Law Society of England and Wales

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The Law Society of England and Wales (officially The Law Society) is the professional association that represents solicitors for the jurisdiction of England and Wales. It provides services and support to practising and training solicitors, as well as serving as a sounding board for law reform. Members of the Society are often consulted when important issues are being debated in Parliament or by the executive. The Society was formed in 1825.

The Hall of The Law Society is located on Chancery Lane in London. The Society also has a Wales office in Cardiff to focus on matters relating to the Welsh jurisdiction, Welsh Government and the Senedd.

A president is elected annually to serve for one year. The current president is Mark Evans, who serves as the 181st president of the Law Society and the third Welsh person to hold the office.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Law Society has no regulatory or representative role in relation to barristers in England and Wales. The relevant professional body for barristers is the General Council of the Bar.

History

File:Law Society Arms.jpg
The coat of arms of the Law Society.
Headquarters of the Law Society on Chancery Lane, London

The London Law Institution, the predecessor to the Law Society, was founded in 1823 when many London Solicitors came together to raise the reputation of the profession by setting standards and ensuring good practice. 'London' was dropped from the title in 1825 to reflect the fact that the Law Institution had national aspirations.

The Society was founded on 2 June 1825, when a committee of management was appointed. The Society acquired its first royal charter in 1831 as The Society of Attorneys, Solicitors, Proctors and others not being Barristers, practising in the Courts of Law and Equity of the United Kingdom.<ref>Law Society Royal Charters Template:Webarchive</ref> A new Charter in 1845 defined the Society as an independent, private body servicing the affairs of the profession like other professional, literary and scientific bodies. By further Royal Charter in 1903 the name of the Society was changed to simply "The Law Society". The Society first admitted women members in 1922.<ref name="lawsochistory">Law Society Website History Section Template:Webarchive</ref>

In 1949, the Law Society was given the responsibility of legal aid by the Legal Aid and Advice Act 1949.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The function was passed to the Legal Aid Board by Legal Aid Act 1988.

In July 2013, the Association of Women Solicitors (AWS), a national organisation working with and representing women solicitors in the United Kingdom, merged with the Law Society to form its Women Lawyers Division. Although merged, the AWS will operate separately from the Law Society.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Discipline

In 1834, the Society first initiated proceedings against dishonest practitioners. By 1907, the Society possessed a statutory disciplinary committee and was empowered to investigate solicitors' accounts and to issue annual practising certificates. In 1983, the Society established the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors to deal with complaints about solicitors. Complaints regarding the conduct of solicitors are now dealt with by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). However, complaints regarding poor service are the remit of the Legal Ombudsman.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Solicitors Act 1860 enabled the Society to create a three-tier examination system.<ref name="lawsochistory" /> In 1903, the Society established its own Law Society School of Law, which later merged with tutorial firm Gibson and Weldon to become the independent College of Law. By 1922 The Law Society required a compulsory academic year for all clerks.

Regulatory body status

Following the recommendations of the Clementi Review The Law Society split its representative and regulatory functions.

Complaints from the public are handled by the Legal Ombudsman which is a single portal for complaints by the public made against all providers of legal services including the Bar, licensed conveyancers etc., but excluding unqualified will-writers.

The regulatory body for solicitors is the Solicitors Regulation Authority. It is a Board of The Law Society although it regulates and enforces regulation completely independently of the Law Society. The Law Society remains the approved regulator, although following the Legal Services Act 2007 a new body, the Legal Services Board (currently chaired by Dr Helen Phillips<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>) oversees all the approved regulators including the Bar Council, which has also divested its regulatory functions into the Bar Standards Board.

The Law Society of England and Wales is a Designated Professional Body under the Financial Services & Markets Act 2000.

The Hall of The Law Society

Located at 113 Chancery Lane, The Hall of The Law Society is the principal building of the society. Built in 1832, the building is Grade II* listed. The architect was Lewis Vulliamy. An extension in 1902-04 was designed by Charles Holden.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In addition to offices for its staff, the building is used for Law Society conferences and events and parts of the building are available on a private hire basis for events.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Past presidents

Source: "Past Presidents", The Law Society of England and Wales. Retrieved 8 June 2025.

The arms of the Law Society
The arms of the Law Society

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Chairman

Before 1845, the head of the Society's committee was called the Chairman.<ref>Handbook of the Law Society of Great Britain (London: The Law Society of Great Britain, 1905), p. x.</ref> Source: "Past Presidents", The Law Society of England and Wales. Retrieved 8 June 2025.

  • 1844 Edward Foss
  • 1843 Edward Foss
  • 1842 Edward Archer Wilde
  • 1841 Thomas Metcalfe
  • 1840 John Teesdale
  • 1839 Iltid Nicholl
  • 1838 Thomas Adlington
  • 1837 William Tooke, MP
  • 1836 George Frere
  • 1835 George Frere
  • 1835 James William Freshfield, MP
  • 1834 Bryan Holme
  • 1834 William Lowe
  • 1833 Richard White

Standard Conditions of Sale

The "Standard Conditions of Sale" are issued by the Law Society to provide a standard set of rules and expectations for the sale and purchase of residential property in England and Wales. As a contractual instrument they are intended "to create legal rights and legal obligations" on the part of both parties to a transaction.<ref name=5e>Law Society, Standard Conditions of Sale (5th edition – 2018 revision), accessed 20 January 2021</ref> The fifth (current) edition was initially published in 2011,<ref>Coop Legal Services, What are the Standard Conditions of Sale?, published 28 September 2017, accessed 20 January 2021</ref> and was revised in 2018.<ref name=5e /> The majority of residential property sales are subject to these conditions.<ref>DGPS Partnership LLP, Standard Conditions Of Sale (5th Edition) Guide, accessed 21 January 2021</ref>

See also

References

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