Building a new Law Society

- Des Hudson, chief executive

Des Hudson

'We are driven by a clear, single objective – to support solicitors.'

 

Goals for 2010

  • The public regard solicitors as the first, natural choice for legal advice and assistance above all other providers.
  • Business at home and around the world views solicitors qualified in England and Wales as the pre-eminent legal advisers and trusted business partners, with English law as the jurisdiction of choice for contracts and dispute resolution.
  • Policy makers and the public view the Society as a leading and trusted authority on all legal issues and a significant leader in a modern democratic society.
  • The government and the profession's regulators view the Society as the authoritative voice of the entire profession.
  • Solicitors consider the Society to be the most important representative organisation for them, delivering relevant practical support throughout their careers and a leading voice on the business of law.

 

Building a new Law Society

Having established the independent Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and delegated regulatory responsibilities to it, last year we began the task of building a modern and responsive representational professional body that offers activities and services which meet the needs of all parts of our membership, financed in a sustainable way.

 

Further priorities

I am committed to:

  • Improving value for money
  • Increasing the relevance of the services we deliver
  • Reducing our dependence on the practising certificate (PC) fee
  • Increasing our influence with government and other stakeholders
  • Improving our capability and performance.

 

How are we doing?

  • We are campaigning vigorously and robustly on behalf of solicitors, speaking for our members on both the national and international stage and leading the debate on often controversial subjects.
  • Our new services have been enthusiastically received by solicitors and we continue to reshape and develop a comprehensive package of information, advice, marketing, training and networking support.
  • By implementing efficiencies and exploiting new commercial sources of income we have cut the amount of the PC fee income taken by the representational Law Society in 2007/08 by almost 20 per cent over the previous year.

Download the full review (PDF, 909kb)