Coulsfield reports civil justice as ripe for review Coulsfield reports ...

editorial
The Society’s call on the Executive to set up an independent complaintshandling
body is a bold move which will need to be backed up with
some straight talking on difficult issues that remain
BITING THE BULLET
Peter Nicholson
A solicitor with over
twenty years’ experience
in legal publishing, Peter
is the editor of the Journal
of the Law Society of
Scotland
www.journalonline.co.uk
All or nothing on complaints
So the Society has taken the plunge.
Having failed to convince the
Executive that it was worth working
on the present (relatively new)
complaints system, in the face of the
tide of opinion favouring an overtly
independent body, the Council has
taken the plunge and called for a
completely new body to be set up.
Despite the volte-face, there is a
certain logic to the position that if
more than just amendment is to
happen, we should go the whole hog.
The “gateway” system, under which an
outside body would decide which
complaints were admissible before
forwarding to the Society for
investigation, still has its supporters,
but would fall short of the
independence test dear to those who
believe that public confidence
demands nothing less.There must be
some risk that it would add to the
time taken to deal with complaints
without silencing the critics of Societyled
investigation.
The announcement resulted in some
unusually positive leader comment in
the press, and will be welcomed by
those within the profession who have
previously supported divesting the
Society of complaints handling on the
view not least that it is a thankless task
of which the profession would be well
shot.Those who have taken the
opposite position and defended the
Society-run system cannot be said to
have been proved wrong, and all
The potential burden... brings the whole
access to justice issue into contention
credit is due to the staff who have
pushed through the improved
performance in the face of rising
numbers of complaints but who now
face an uncertain future; but it was
always going to be an uphill task in the
current climate to preserve an inhouse
system.
It is to be hoped that this declaration
of intent to work with the Executive
(whose own policy choice has still to
be announced) will be met with an
equally constructive response. As was
quickly recognised, some thorny issues
remain – such as disciplinary matters,
public funding and who pays within
the profession.The potential burden
especially on smaller practices brings
the whole access to justice issue into
contention.Truly we have a seamless
web here.
Digital baby’s first year…
It is already over a year since the
Journal’s dedicated website,
wwwjournalonline.co.uk, was launched
by Connect Communications with the
financial support provided by the
Society. From the outset it has been
able to break news more or less
instantly, as most recently with the
announcement on complaints just
discussed. Over the year, technical
adjustments to the site have increased
its ease of use, and made it possible
for individual articles and news items
to feature as hits on a general internet
search. As a result the number of visits
to the site, as reported monthly, has
soared.Yet we know that many
practitioners still do not appreciate
the site’s potential. So on the off
chance that you find yourself with an
idle moment at or near a computer at
some point over the Christmas break,
give it a go – you may be pleasantly
surprised.
…as parent reaches
Significant Age
And finally… with this issue the
Journal completes its 50th volume.
The milestone will be marked with a
little more than this modest
announcement: you will have heard
that the Society’s Annual Conference
on 10 March,“Get Connected”, has a
communication theme in honour of
the anniversary. And development of
the Journal as a topical and
informative organ will continue.
Meantime we must take the
opportunity to thank all those who
have helped the Journal reach its half
century, and especially those who
regularly give of their valuable time to
keep the Journal truly a members’
magazine.To all our readers and
writers, a very happy Christmas and a
successful year in 2006.
The Journal: December 2005 : 5