Mike Dailly and David O'Hagan resign from Council
Glasgow solicitors Mike Dailly and David O'Hagan have resigned
from the Law Society's Council.
Commenting on Mr Dailly's resignation, Jamie Millar, President
of the Law Society of Scotland, said: "A number of Council members
had expressed concern over the work of the Access to Justice
Committee and the fact that Mike Dailly, as its Convener, had not
been present at any of the last three Council meetings to report on
the committee's work. Our Council is the democratically
elected ruling body of the Law Society of Scotland. All our
committees report to Council and it was a matter of real concern
that the work of such an important committee had gone unreported to
Council since November.
"That is why Council agreed to place the Access to Justice
Committee on the agenda for its next meeting in March so these
matters could be discussed with Mike Dailly present. I am
sorry that Mike has now chosen to resign from Council, rather than
allowing Council members to discuss these matters with him
directly.
"The Law Society of Scotland both allows and values free
speech. However, it also important for those elected to the
Council of the Society to work together as a team and for issues to
be brought to Council for discussion. For example, it is also
wrong for work to be presented as Society policy when it has never
in fact been considered or approved by our elected Council.
That is why Council overwhelmingly approved the media protocol last
November, which was basic common sense and was passed to ensure
that Council members and committee convenors worked together on
public statements, especially where there was a crossover of
work.
"Mike also talks about the proposed constitution which
he claims would exclude the rights of members to influence
Society policy. The reality is that the new constitution
actually delivers the changes which the vast majority of our
members told us they wanted. As someone who talks frequently
about the importance of listening to members, I am surprised that
Mike would now advocate overturning the clearly expressed views of
our members in this area.
"Indeed his arguments about ending the Society's role of
representing and regulating the solicitor profession are equally
out of step with the views of our members. Just last year,
78% of members voting in a referendum voted in favour of the
Society maintaining its dual role. I do not understand why
Mike believes we should now go against the overwhelming and
democratically expressed views of our members. We are a
membership organisation and we need to respect the views that our
members express.
"I am of course sorry that Mike has chosen to resign from
Council. I want to thank him for his service over the last
nine months, both on Council and as the Convenor of the Access to
Justice Committee. Indeed, the Society's work in terms of
maintaining proper public access to the justice system has never
been more important, particularly in the context of significant
cuts to public spending. That is why we will be starting a
process of appointing a new convenor for the Access to Justice
Committee to ensure this work continues."
Mr Millar also commented on the resignation from Council of
Glasgow solicitor David O'Hagan.
He said: "I am sorry that David has chosen to resign. He has
been an assiduous attendee of Council and has made a number of
valuable contributions in the nine months since he was elected. I
respect the position he has taken on the issue of cuts to legal
aid, which he says drives his decision. However the policy of the
Society on this issue was approved at a meeting of representatives
from faculties and bar associations from across Scotland. That
position was them overwhelmingly approved by our democratically
elected Council."
28 February 2011