Law Agents deliver SGM requisition
25 Feb 10
Meeting to debate non-lawyer ownership to be held by 25 March
The Scottish Law Agents Society today delivered to the Law Society of Scotland in Edinburgh a formal requisition calling for a special general meeting of the Law Society.
The requisition, delivered by Michael Sheridan and Craig Bennet, the secretary and Vice President of SLAS, relates to the SLAS campaign to reverse the Law Society's policy of support for non-solicitor ownership of legal practices, due to be permitted under the Legal Services (Scotland) Bill now before the Scottish Parliament.
It calls on the Law Society of Scotland to consider and make a resolution in the following terms:
"The members of the Law Society of Scotland in general meeting find that –
"It is essential in the public interest in the retention of an independent legal profession that the ownership of any business authorised to carry out work which is reserved to persons qualified to practise as solicitors in terms of the Solicitors (Scotland) Act, 1980, should be vested in persons so qualified,
"And call upon the Scottish Parliament to set out and maintain that position in the statutes and regulations of the Scottish Parliament and, in particular, to amend the terms of the Legal Services (Scotland) Bill, presently before Parliament to that effect."
The SGM must be held within 28 days of the delivery of the requisition, and so must be on or before 25 March 2010.
Michael Scanlan, President of SLAS, said: “There has been a steady build up of support for the holding of an SGM and there are now sufficient proxies in our hands on the terms of the proposed motion for us to call for an SGM to debate our motion.
“Whilst it is not without precedent for a motion to effectively call for the reversal of a previous AGM vote, in this case the 2008 AGM vote, it is highly unusual. However solicitors are entitled to change their minds and our soundings have consistently indicated disquiet and concern on this issue. It is right and proper that the matter be aired for the good of the profession and to give a strong signal to the politicians what it is that the profession think.”
The SLAS website contains more on its reasons for seeking a policy change.