The Law Society of Scotland

Especially in terms of its law Scotland is an independent country. The Law Society of Scotland is that body which in practical terms is set up by solicitors for the benefit of solicitors; in furtherance of that benefit for solicitors the Law Society for Scotland placates the public. Thus while Scotland in terms of its law is independent; the Law Society of Scotland is not an independent body for it is run by solicitors for solicitors. Personally I would like to see this institution reformed to enable true public accountability.

This first article is taken from the Law Society of Scotland’s official web site.

The Law Society of Scotland is the governing body for Scottish solicitors. It was established by the Legal Aid & Solicitors (Scotland) Act in 1949. The main aims of the Society are set out in the Solicitors (Scotland) Act 1980. In essence, the Society promotes the interests of the Solicitors profession in Scotland and the interests of the public in relation to the profession.

All practising solicitors in Scotland must be members of the Society and must hold a current Practising Certificate which is issued by the Society.

The Law Society of Scotland is made up of a Council, a series of Committees and a permanent management staff.

Council and Committees
A Council of 51 members governs the Society. Of this number, 43 are elected by constituents or geographic areas they represent and 8 are co-opted from industry, commerce, local government and private practice. The Council meets every month to discuss current legal issues and to ratify the decisions of the Committees of the Society. The Council also elects a President and Vice President for the Society who serve a year's term of office.

Some of the Society's Committees have a regulatory function while others monitor and develop services across a wide range of areas including Professional Practice and Ethics, Legal Education, Training and Continuing Education, Professional Remuneration, Professional Indemnity Insurance, Financial Services, Legal Aid, Property Law, International Relations, Conveyancing, Marketing, Public Relations and Publications.

Management
In addition to the Council, the Society has a permanent staff responsible for the administration and day-to-day running of the Society. Headed by the Chief Executive, the staff look after all the various Committees and progress the various areas of interest to the profession such as law reform, practice development and European affairs. The Society's Brussels office monitors European law and the Society lobbies in Edinburgh, Westminster and Brussels for law reforms to improve Scottish law.

Services for the Public
The Society also provides services for the public. We provide a wide range of easy-to-understand leaflets giving information on a broad range of legal topics. These can be obtained from the Society, from solicitors' office and from general public outlets.

In addition, the Society has developed Dial-a-Law - this is now an internet information service only, which consists of information on over 40 legal topics - click the following link Dial-a-Law.
The Society is also responsible for dealing with complaints made against solicitors and will always seek to do so with impartiality and fairness. We have a dedicated team of Client Relations department whom you can call, write to or email.

What is Scots Law?
Rules and laws govern the way we all live our lives. The Scottish legal system is unique and is respected world-wide for its history and adaptability.

This section gives an insight into the origins and structure of Scots law.

LEGAL PROFESSIONS
The Scottish legal professions are, like their English counterparts, divided into advocates (analogues to English barristers) and solicitors.

THE FACULTY OF ADVOCATES
The Scottish Bar is constituted by the Faculty of Advocates, as part of the College of Justice. It is led by the Dean of Faculty, an elected officer who exercises administrative and disciplinary power over the Faculty members. Advocates have universal rights of audience before courts and tribunals unless excluded by statute.

The Faculty maintains the distinction between senior and junior members of the Bar. Since 1892 a roll of Queen's Counsel ‘learned in the law' has existed in Scotland, to which advocates so qualified may aspire. Until recently they had exclusive rights of audience before the House of Lords, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary.

SOLICITORS
Solicitors constitute the larger of the two professions. Solicitors deal with all manner of legal affairs including litigation, conveyancing, executry and trust work and general advising.

The profession is regulated by statute (currently the Solicitors (Scotland) Act 1980) and is governed by the Council of the Law Society of Scotland, which deals with the admission, professional regulation and discipline of solicitors.

Professional discipline is maintained through a Law Society Client Relations and Complaints Office which investigates complaints of professional misconduct and inadequate professional services.

The Law Society may prosecute solicitors before the independent Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal. The Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman, an independent lay appointee, may investigate complaints regarding the Law Society's handling of a complaint.

The Law Society maintains an unlimited guarantee fund to indemnify clients in the event of dishonesty by solicitors and a compulsory insurance scheme to compensate in cases of professional negligence. The Law Society has no power to adjudicate on complaints of negligence.

There are other non-statutory groups, societies or faculties of solicitors, some of great antiquity including the Society of Writers to HM Signet, a part of the College of Justice, the Royal Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow and the Society of Advocates in Aberdeen.

NOTARIES PUBLIC
Admission as a solicitor is a prerequisite to admission as a notary public. The Scottish notary is a member of a separate profession, as is his or her continental counterpart.

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The second article:
Taken from the Scotsman
Fri 17 Oct 2003

Law Society 'misled ombudsman'

ANDREW DENHOLM
SCOTTISH POLITICAL REPORTER

SCOTLAND’S legal watchdog has accused the Law Society of Scotland of misleading her as she investigated a complaint against the organisation.

Linda Costelloe Baker, the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman, claimed statements made by the society contained "worrying contradictions", The Scotsman has discovered.

She has also highlighted discrepancies in letters sent to her by officials from the society’s client relations office, which deals with complaints.

