Michael Clancy awarded IBA Honorary Life Membership

Law Society of Scotland Director of Law Reform, Michael Clancy OBE has been awarded Honorary Life Membership of the International Bar Association, in recognition of his exceptional contribution to the Association’s work for over twenty years.

Joint President of the IBA, Claudio Visco presented Michael with the prestigious award at the IBA Council meeting in Prague on Saturday 23 May.

Michael said, “It is a genuine pleasure to be part of the International Bar Association’s work to bring together legal communities from across the world in a combined effort to uphold the rule of law, access to justice and human rights. So to say that I am delighted to be recognised by friends and colleagues at the Association is an understatement. I look forward to carrying on our important work defending the rule of law in a challenging global environment.”

Mr Visco said, “Michael Clancy has been one of the IBA’s key reference points, representing the Law Society as a Council Member and serving as Chair of the IBA Credentials Committee for several years. In recent years, he has also supported the Association through its constitutional and governance review by successfully chairing the IBA Constitution and Governance Committee.”

Established in 1947, the International Bar Association (IBA), is the world’s leading organisation of international legal practitioners, bar associations, law firms and law societies.  With over 80,000 individual lawyer members and more than 190 bar associations and law societies from over 170 countries, the IBA contributes to global stability and peace through the promotion and protection of the rule of law.

Michael is a solicitor and Notary Public. Michael stepped away from private practice in 1988 to become a Deputy Secretary of the Law Society of Scotland. He is Director of Law Reform at the Society, immediate past Chairman of the International Bar Association Constitution and Governance Committee and Secretary of the United Kingdom and Ireland Notarial Forum. Michael was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Jubilee Birthday Honours List in June 2002. He is a member of the Society of Writers to His Majesty’s Signet and in 2024 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (Scotland’s National Academy).

His contribution to the IBA includes chairing the Credentials Committee and most recently chairing the Constitution and Governance Committee, helping to guide the IBA’s constitution and  governance reform.