Join our Council
Council
Council members are elected officials who:- attend Council meetings and take part in forming our strategy and policy
- represent solicitors in discussions with the government and public bodies like the Legal Aid Agency
- review and debate our business plans and budgets
- represent the views of their constituency (geographical or special interest) at Council meetings
- liaise with members of the profession, including local law societies, sections and special interest groups, to explain our activities and report back to the Council
- liaise with external organisations about our work
- keep up to date with our work through policy papers and other documents
- approve appointments to Council committees
- approve the appointment of the chief executive
Council meetings take place on average five times a year and last all day.
One of these meetings is a strategic planning event. It gives Council members the chance to help create our strategy for supporting the profession and the public in the year ahead.
Want to know what it's like to be a Council member?
Read our Council members' stories
Find out what inspired them to stand, the issues they’re proud to have contributed to, and the things they’ve learnt.
Council elections
Council members serve terms of office of four years and can currently stand again when their term of office expires. This is subject to a limit of service of 12 years in aggregate.
Elections take place each year as current Council members’ terms expire.
On average, a quarter of the geographical seats come up each year. The majority of the special interest seats come up together once every four years.
Council member terms are aligned with the Law Society’s annual general meeting (AGM), which is currently held in October.
Have your say
Council helps to drive the strategic direction of the Law Society’s work, oversees changes to policy, and agrees our annual business plan and budget.
This election is your opportunity to help decide who should represent you and your views on the issues that matter to you most.
Election are your opportunity to help decide who should represent you and your views on the issues that matter to you most.
You must be a member of the Law Society to be eligible to nominate yourself for election.
For geographic seats, you must have a work or home address within the constituency you're standing for election in.
For work practice and characteristic seats, you will need to create a My LS account to confirm your work practice and/or characteristics.
If you’d like to apply for a Council role, you’ll need to:
- complete a nomination form
- ask two eligible Law Society members to sign the form as your nominators
- write a candidate statement (up to 1,000 words)
- supply a head-and shoulders-photograph of yourself
We encourage nominations from eligible solicitors from a range of backgrounds, regardless of sex, ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief, or gender.
We ask that you complete a diversity monitoring form alongside your nomination for monitoring purposes.
If you’re elected
Training
We’ll provide a full induction and discuss any other training you feel you need to be fully effective in your role.
You’ll also need to undertake online equality and diversity training within six months of being elected.
Code of Conduct
You’ll need to comply with our Principles of Conduct for Council members. This includes guidance on:
- conflicts of interest
- dignity at work
- member and staff relations
You’ll also be asked to register relevant interests on our published register of Council members’ interests (PDF 480 KB).
An online ballot is held to decide who will represent constituencies with contested seats.
In constituencies with either one or zero confirmed candidates, there will be no vote.
Completing the ballot paper
If you’re eligible to vote, you will receive a ballot by email from UKEngage, our election scrutineer, which is administering the election on our behalf.
You may need to check your junk folders to see if your voting notification has ended up there.
The email will contain a unique two-part pin and link to the voting site.
Once you have accessed the site, you should be able to view the candidate statements. You will also see instructions on how to cast your vote.
You may be eligible to vote in one or more elections depending on the seats being contested.
If you’re not eligible to vote, you will not receive a ballot as there will not be an election you are eligible to participate in.