Scottish Legal Review: Excellent year for Scottish profession

I knew my years in office with the Society would move quickly. Even so, I can hardly believe that more than five months have now passed since I became President in May this year. However, thinking back across those months and counting all that has been achieved, this passing of time does make sense.

So far, this year has largely been an excellent one for the Scottish legal sector. Private practice firms and in-house workplaces are faring well and prospering. Solicitors at all levels, with whom I regularly speak, continue their vital work helping individual clients, businesses and communities across Scotland and beyond.

Susan Murray with Diane McGiffen and Catherine Smith KC | Jamie Williamson

That’s as it should be. Our legal sector contributes well over a billion pounds to the Scottish economy each year, and it provides more than 20,000 high-value jobs. It’s also a lynchpin for countless other vital sectors of the Scottish economy, including financial services, renewables and bioscience.

Solicitors are proving innovative and eager to adapt and thrive in a changing world. Our contribution to the economy and society is ever widening, while important private client legal services, such as buying and selling homes, and wills and executries, remain as valued as ever.

The evidence points towards an even brighter future. More than 700 legal traineeships have commenced in Scotland in the past year. Until recently that was an unprecedented number, but we’ve now hit that level for four years running, with around 3,000 traineeships registered since the end of 2020.

Each admissions ceremony I attend, to welcome solicitors as new members of the Society, reinforces my confidence in the future of the profession. It also underlines the value and importance of the Society’s work on behalf of existing solicitors and those of tomorrow.

Of course, the fundamental legal principles on which our sector rests will remain as important in the future as they are today. We can never take the rule of law, the independence of the legal profession, and access to justice for granted.

But it has been another year of global and political change. In the UK, we have a new First Minister and Prime Minister, alongside countless election outcomes around the world. We engage with politicians and others whenever we can – for example, we were honoured to be joined at our annual conference last month by the recently appointed Advocate General for Scotland, Baroness Catherine Smith of Cluny KC.

Society staff have worked alongside me and our member representatives in council, to advocate for policies that allow the profession to operate appropriately and benefit the wider public. We’re pleased to see that those efforts have achieved tangible results across a number of important areas.

The Scottish Government’s recent announcement that its proposed pilot scheme for juryless trials in sexual offence cases will not proceed, demonstrates respect for the opinions and advice given on this issue by solicitors working in the criminal justice sector.

We will continue working with MSPs towards further improving this legislation, safe in the knowledge that there is mutual acceptance that anything that increases the risk of miscarriages of justice has no place in our criminal justice system.

We remain similarly hopeful in relation to the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill. We’re currently still waiting to receive government amendments to remove provisions which would have given Scottish ministers powers to intervene directly in legal services regulation.

Solicitors must be able to challenge government and hold it to account on behalf of their clients. That is why it has been so important to remove even the perception of political interference in our profession.

Scotland needs modern regulation that protects the public and ensures that confidence in Scottish solicitors remains high, while also ensuring the sector continues to develop and thrive. We’re optimistic that further work this year and into next will get us there.

Worryingly, access to justice in Scotland is in a failing condition. Our warnings to government, and those of our members, are still not being heeded, and we continue to see solicitors opting out of the legal aid system. I remain hopeful that the scale of this problem and the urgent need for action will be recognised. It is certainly an issue that the Society and its affected members are working on and increasingly taking a stand on.

The Law Society remains ready to work constructively with the Scottish Government to identify and implement the long-term solutions that are urgently required. Every day that goes by without action makes it harder for this essential legal aid system to be saved.

We know that further challenges and opportunities will be coming in 2025. The Law Society will continue working to ensure the solicitor profession continues to drive progress and prosperity across Scotland.