Since Christmas is a time of gifts, here is a cornucopia. I didn’t go out to buy anything - I have recycled what already exists. And since Christmas is a period of cheer, there is only good news here (no unbearable wars, democratic backsliding or AI threats).
Before you unwrap my armful of boxes, I note that there is a curious gap world-wide between legal professional organisations and their members. Members like to grumble that the professional organisations do nothing for them, while the organisations themselves churn out free guides (among other things) as fast as they can for their members’ use.
I have rediscovered this through work I am undertaking on an EU-funded project to draw up a curriculum in EU law for practising lawyers. We do not propose to reinvent an academic curriculum, which already exists in nearly every European university, but rather to devise one specifically to be used by lawyers in ongoing cases, focused on procedures, lawyer-specific law, and practical guides.
I have been particularly astonished by how many free guides exist on almost every topic, taking lawyers by the hand through complex procedures. Yet hardly any lawyers know about them.
As an example, which is of use to us even post-Brexit, at least for as long as our government permits us to remain part of the European Convention on Human Rights, the Council of Bars and Law Societies (CCBE) has published an updated version of its guide to ‘The European Court of Human Rights - Questions & Answers for Lawyers’.
Its sections on ‘Preparing an application to the court’, and then ‘Submitting an application’ provide clear step-by-step instructions, even for beginners. For instance: ‘The application should be accompanied by copies of the decisions by the domestic courts, documents showing that the four-month time limit has been observed (a document notifying the last decision, for example), and also pleadings and written submissions at first instance, appeal and before the highest court, showing that the convention has been invoked before all the available national courts’. As it takes lawyers through the steps, it also cites the court’s own guides along the way.
The Law Society has produced many of its own free guides, of course. There are, first of all, its pioneering mainstream publications of assistance to nearly every lawyer, for instance on anti-money laundering, generative AI, climate change and data protection.
It also has an ethics hub, with very useful links to information on items like conflicts of interest, social media/online conduct, or in-house practice, and a climate change hub with a similarly wide range of helpful links.
Content on some of these issues is also available from other sites, for instance the CCBE/American Bar Association/International Bar Association (IBA)’s ‘Lawyer’s Guide to Detecting and Preventing Money Laundering’ or the IBA’s ‘International Principles on Social Media Conduct for the Legal Profession’.
But the Law Society’s particular glory is the more than 70 practice notes available on its website, covering nearly every specialised topic you could want. At random, here is some of the content:
Despite this richness at no direct cost, the Law Society has found that solicitors use paid platforms more than its own free information, presumably because the profession is unaware of what is available. Members who do use it consider it trustworthy and accurate. Of course it is - it is drawn up by acknowledged practical experts. (For some of the material, you need to sign up to My Law Society, which is the free membership resource aimed at tailoring material to your needs.)
I feel like one of the magicians from a Christmas film – ‘Mary Poppins’ or the newly released ‘Wonka’. Out of a small container, a hat or a bag or in this case a short article, huge and unbelievable quantities of material are pulled to the amazement of bystanders. The more you dig into trying to find available guides, the more you can produce, most of them unknown to the majority of members.
Yes, this has been an unbelievably challenging year for solicitors, with ongoing and unresolved issues like CILEX regulation, the collapse of Axiom Ince, and the grotesque inadequacy of legal aid pay rates (never mind SLAPPs or lefty lawyer smears).
The best way to survive is to think of the good things – and one of them is the never-ending stream of guides coming out of the Law Society and other legal professional organisations. So I leave this under your Christmas tree, and if you want to escape from the arguments and TV shows, you can creep off and take a look for yourself.
Jonathan Goldsmith is Law Society Council member for EU & International, chair of the Law Society’s Policy & Regulatory Affairs Committee and a member of its board. All views expressed are personal and are not made in his capacity as a Law Society Council member, nor on behalf of the Law Society
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