Legal Village

The year of Brown, 'canoe man' and the Legal Services Act

Posted 20/12/2007 by Andrew Holroyd

Aside from the obligatory repeats of the Great Escape, Zulu and a Bond classic or two, the Christmas break will no doubt feature numerous reviews of the year.

The last 12 months will be remembered for many things. It was the Blair said 'goodbye' and Brown discovered the whims of public opinion; the year a group of British sailors saw more of Iran than they had anticipated. Northern Rock was flooded with customers wanting to remove their money as panic spread. Large parts of the country were under water for weeks. And then there was the canoe man – Cleveland’s answer to Reginald Perrin.

Facebook has entered the nation’s lexicon. Smoking will now not only damage your heart, but also give you a cold. And the new Wembley stadium has inspired the England football team to new heights… or depths, anyway.

For the legal world, this has undoubtedly been the year of the Legal Services Act – a seminal piece of legislation that will usher in new opportunities and change the way consumers view us and how we view them.

The Act was also the Law Society at its very best. The first draft of the Bill threatened everything from our independence to our economic wellbeing. Today I can meet Bar leaders from any jurisdiction in the world and say: "Here is a piece of legislation that is not only good for consumers and the public, but is good for the profession."

As with any lobbying, much of this work tends to go unseen behind the scenes but I’ve been delighted that we’ve received support and recognition from every part of the profession.

Governments being what they are, ours could not be persuaded on everything and 2007 saw the launch, then the delay, followed by the semi-launch… and eventually, earlier this month, the full roll-out, of HIPs. Solicitors may not have advocated them, but we’re already market leaders in providing them, which underlines just how much our members can evolve and adapt to change.

The most depressing chapter of the year was undoubtedly the Legal Services Commission’s persistent attempt to steam-roll through changes to the legal aid system. I hope their humiliating defeat in the High Court earlier this month over their attempts to unilaterally amend the terms of the unified contract will give pause for thought.

For the Law Society, 2007 has been an exciting year. Lexcel is going from strength to strength; we launched the Jurisdiction of Choice campaign with the support of Jack Straw and some of our best firms; our quality of life debate generated debates about being a good employer; and we have two fantastic new divisions – the Junior Lawyers' and International divisions.

2008 promises much, much more and I’ll set out my thoughts and predictions early in the new year. Merry Christmas from everyone at the Law Society.