Cameron Ritchie welcomes decision on complaint against past president

The President of the Law Society of Scotland, Cameron Ritchie has welcomed a decision to reject a conduct complaint that had been made against former President Jamie Millar during his time in office.

The Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) had earlier decided to reject the complaint on the grounds of it being 'totally without merit'.  An application for leave to appeal the SLCC decision was rejected by the Court of Session on Tuesday, 22 November, following a hearing on 8 November.

In April, a member of the Law Society Council made a complaint to the SLCC against the conduct of Jamie Millar who was then President of the Society.  This related to a communication that was issued to solicitors on the Society's constitution in advance of the AGM in March this year.  Mr Millar's term of office as President was for one year only and concluded in May.

The Society was informed that the SLCC rejected the complaint as being totally without merit.  The SLCC will therefore be taking no further action in the matter.  This application to leave to appeal the decision was made to the Court of Session and was heard today.

Cameron Ritchie, who succeeded Mr Millar as President when his one year term of office came to end in May, said: "I have always considered Jamie Millar to be a person of honesty and the highest integrity. The Law Society was fortunate to have him as its president during what was a particularly difficult time within the legal profession. It was regrettable that he had to face some unfair and wholly unjustified accusations during his last few months in office.

"He may no longer be our president but we are fortunate to still have Jamie serving on our Council, standing up and speaking out for solicitors, both within his Glasgow constituency and across Scotland."

ENDS   

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Please contact Val McEwan on 0131 226 8884. Email: valeriemcewan@lawscot.org.uk

23 November 2011