The Law Society council has elected Andrew Caplen as the next deputy vice president of the Society. Caplen, a criminal and commercial property consultant at Southampton firm Abels, will take up the role in July and become president in 2014.

He has been a council member since 2000, chairs the Society's management board and co-chairs its business oversight board.

As chair of the Society’s access to justice committee, Caplen co-wrote and co-edited its Access to Justice Review which underpinned the recent ‘Sound Off for Justice’ campaign, to improve the government’s planned legal aid reforms.

Caplen said: ‘It is a tremendous honour and a weighty responsibility to have been chosen by my peers to serve in this way.

‘We are in an era of change for legal services, with increasing competition, new models of business ownership and reduced public funding for legal aid. Working with the council and with management and staff, I aim to ensure that the Law Society continues to support its members as they overcome the challenges and make the most of opportunities which arise from these changes.’

The other candidates were Ian Kelsey; Derek French; David Taylor; and Sundeep Bhatia.

Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson congratulated all of the ‘strong’ candidates and said: ‘Andrew has already made a considerable contribution to the Society, through over a decade on the council and involvement in some of its most important of boards and committees. The management team and staff look forward to continuing to work with him in his new capacity.’