Great interview with Desmond Hudson about the special general meeting. Here is what he does not quite get. Most legal aid solicitors do not care about the reputation of the Law Society or continued reputation of the Society in relation to ongoing issues in other areas of legal practice.
What most do not get is why the Society is so chummy with Grayling. Why the Society helped him out of a hole. Why the Society appears to want to put ‘public interest’ ahead of the interests of solicitors. Why the Society, through its committees, continues to want to help the government draft legislation when it could suspend all committees. And why the Society felt the need to go further than pointing out defects in the Ministry of Justice proposals.
The war has been lost because the Society cannot help but rush to the MoJ for coffee, biscuits and a good chat – when saying ‘no’ and explaining why, in written submissions, discussed with the profession, is all that is being asked for.
The president and Desmond Hudson appear out of touch.
If there is a vote of no confidence, maybe we shall end up better represented. Maybe we will not. But how we are represented at present is far removed from what most legal aid solicitors want.
One might be able to understand the concern for the fragility of the legal aid sector expressed by the MoJ and the Law Society, but current Society proposals appear to most solicitors to offer no comfort.
Michael Robinson, Emmersons Solicitors, Newcastle upon Tyne
