Join our Council

We’re celebrating 200 years of supporting solicitors – an important milestone for us and the profession.

But we’re already looking to the future. You could be at the heart of decision making to determine how we’ll support the profession into the future and make sure our members’ views are represented.

There are elections in 34 seats across 15 geographic constituencies, 15 work practice constituencies and one characteristic constituency.

You can stand for election in any constituency you meet the eligibility criteria for – although you can only stand for one constituency per election cycle.

You have until 12pm on Wednesday 14 May to nominate yourself.

Seats up for election

Download the full list of seats up for election in 2025 and eligibility criteria (PDF 201 KB).

Geographic seats

• Bristol
• Cambridgeshire and Peterborough
• Central London (two seats)
• Cheshire
• Derbyshire, East Staffordshire and Nottinghamshire
• Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire
• Leeds
• Lincolnshire
• Manchester
• Shropshire and Herefordshire (two-year term until 2027)
• South
• Suffolk
• Yorkshire and Humberside
• Warwickshire and Worcestershire
• Wiltshire and Gloucestershire (two-year term until 2027)

Work practice seats

• Business and Commercial
• Central Government
• Child Care
• Civil Litigation (non-personal injury)
• Commercial Property
• Criminal Prosecution Services
• Family (one-year term until 2026)
• Housing
• Immigration
• Employment (one-year term until 2026)
• EU and International
• Major Corporate
• Residential Property
• Sole Practitioners
• Personal Injury – Defence

Characteristic seats

• Ethnic Minority Solicitors (three seats)

How to stand for election

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:

• download and complete the nomination form (Word 135 KB)
• 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

For more information, download the: 

• preliminary notice of Council elections 2025 (PDF 266 KB)
• guidance notes for candidates (PDF 135 KB)

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 the diversity monitoring form (Word 106 KB) alongside your nomination for monitoring purposes.

We conduct the elections in accordance with the Law Society bye-laws.

The role of our Council

Our Council helps to shape our strategic direction and the future of the profession by championing the diverse views of solicitors from across England and Wales.

Council members are elected officials who:

• represent the views of their constituents at Council meetings and in discussions with the government and public bodies
• contribute to the direction and formation of our strategies and policy work
• review and debate our business plans and budgets
• engage with our members, local law societies, Sections and special interest groups, to communicate our advocacy work and gather feedback
• keep up to date with our work through policy papers and reports
• approve appointments to Council committees
• approve the appointment of our chief executive

Council meetings take place on average five times a year.

One meeting per year is dedicated to strategic planning, providing Council members with an opportunity to contribute to our strategy and business plans.

Council members serve four-year terms, up to a limit of 12 years of service in total.

Learn more about Council member roles and responsibilities

If you're elected

Induction and 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.

Have your say in our Council elections

Council elections are your opportunity to help decide who should represent you and the issues that matter to you most, at a national level.

Elections take place each year as current Council members’ terms expire.

Council member terms are aligned with the Law Society’s annual general meeting (AGM), which is currently held in October.

Voting for Council elections will open in June 2025.

How to vote

An online ballot will be 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.