding over Admissions Ceremonies as well as continuing to attend various meetings relating to the criminal legal aid situation.

** VACANCIES** Law Society Committees

There are often a number of vacancies on Committees within the Law Society, areas such as Leadership and Management, Property, Private Client, Dispute Resolution, and Competition/Antitrust as well as the Smaller Firms Network and the In-House Network and many more. If you have any interest or questions about these please do not hesitate to contact either myself or Tony about these and we can give you further information.

Meetings

Our Law Society Meeting on 17th January will be followed by a Strategic Planning meeting in February. If you have anything you would like to raise with Tony and me please feel free.

Tony Fisher (Council member for Essex) (tfisher@fjg.co.uk)

Donna Taylor (Council member for Suffolk) (donna.taylor@nexa.law)