The Law Societies of Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland

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The Law Society (Scotland, England/Wales, Northern Ireland)

Law firms across the UK are regulated by The Law Society (www.lawsociety.org.uk) which operates in Northern Ireland, Scotland and in England/Wales. The Law Society offers support to solicitors and helped to promote law reform by being the body which is approached by government when new laws are being debated.

Each UK region has its own Law Society with the one for England and Wales being based in London. It was founded in 1903 as the Law Society, having been known by a number of other names since as early as 1825. Since its inception the Law Society has been able to investigate and supervise solicitors and deal with any complaints, however this particular function is now carried out by the Legal Ombudsman.

The type of support which is offered to solicitors includes training, advice, promotion, lobbying functions and negotiations with the regulators. A large part of this support involves ensuring that solicitors have been able to acquire professional indemnity insurance. This protects them should they be accused of negligence when carrying out their duties. Getting this insurance has been more difficult in recent years and the Society tries to make it possible for all solicitors to be covered. As part of this, the Society produces a magazine aimed at giving advice on finding the right insurance.

The Law Society Northern Ireland Logo

All solicitors are expected to pay a practising fee to the Society to cover the cost of this support. As part of the Law Society, the Solicitors Regulation Authority deals with any disciplinary matters and enforces standards for solicitors across England and Wales. This part of the Law Society acts in the interests of the public only.

In Scotland, the Law Society was established in 1949 and is funded by the members without any government support. The Society take responsibility not only for the solicitors they represent, but also the public who use their services.

The main aim of the Law Society of Scotland is to support the professionalism and reputation of solicitors, making them a trusted profession. They also want solicitors to be sustainable economically and that the Society themselves become the regulator of choice for the profession.

Similar to England and Wales, The Law Society in Scotland (www.lawscot.org.uk) offers training, membership to the society and it arranges professional protections through the Guarantee Fund. This will give compensation to any clients who have suffered monetary loss because of the actions of a solicitor. The Society offers an indemnity insurance called the Master Policy which covers these types of claims.

Solicitors in Northern Ireland are represented by the Law Society of Northern Ireland (www.lawsoc-ni.org). They are able to discipline, educate and regulate the profession making it a public serving body which is trusted. The main aims of the Society is to maintain the independence, ethical standards, professional competence of solicitors and the quality of services offered to the public.

In Northern Ireland there are around 2300 solicitors practising and all can become members of the Society by paying an annual subscription.

Anyone who wants to make a complaint regarding the work of a solicitor can do so by approaching the correct Law Society for their part of the UK. Each have procedures for making a formal complaint or applying for compensation.

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