Law Society no confidence motion is passed, but only just

This morning's special general meeting of the Law Society, called at the request of Liverpool solicitor advocate James Parry, passed a motion of no confidence in the society's leadership, but by the slender margin of 228 votes to 213.

Speaking afterwards, chief executive Des Hudson said he did not "see the relevance" of a profession-wide vote, and "nobody at the meeting called for it."

Hudson said that, having spent £120,000 on the SGM, "taking it up to £200,000" by holding a vote of the whole profession was not the best use of resources.

Hudson said that, like the Bar Council, the Law Society had "no position" on the half day strike being organised by the Criminal Bar Association for 6 January next year,

Promising "not to ignore what has happened" at the SGM, Hudson defended the society's democratic structure.

"Are we saying we can only take decisions by plebiscite? I don't think that's a practical way forward."

Immediately after the vote, Parry condemned "inadequate communication and the culture of secrecy" at Chancery Lane. "This needs to change and we need to become a campaigning organisation," he said.

His words echoed a powerful speech made earlier by Louise Christian, senior consultant at Imran Khan Solicitors.

"I want to support this motion," Christian said. "I want the Law Society to be a campaigning organisation."

Christian said the society had not "got over its past as a regulatory body". She said it had not done enough to fight other government attacks on civil legal aid and judicial review.

"Surely the one thing we can agree on is our humanity, the importance of our clients and the importance of not having a society where people are convicted of crimes because their lawyers aren't good enough."

A very different vision of the Law Society was put forward by Alistair Douglas, chairman of the City of London Law Society.

"The predicament facing the Law Society is important for my members and it's embarrassing that the society has ended up being faced by a vote of no confidence," he said.

"We need a credible and respectable body to support all solicitors. A vote of no confidence will not help the current standing of the society or the profession as a whole."

Douglas said he had "grave concerns" about access to justice but also "a great deal of sympathy" for the society's president and chief executive.

The Law Society's Council is meeting this afternoon in closed session to discuss the society's response to the vote. For further coverage of the SGM see the 7 January 2014 edition of Solicitors Journal.