President perspectives: Carolyn Kirby

During your presidency, what was your biggest highlight?

The highlight for me was attending the American Bar Association’s celebration of Magna Carta, which was held in the portrait gallery of the House of Lords. This room is a place most members of the public don't get to visit.

The event was attended by all the senior politicians, including the speaker of the House of Commons who, at the time, was Betty Boothroyd. She was a great heroine of mine!

This picture gallery is surprisingly small, and we were all seated on little spindly gold chairs. Right at the end of the gallery was the original version of the Hans Holbein portrait of Henry VIII, which is often reproduced.

The portrait itself is enormous – probably about eight feet square. We're all familiar with it from books and on television.

I had to pinch myself thinking: “I'm just a straightforward solicitor from Swansea and here I am, sitting in this place with these extraordinary people and with this extraordinary art around me.”

What was the biggest challenge you and the Law Society faced during the year?

I was president before the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and the legal reforms from 2007 (the Legal Services Act) came into force.

At the time, the Law Society was dealing with three aspects of the profession: representation, regulation and complaints. This made the agenda for Council meetings very challenging – there was a lot to be decided.

We were under significant pressure from the government at the time to separate regulation and complaints, and ensure this was independent.

Deciding on the method of achieving it took several years, but a lot of this was prominent the year that I was president.

Image: Carolyn receiving the inaugural Swansea and District Law Society outstanding achievement award. This marked her retirement from Council in October 2024 after 25 years of service.

What was the biggest success during your year?

For me, it was the progress that we made towards setting up the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC).

We advocated for a more fair and equitable system for choosing judges, and appointing and promoting people.

I had already been appointed a tribunal judge and felt there was a desperate need to get away from the system that existed before.

We wanted everybody to have an equal chance for judicial appointments.

The progress we made during my presidential year was crucial to setting up what is now the JAC.

It's one of the reasons I wanted to remain involved and be on the advisory board of the JAC as a representative of the Law Society.

I was involved when it was set up and now, in this role, I am involved in looking at the way that it works. I've come full circle.

What was the biggest surprise during the year?

I was constantly amazed by the breadth of work that solicitors do. This is just one example, but did you know there is a specialism in law that deals with horses?

During my presidential year I suddenly found myself addressing a meeting of equine lawyers. All I knew about horses was that they've got four legs and a tail.

The other aspect that surprised me was the number of countries that our members work in.

There’s a large proportion of English and Welsh qualified solicitors who work abroad in a huge range of different occupations. I had never been exposed to all of that before.

On a slightly humorous note, presidents get to eat out a lot – at times you feel like you eat for Britain in this job.

What really surprised me was just how much goat's cheese needed eating. It seemed to be the year that goat's cheese was terribly fashionable.

When I’m out to dinner, if the person sitting next to me chooses the goat's cheese salad, I can really smell it. I still absolutely loathe it!

What three words would you use to describe your time as president?

Stimulating, fascinating and exhausting.

Image: Carolyn with four other former presidents of the Law Society: Robert Bourns, Nick Emmerson, Joe Egan and Lubna Shuja.