Register to attend our 2025 annual general meeting

03 Sep 2025

2 minutes read

You can register to attend our annual general meeting (AGM) on 8 October 2025.

2025 has been a big year for the Law Society, as we’ve celebrated our bicentenary and reflected on 200 years of supporting solicitors.

We’ve also been looking to the future, identifying what matters most to solicitors and the profession, as we developed our next three-year corporate strategy.

At this year’s AGM we’re considering how we can modernise some of our processes and get more members involved in the organisation’s work.

Members of the Law Society will be able to vote on these proposed changes at the AGM on 8 October.

The deadline to register to attend is Friday 26 September.

What is an AGM?

Most organisations will hold an AGM once per year, as required by the law or by their constitution, charter and/or bye-laws.

At the Law Society, the AGM happens so that our Council can discuss the governance of our organisation, report back to our members on our activities, receive our annual report and approve our accounts as signed by our auditors.

It’s an important event in our governance calendar, where solicitors can hear directly from our office holders on our achievements from the past year and their plans for the one ahead.

It’s also an opportunity to set out proposals to make improvements to how we’re governed, so that we’re serving our members and the profession effectively.

Newly elected and re-elected Council members take their seats at the AGM.

The meeting will be chaired by our outgoing president, Richard Atkinson.

What is being proposed?

Read the full agenda for the AGM and supporting documents (PDF 430 KB).

Reflecting changes to governance elections

Technology has evolved rapidly over the past few decades, changing the way we all work.

One place we see this evolution is in how we conduct our governance elections, where we’ve moved from paper ballots to electronic voting.

By replacing references to voting papers in relevant bye-laws, we’re making sure current electronic practices are accurately captured.

Increasing the number of members needed to call a special general meeting (SGM)

Our best work is done when solicitors, who are members of the Law Society, are actively engaged with us.

There are many ways that this can happen – standing for election to our Council, sitting on our policy committees and attending a wide range of events, to name just a few.

We’re also launching a new programme – ‘Get Involved’ – in November 2025 to provide even more opportunities for solicitors to participate and to make sure our work is representative of the needs of a modern and thriving profession.

To ensure that our processes are reflective of a 21st century solicitor profession, we’re proposing an increase to the threshold for the number of members needed to call an SGM.

We’re proposing an increase from 100 members to 0.5% of membership, which would be roughly 1,000 solicitors.

The current threshold was last reviewed in 1975 when 100 solicitors was 0.3% of the membership.

50 years later, with a membership of well over 200,000, this represents just 0.05% of the profession.

This change would bring the Law Society in line with other organisations that have similar mechanisms, where thresholds typically range from 1% to 5% of their membership.

Given the resources required to stage a special general meeting – both in financial terms and in the diversion of resources – it’s not surprising that higher thresholds than those currently in place at the Law Society are generally required.

After all, those resources are funded by every single member. 

This step is a practical response to balance the interests of all members while maintaining the many existing channels you already have to share your views and concerns. 

Our chief executive, Ian Jeffery, discusses this proposal in more detail in the Law Society Gazette.

Changes to the definition of Major Corporate constituency

We’re proposing some changes to the definition of Major Corporate, shifting the eligibility criteria to run for election to this seat from solicitors working in firms with turnover of £35 million or more, to solicitors working in firms with turnover of £100 million or more.

This will better reflect the current market and changes in firm sizes.