Law Society Disciplinary Panel: Proposed increase in number of Members.

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A decision made (02/06/2009) regarding: Law Society Disciplinary Panel: Proposed increase in number of Members.

ecision Reference: MD-C-2009-0042
Decision Summary Title :	Law Society Disciplinary Panel - Appointment of Additional Members		Date of Decision Summary:	12th May 2009
Decision Summary Author:	Kate Power Research and Project Officer		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	n/a
Written Report Title :	Law Society Disciplinary Panel – Request for more Members		Date of Written Report:	12th May 2009
Written Report Author:	Kate Power Research and Project Officer		Written Report : Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Subject: Law Society Disciplinary Panel: proposed increase in number of members.
Decision(s): The Chief Minister agreed – (a) that the number of Law Society Disciplinary Panel Members should be increased from 4 up to a maximum of 7 from the legal profession and from 7 to a maximum of 11 members of the general public; and (b) to request that the Law Draftsman prepare the necessary amendment to the Law Society of Jersey Law 2005 on the basis of a brief to be provided by the Chief Minister’s Department.
Reason(s) for Decision: The Law Society Disciplinary Panel has been in operation for just under two years. In this time, it has become apparent that the current number of members is not sufficient for the Panel to carry out their work to the best of its ability. To deal with the workload, it is deemed necessary to increase the number of Panel Members and therefore ensure an efficient service.
Resource Implications: There are no financial or manpower implications.
Action required: Request that the Law Draftsman prepare the necessary legislation to increase the number of Panel Members as soon as is practicable. Reply to the President of the Law Society to outline the action to be taken.
Signature: Senator T Le Sueur		Position: Senator Terry Le Sueur Chief Minister
Date Signed: June 2nd 2009		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Law Society Disciplinary Panel: Proposed increase in number of Members.

Law Society Disciplinary Panel

Request for more members

Background

The Law Society of Jersey’s Disciplinary Panel was appointed in 2007 under the provisions of Article 18 of the Law Society (Jersey) Law 2005. There are eleven members, four of these from the legal profession and seven members from the general public. Complaints against members of the legal profession are referred to a Disciplinary Committee drawn from members of the Panel. Each Committee is composed of three members, one of whom is a lawyer although the Chairman is always one of the non-legal members.

The Panel Members are unremunerated. Their appointment has to be approved by the States and when the first members were appointed in 2007 it was on the recommendation of the Appointments Commission, in accordance with Article 18 of the Law.

Current Issue

The Committees set up under the 2005 Law have been in action for almost two years, and have dealt with a wide variety of cases. Some of these cases are fairly simple, others can be drawn out and complex legal issues that can be very time consuming.

A request has been put forward from the President of the Law Society dated 3rd February 2009 that the Chief Minister consider increasing the number of members that sit on the panel. The President believes that the amount of time now required of the Panel Members to sit on Disciplinary Committees has exceeded what was originally anticipated. As the 2005 Law introduced a completely new scheme it was not possible at the outset to forecast with any degree of accuracy how much time the work of the Panel would occupy.

The Law Society are of the opinion that the number of Panel members provided for in the 2005 Law is no longer sufficient to enable the Panel to carry out its functions to the best of its ability. Public confidence in the Panel does, in the Society’s view, depend to a considerable extent upon it being able to deal with complaints within a reasonable time frame. The Law Society contends that with the benefit of hindsight it is clear to the Society that the drafting of the 2005 Law would have provided for a larger number of Panel Members, and more flexibility in the number of members appointed.

It should be noted that difficulty in recruiting members with the requisite experience and the facility to give a substantial amount of their time to the work of the Panel may make it impossible to fill an exact quota of members at any given time if the numbers are increased from the present eleven. Legislation, however, which permitted a larger number of members to be appointed would allow some flexibility within the system.

In the Law Society’s view the remedy for the difficulties would be an amendment to the statute to provide that while the membership of the Disciplinary Panel should not be less than eleven, the numbers should be increased from four up to a maximum of seven from the legal profession and from seven to a maximum of eleven members of the general public. The Society believes this amendment could be achieved in an amending Law of one or two paragraphs.

Recommendation

Following consultation with the Attorney General, it is thought that the best action would be for the Chief Minister to refer this matter to the Law Draftsman as being a worth while idea, and to notify the Panel of the decision. The Attorney General would support the proposal.

The Law Draftsman has indicated that the law drafting would be minimal and can be done directly. There are no significant manpower implications for the Law officers Department review of the Legislation.

12 th May 2009