Sheila’s penultimate presidential update

Writing to us from the Western Isles, she talks all things member forum events past and forthcoming, the latest on regulating the profession and criminal law developments.

I can scarcely believe this is my second to last column. The time has, perhaps unsurprisingly, sped by. I’ll save next month for the thank yous to so many people who have helped along the way and enriched the past year. It is, however, time for me to review the year as I start a month of interviews and articles about what my time as President has meant, work with our incoming President Susan Murray to hand over the projects we’ve started but not yet completed, and prepare for the excitement of our 75th anniversary dinner in early May, just before I present the presidential medal to Susan. 

Member forum events

But I’m not done yet! I’ve talked repeatedly about my enjoyment of meeting members, right across the country. I’m writing this in the Western Isles, about to meet members in Lewis, and more tomorrow in Inverness, bringing the total to 14 member forum events – with a few still in the diary to take place. You might remember that my first column talked about my love of the Highlands, born of my childhood experiences and my Highland husband, leading to a decision that the first night of my presidency would be spent at a Chamber of Commerce dinner in Inverness. It seems fitting to be back meeting members in the Highlands as my presidency nears its end. I promised then that I’d do my best to ensure that our Law Society was a Society for all of Scotland and I hope you feel that I’ve done that as much as I can. We’ve attended events across the whole country and, post Covid, it’s been great to be able to visit as many towns and cities as is possible. As we start to celebrate 75 years of our Law Society this spring, the pride in our country and in its solicitors remains strong, and our whole country will feature in the themes that our 75th anniversary dinner will showcase. My Aberdonian heritage will also feature but I’ve resisted the suggestion that Aberdeen rowies be served as part of the meal!

The regulation of legal services

Celebrations aside, it will be a busy four weeks or so as my work is far from done. I’ve spoken before about progress with the Regulation of Legal Services Bill. That continues as we work with the Scottish Government on amendments to the Bill that we believe are needed, and the next few weeks will see a huge amount of work done on that both by the staff teams at the Society and by those on Council tasked with achieving the best result possible for our profession. While I will not be president in the last stages of the Bill, Susan will be picking up the baton on behalf of us all and I know will continue to lead the good work done to date.

Criminal Justice 

Good Friday saw the publication of the Stage 1 report from the Scottish Parliament’s Criminal Justice Committee on the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform Bill, which, after the debate, is likely to move shortly to Stage 2. That saw a split in the committee regarding the particularly controversial parts of the Bill, in particular the proposed pilot of ‘juryless trials’. The concerns identified – in particular, the adequacy of the evidence for such a pilot – reflected much of what we have said, and we continue to press for this proposal to be dropped. I anticipate that the next steps for this Bill will feature heavily in my last month.

We’ve also hosted two highly successful roundtables on criminal justice, led by Stuart Munro, Convener of our Criminal Law Committee, involving voices from both sides of the criminal justice system, academics, the judiciary and charities supporting victims and survivors, particularly in cases of serious sexual crime. It was encouraging to see much commonality between the various voices represented and a clear desire to improve experiences of the criminal justice system. Lots of ideas were generated that we can perhaps work on together within the current system, and the commitment to work together gives hope.

And so, to the penultimate additions to my Presidential Playlist:

• Drop the Pilot, Joan Armatrading – a nod there to our criminal defence colleagues and the Society’s position on the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform Bill.
• Super Trouper, ABBA – you can’t have a playlist without ABBA, and I love this one with its reference to Glasgow!

Written by Sheila Webster, Law Society of Scotland President 2023-2024