From the President's desk: How can we support our vital smaller firms?

Many of you will have seen the Law Society’s recent research into smaller firms. If you’ve not yet taken a look, I’d encourage you to do so.

It’s gratifying that there is such optimism among smaller firms, though disappointing – if not surprising – that firms that don’t do legal aid work are more optimistic than those that do.

Apparently the smaller the firm, the better it manages. And while I did suspect that fewer younger associates are hankering after partnership, I didn’t think that attitude was as prevalent as it is.

But the two things from the research that cause me most concern are that firms struggle with complying with the regulatory requirements and that stress is such an issue. 

Having owned and run a smaller firm myself, I’m all too aware of the many demands on your time; I didn’t find the regulatory requirements to be a major problem, but it probably helped that I outsourced my cash room responsibilities. That was an investment well worth making.

In the wake of this research, the Law Society is looking at the support it provides to smaller firms to meet their regulatory obligations, including any changes that may arise as the new Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2025 is implemented.

Another issue highlighted by the research was understanding and making use of technology. It’s a hard balance to find in taking time from your billable work to consider things which could make your life easier.

I had a young visitor recently who showed me how to use Microsoft Copilot and I was amazed. It could have written this column, obviously (I promise it didn’t), but my guest also showed me how Copilot can summarise lengthy reports into memorable chunks, which will be incredibly useful for me over the next year.

Speaking of recent events, what else have I been up to? I’ve taken advantage of the short summer lull to settle into the role. June was quite busy with the Law Society’s AGM, the impressive final of the Donald Dewar high school debate tournament and very sadly attending the funeral of our colleague Lauren Fowler. She died far too young and will be missed.

I also chaired my first Council meeting, the agenda of which was a little more strategic than those for the Council meetings I’ve previously attended. For example, we had a very informative presentation on current proposals for criminal justice reform by our new Council member and convener of the Society’s Criminal Law Committee, Stuart Munro.

The highlight for July and again in August was introducing 10 new solicitor advocates to the Court of Session. What an achievement for each of them to pass a rigorous training and assessment process. I felt very honoured to have been able to play a small part in the process.

August has been busier, with our new chief executive, Ben Kemp, taking up post, legal aid meetings, a meeting with the Lord President and starting to tell our members about the changes coming to legal services regulation.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Kevin Lang, who for the past three-and-a-half months stepped up as interim chief executive and kept the ship steady, despite a few bumps along the way. In his interview for the role, Kevin said he had six objectives he wanted to accomplish if he were allowed the opportunity; I am pleased to say that he achieved all six and things are in good shape for Ben to take over.

Things look like they are going to get extremely busy come September and I’m really happy Ben is here to support me through what lies ahead.

Next month the Journal will examine the future of small firms in Scotland in a special series: The Future of Law on the High Street.