In a report on the case, Mrs Costelloe Baker writes: "There are worrying contradictions between firm evidence on file and statements made to me as ombudsman.

"The letter to me ... was discourteous in the extreme, inaccurate and, given the more recent account, misleading. I am now doubly concerned by the client relations office letter to me which says no statement was made by the Law Society when clearly one was."

Last night, there were calls for the ombudsman to be given powers to force the Law Society to comply with rulings.

If the society decides the ombudsman’s ruling is wrong, it can simply refuse to comply. The ombudsman then has the power to highlight their refusal in a newspaper advertisement paid for by the Law Society, although the policy of the current ombudsman is to publish her rulings on the internet.

"The ombudsman has raised very serious points about the conduct of the Law Society in relation to this case," said John Swinney, the leader of the SNP.

"If this is the way that everyone gets treated by the legal complaints system, then there is a need for enormous change of practice and attitude. It seems completely wrong that the ombudsman’s recommendations can simply be ignored."

However, last night the Law Society claimed the ombudsman had misinterpreted the situation.

The case centres on a complaint made by one of Mr Swinney’s constituents, whose solicitor failed to pursue an insurance claim.

The Law Society’s discipline tribunal found the solicitor to be guilty of professional misconduct and, as part of its ruling, ordered that publicity be given to the case.

According to the ombudsman, when a local newspaper was informed of the incident, the Law Society claimed the misconduct had taken place "in the late 1980s or early 90s". In fact, the aggrieved party had been represented by the solicitor as late as 1997.

He wrote to both the Law Society and the ombudsman complaining that the body was trying to give the impression that the misconduct "had all been a long time ago".

The ombudsman upheld the complaint that the Law Society had issued an inaccurate statement and had refused to correct it. The society refused to abide by the ruling, maintaining that the correct information had been given to the media.

A spokeswoman said: "The society’s position is that the correct information was given to the newspaper which contacted the society and appropriate action was taken to correct the newspaper’s error.

"The ombudsman seemed to believe that a press release had been given to the media on this issue. There was no written statement or release given."

Ms Costelloe Baker said she could not comment on individual cases, but said she had "concerns" about the way the Law Society handled cases.

Last year, in her annual report, Mrs Costelloe Baker had said that disciplinary procedures were "complex, lengthy and bureaucratic", and that the society rejected too many grievances.

She said it had refused to investigate complaints by 874 people, 100 of whom wrote to the ombudsman to complain.

However, the Law Society has defended its position, stating that Scottish solicitors deal with one million transactions every year, with the society receiving just over 1,200 complaints.

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The third article:
Taken from the Scotsman
Sun 23 Nov 2003

Law watchdog demands powers that bite

IAN JOHNSTON

THE woman charged with protecting the public from crooked and incompetent lawyers has warned she does not have enough power to do her job properly.

Linda Costelloe-Baker, the Scottish legal services ombudsman, says moves to increase her powers over the Law Society of Scotland appear to have been dropped by the Scottish Parliament.

Last month, a commissioner was appointed in England and Wales with the power to impose multimillion-pound fines on the Law Society south of the Border if it failed to handle complaints appropriately.

Before the election in May, members of the Scottish Parliament’s justice committee promised to return to the issue of self-regulation of lawyers.

But Costelloe-Baker said: "It’s gone very quiet. Neither of the two justice committees when they set their work for later this year has taken up the ‘unfinished business’. I am disappointed with that, but there’s a lot for the justice committees to look at.

Scots won’t have the protection given to clients in England

"If Scotland doesn’t take action to modernise, the consumer protections are going to be very different between England and Scotland, and unfair to people here because they won’t have the protection given to solicitors’ clients in England and Wales."

She said of about 2,500 complaints to the Law Society of Scotland in 2002, 870 were ruled to be "not a complaint" and dismissed, even though she suspected the majority actually were genuine complaints.

A further 730 "drifted off" because "people give up", Costelloe-Baker said. "I think it just means people are so fed up with this awful process they cannot bother writing the 50th letter. But what concerns me most is the number of complaints that the Law Society doesn’t investigate. It’s required by law to investigate but quite often it doesn’t. I’d like the power to audit and the power to order them to investigate."

The Law Society made a ruling in 587 cases in 2002, with the rest being resolved between the solicitor and client.The ombudsman can only currently investigate cases where people make a complaint to her office.

Costelloe-Baker added she would like to be able to examine the way all cases were dealt with. "By the time people have wended their way through two years of Law Society investigation, most people are fed up. They don’t complain to the ombudsman," she said. "I would like to be able to go in and have a look at the 80% of cases I don’t see."

Relations between the Law Society and the legal services ombudsman have been at a low ebb lately. Last month there were reports that Costelloe-Baker had accused the Law Society of misleading her during one investigation.

She wrote about "worrying contradictions between firm evidence on file and statements made to me as ombudsman". She said a letter written to her by Law Society officials was "discourteous in the extreme, inaccurate and... misleading".

A spokeswoman for the Law Society said: "The protections offered to the clients of solicitors in Scotland are unrivalled in regulatory terms. The system in England and Wales runs on a very different basis and does not stand up to straight comparison with Scotland."

She said the Law Society was in regular dialogue with the ombudsman’s office and issues such as whether it should have more powers and other matters were discussed on an "on-going basis to see where the system can be improved".

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