Solicitors in England and Wales have voted overwhelmingly to introduce term limits and constituency reforms for the governing council of their membership body, the Law Society of England and Wales.
At last year’s annual general meeting, held in October, it was decided to conduct all-member ballots covering two issues: maximum term limits of 12 years for council members and to reorganise the constituencies represented by council members including changes to the geographical representation.
“Clearly this may be disappointing news for those council members who have given long and loyal service representing their constituencies who will become ineligible to stand again,”
said Law Society president David Greene.
“Whilst the effect of this decision will be that we will lose their knowledge and experience on council, there are many ways in which individuals can contribute to the work of the Law Society and we hope they will pursue those opportunities. It is important to remember, however, that term limits are commonplace among governing bodies.”
Both resolutions have been approved with 83.3% of the vote for the constituency proposals and 77.2% of the vote for the term limit proposal. 12,207 of the 200,446 of eligible members voted.
On the changes to geographical constituencies, David Greene said:
“These both recognise the importance of geographical links between our members and their council representatives but also strive rightly to make council more representative of the modern diverse profession.”
