Lord Chancellor meeting On Monday 20 May, a further 25 practitioners went to the House of Commons to meet Chris Grayling to talk about the government’s proposals for price-competitive tendering (PCT). While it is clear that Grayling is wedded to a form of PCT, there does seem to be a slight shift in attitude towards…

Dear Colleague I write to urge you to take part in the forth-coming election of Council members to the Law Society Council and please vote for me. I was admitted in 1995 and have been a member of Council since 2005. I lobbied for BSN obtaining recognised group status whilst a member of the Law…

The European Judicial Training Network, EJTN provides training programmes with a European dimension delivered in the form of study visits and country exchanges, the English language exchange taking place in Romania. Last summer I attended a 2 day study visit at the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg. Also taking part was…

The Ethnic Minorities constituency is a non-geographical constituency contested by 7 candidates in this election. The BSN Board urges you to vote for the current BSN Chair,Nwabueze Nwokolo. She is one of the incumbent council members and has worked tirelessly across the country to ensure that issues affecting BSN members are heard by the Law…

Week beginning: 7 May Meetings at the Ministry of Justice We had two important meetings with the Ministry of Justice this week. The first was my regular biannual catch-up with the secretary of state. Given recent events, we focused entirely on legal aid reform. I made it clear to the minister that the Law Society…

Law Society Ethnic Minority Council Member Elections 2013 BSN supports Nwabueze Nwokolo for re-election Contested elections are being held for the Law Society Ethnic Minority Council Member. The BSN Board urges you to vote for the current BSN Chair, Nwabueze Nwokolo, in the election. She is one of the incumbent Ethnic Minority members and has worked…

25 April 2013 Society secures concessions on shares-for-rights scheme The Law Society has helped to secure major concessions on the government’s ‘shares-for-rights’ scheme, which allows employers to offer company shares to workers in exchange for them giving up basic employment rights. Read more about the concessions Read our press release on this issue Land Registry…

PCT proposals: Law Society statement We think that government plans to introduce price-competitive tendering (PCT) for criminal legal aid are unworkable. We do not rule out more serious action later on but, at this stage, we believe that it is in the interests of our members and of the criminal justice system to engage with…

Week beginning: 8 April Shaping alternatives to price competition for legal aid We have now had the chance to consider in-depth the competitive tendering proposals the government published last Tuesday. The scale of the cuts proposed is shocking and, in our view, the proposal is unworkable. Our key concerns are the unrealistic timetable, the freedom…