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Chair's Blog - May 2012

After the success of the Weekend School at Warwick it was back to the day job for most of us and the prospect of an Easter break with a hosepipe ban for some!

At the Weekend School, and via Branch Secretaries, a consultation questionnaire was issued asking for views on the two suggested names for the proposed new organisation with ACSeS and the positioning of Branch boundaries. As far as the name of the new organisation was concerned the views were split equally between Lawyers in Local Government [LLG] and the Local Government Legal Association [LGLA]. The responses as regards the Branch boundaries were mixed. There will be a further electronic survey sent out to all individual members of SLG and ACSeS over the next month so watch out for it and make sure you have your say on the formation of the new organisation. Needless to say the current flexibility will remain and wherever the Branch boundaries will eventually lie they will not prevent members from attending events at other branches that are more conveniently located should they wish to do so.

April saw the closure of the Solicitors Regulation Authority consultation on changes to the its Practice Framework Rules; the consultation closed on 23 April but did not address the pressing issue of the ability of solicitors working in local government to provide legal services to other public bodies where they are currently prevented from doing so because of Rule 4.15. The SRA have indicated that there would be a wider review later in the year focussing on in house solicitors. Fortuitously I was invited to a SRA symposium on the Scope and Structure of Legal Services Regulation, which provided me with an opportunity to highlight the issue directly with both the Chief Executive and the Chair of the SRA. So watch this space!

Many of you will have the joy of the local elections this week – I hope your elections will occur without any mishaps and you can look forward to the May Day Bank Holiday

Best wishes

Bev Cullen
Chair
Solicitors in Local Government
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