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Personal
Injury Solicitors
Further
Notes on The Law Society
and
why it is important that you only instruct a firm of qualified personal
injury solicitors
What
is the Law Society?
Founded in 1825 and constituted by Royal Charter in 1845, the Law Society is
the professional body for solicitors in England and Wales. There is a
similar organisation for Scottish solicitors called The Law Society of
Scotland. The following notes apply to England and Wales only.
The membership
There are about 96,000 solicitors on the Roll. About 80 per cent of
practising solicitors are in private practice, ranging from sole
practitioners to firms with over 800 solicitors. The rest work in central or
local government, the Crown Prosecution Service, commerce and industry, law
centres, the magistrates' court service or as law teachers.
About a third of practising solicitors are women as are over half of all new
admissions to the profession. Their average age is 35, compared with an
average for men of 42. Nearly 5 per cent of practising solicitors come from
ethnic minorities.
What is a solicitor's basic duty?
The Rules of Professional Conduct set out the principles of solicitors'
duties. For example, a solicitor must not do anything that "compromises
or impairs any of the following:
(a) the solicitor's independence or integrity;
(b) a person's freedom to instruct a solicitor of his or her choice;
(c) the solicitor's duty to act in the best interests of the client;
(d) the good repute of the solicitor or the solicitor's profession;
(e) the solicitor's proper standard of work;
(f) the solicitor's duty to the Court."
The Society's headquarters are at 113 Chancery Lane in London with offices
in Redditch and Leamington Spa, the latter housing the Office for the
Supervision of Solicitors (OSS). There are also regional offices in Preston,
Cambridge, Bristol, Cardiff and Wakefield.
And also an office in Brussels to deal with EU developments.
How is the Law Society funded?
The Law Society reported that it's income in 1998 was nearly £56 million.
The sources included practising certificates and other fees, investment
income and interest, and publications such as the Law Society Gazette.
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