Society to Cut Practising Certificate Fee
Ian Smart, new president of the Law Society of Scotland, said at the Society’s AGM in Edinburgh on Thursday, 28 May: “As a membership organisation, it is right that our members have their say in how their Society is run and be able to scrutinise how we spend our members’ money generated through the cost of the practising certificate fee each year.
“I am encouraged that a decisive majority of solicitors have backed the Society’s amendment to the motion about the practising certificate fee. We had already intended to make a material reduction through the planning and budgeting process for this year. We will be able incorporate the profession’s feedback and recommendations into that process before bringing a proposed reduction in the fee to the SGM in September.
“Mr Flint’s motion to cut the cost of the practising certificate has allowed a number of concerns to aired and feedback given to the Society. We do not underestimate the responsibility the Society has in listening to its members and to ensure that it delivers services that the profession wants and needs in the most cost effective way, especially during such challenging economic times.
“There was a very vigorous debate at the AGM about what the Society costs to the membership and the job that it has to do. We had already put in place a programme to modernise how the Society does business, with plans to bring a new constitution to next year’s AGM, and welcomed this as a chance to find out first-hand what more our members want from their Society. Having that feedback is vital to ensure the Society is relevant and properly representing its members’ needs.
“Last year we delivered a budget which ensured there was no increase – a real term cut - in the Practising Certificate feeset by the Society. This year we are committed to go further and deliver a significant reduction. We are acutely aware of the pressures on our members to reduce their costs in these unprecedented times.”
ENDS 29 MAY 2009
Note to editors:
The cost of the practising certificate was £390 in 1999, £400 in 2000 and £500 in 2004. It has been frozen at £665 since 2007.
In 2007-08, regulation accounted for 40.24%, representation and support 40.32% and registration and membership 19.45% of the Society’s costs.
A further three motions were discussed at the Law Society of Scotland’s AGM in addition to reports on the alternative business structure debate and a new policy for educating and training solicitors in Scotland.
They included a motion before the AGM proposing a consultation on change to the Society’s constitution. Proposals for a new constitution will now be put to the 2010 AGM. A motion deploring the decision by Abbey to remove solicitors from its panel of approved solicitors for mortgage transactions and calling for a reversal of the move was also passed.
A further motion, regarding rules relating to the instruction of solicitor advocates and advocates, was withdrawn following the Scottish Government’s decision to review Rights of Audience in the supreme courts which was announced to members at the AGM
