Law Society spotlight: How to get on to Council

Six new Law Society Council members representing junior lawyers (0-6 years’ PQE) are due to take their three-year seats in October, after being elected from 22 candidates. For those who are interested in representing junior solicitors in future, there are two main factors to include in any Council election statement.

1. Outline your priorities

This shows your understanding of the issues junior solicitors face, which lets them judge if and how you will represent their interests. Your statement is as much about the policies you will focus on as your suitability for the role.

Often, your priorities stem from your personal experiences, helping junior solicitors understand that you have not had a ‘golden path’ into law. You know the struggle to access, qualify and progress through the legal profession, and you want to help existing and future talented lawyers.

Moreover, if elected you would only have a three-year term out of a maximum aggregate of 12 years on Council. This time can pass by quickly; it is therefore prudent to be prepared with policies you want to achieve from the outset so that you can hit the ground running.

Talking to existing Council members for junior lawyers can help you get a better sense of what you can realistically do with the time you have. But Council terms are limited in order to get an influx of fresh ideas from new people, so do not worry about being original.

While your background and lived experience can provide vital personal context to help readers understand your motivations in pursuing these priorities, you do need space for the second main factor.

2. Explain what you have done to further these priorities

Your past performance lets junior solicitors judge more easily how active you might be. Moreover, they will be more inclined to vote for someone who already has a proven track record of striving to make a lasting and positive contribution to our profession.

Endeavours that can be directly related to Council work and supporting junior solicitors are key, which usually involve going above and beyond your job as a solicitor. It could be that you are a career changer who served prominently in a similar position in a previous profession. Perhaps, like Reanne Anthony, you were an elected member of a youth parliament in your local borough. Or maybe, like Bethany Walker and Martin Whitehorn, you changed your local Junior Lawyers Division group for the better.

Pertinent examples from your day job can work too. For example, you could be an in-house government lawyer like Fatma Marque Janneh where engaging stakeholders is a frequent part of your job. Alternatively, like Sophia Hanif you may defend solicitors in professional indemnity disputes, regularly dealing with relatable examples of mistakes and their impact on fee-earners and firms.

Of course, while useful for people to understand your day-to-day job, this is only relevant where it is specific to what you may do as a Council member. Similarly, mentioning efforts in a cause other than supporting junior lawyers could be counterproductive within a limited election statement if you don’t explain how it relates to what you would be doing on Council.

In any case, your voters won’t know about your relevant experience and skills unless you tell them, so feel free to expand. You have 1,000 words available for your election statement. But if you are concerned with presenting voters with a great wall of text to navigate, splitting it up with subheadings helps to make your statement more readily accessible.

Icing on the cake

Demonstrating an understanding of The Law Society’s Junior Solicitors Network (JSN) – and the separate national Junior Lawyers Division (JLD), which has local affiliated groups dotted across England and Wales – will demonstrate your familiarity with existing Law Society and grassroots efforts to support junior lawyers. While the work of Council is separate, a candidate who clearly understands these groups will stand out to those junior solicitors in local JLDs who are perhaps most engaged with the Law Society.

As well as perusing the Law Society’s website, another simple way to learn more is to attend junior lawyer events. By attending local JLD, JSN or local law society events, for example, you may identify opportunities to better support aspiring and junior lawyers on the relevant committee, giving you a clear avenue to make a positive impact.

The JSN and national JLD’s work is very relevant to Council – indeed, successful candidate Lauren Basham is a committee member of both the JSN and national JLD. And at the time of writing the JSN committee will soon be inviting applications. While local JLD experience is not necessary, chair Daniel George Peacock, vice-chair Rebekah Sutcliffe and immediate past chair Daria Dybov were all active members of their local JLDs, which stood them in great stead for their roles.

Martin Whitehorn, Sophia Hanif and Bethany Walker are incoming Law Society Council members for Junior Lawyers (0-6 years’ PQE). All views expressed are personal and not made on behalf of the Law Society