Law Society of England and Wales

The Law Society of England and Wales (officially The Law Society) is the professional association that represents solicitors for the jurisdiction of England and Wales. It provides services and support to practising and training solicitors, as well as serving as a sounding board for law reform. Members of the Society are often consulted when important issues are being debated in Parliament or by the executive. The Society was formed in 1825.

The Law Society

Formation	2 June 1825; 200 years ago (1825-06-02)
Type	Professional organisation
Headquarters	113 Chancery Lane London, WC2
Region served	England and Wales
President	Mark Evans
Chief Executive	Ian Jeffery
Website	www.lawsociety.org.uk

The Hall of The Law Society is located on Chancery Lane in London. The Society also has a Wales office in Cardiff to focus on matters relating to the Welsh jurisdiction, Welsh Government and the Senedd.

A president is elected annually to serve for one year. The current president is Mark Evans, who serves as the 181st president of the Law Society and the third Welsh person to hold the office.

The Law Society has no regulatory or representative role in relation to barristers in England and Wales. The relevant professional body for barristers is the General Council of the Bar.

History

The London Law Institution, the predecessor to the Law Society, was founded in 1823 when many London Solicitors came together to raise the reputation of the profession by setting standards and ensuring good practice. 'London' was dropped from the title in 1825 to reflect the fact that the Law Institution had national aspirations.

The Society was founded on 2 June 1825, when a committee of management was appointed. The Society acquired its first royal charter in 1831 as The Society of Attorneys, Solicitors, Proctors and others not being Barristers, practising in the Courts of Law and Equity of the United Kingdom. A new Charter in 1845 defined the Society as an independent, private body servicing the affairs of the profession like other professional, literary and scientific bodies. By further Royal Charter in 1903 the name of the Society was changed to simply "The Law Society". The Society first admitted women members in 1922.

In 1949, the Law Society was given the responsibility of legal aid by the Legal Aid and Advice Act 1949. The function was passed to the Legal Aid Board by Legal Aid Act 1988.

In July 2013, the Association of Women Solicitors (AWS), a national organisation working with and representing women solicitors in the United Kingdom, merged with the Law Society to form its Women Lawyers Division. Although merged, the AWS will operate separately from the Law Society.

Discipline

In 1834, the Society first initiated proceedings against dishonest practitioners. By 1907, the Society possessed a statutory disciplinary committee and was empowered to investigate solicitors' accounts and to issue annual practising certificates. In 1983, the Society established the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors to deal with complaints about solicitors. Complaints regarding the conduct of solicitors are now dealt with by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). However, complaints regarding poor service are the remit of the Legal Ombudsman.

Legal education

The Solicitors Act 1860 enabled the Society to create a three-tier examination system. In 1903, the Society established its own Law Society School of Law, which later merged with tutorial firm Gibson and Weldon to become the independent College of Law. By 1922 The Law Society required a compulsory academic year for all clerks.

Regulatory body status

Following the recommendations of the Clementi Review The Law Society split its representative and regulatory functions.

Complaints from the public are handled by the Legal Ombudsman which is a single portal for complaints by the public made against all providers of legal services including the Bar, licensed conveyancers etc., but excluding unqualified will-writers.

The regulatory body for solicitors is the Solicitors Regulation Authority. It is a Board of The Law Society although it regulates and enforces regulation completely independently of the Law Society. The Law Society remains the approved regulator, although following the Legal Services Act 2007 a new body, the Legal Services Board (currently chaired by Dr Helen Phillips) oversees all the approved regulators including the Bar Council, which has also divested its regulatory functions into the Bar Standards Board.

The Law Society of England and Wales is a Designated Professional Body under the Financial Services & Markets Act 2000.

The Hall of The Law Society

Located at 113 Chancery Lane, The Hall of The Law Society is the principal building of the society. Built in 1832, the building is Grade II* listed. The architect was Lewis Vulliamy. An extension in 1902-04 was designed by Charles Holden. In addition to offices for its staff, the building is used for Law Society conferences and events and parts of the building are available on a private hire basis for events.

Past presidents

Source: "Past Presidents", The Law Society of England and Wales. Retrieved 8 June 2025.

2024-25 Richard Atkinson (180th president)
2023-24 Nick Emmerson (179th president)
2022-23 Lubna Shuja (178th president)
2021-22 I. Stephanie Boyce (177th president)
2020–21 David Greene (176th president)
2019–20 Simon Davis (175th president)
2018–19 Christina Blacklaws (174th president)
2017–18 Joe Egan
2016–17 Robert Henry Glanville Bourns, DL
2015–16 Jonathan Robert Saville Smithers
2014–15 Andrew Howard Arthur Caplen
2013–14 Nicholas Peter Fluck
2012–13 Lucy Ann Scott-Moncrieff (later CBE)
2011–12 John Prier Wotton
2010–11 Linda Karen Hadfield Lee
2009–10 Robert Alan Heslett
2008–09 Paul Henry Marsh
2007–08 William Andrew Myers Holroyd (later CBE)
2006–07 Fiona Woolf (later DBE)
2005–06 Kevin Joseph Martin
2004–05 Edward Nally
2003–04 Peter John Williamson
2002–03 Carolyn Kirby (later OBE)
2001–02 David Angus McIntosh
2000–01 Thomas Michael Napier
1999–2000 Robert Sayer
1998–99 Michael Robert Mathews
1997–98 Phillip Sycamore (later CBE)
1996–97 John Anthony Girling
1995–96 Martin John Patrick Mears
1994–95 Richard Charles Elly, FRSA, DL
1993–94 Rodger John Pannone, DL
1992–93 Mark Hebberton Sheldon (later CBE)
1991–92 Philip Thomas Ely (later OBE)
1990–91 John Anthony Holland (later knighted)
1989–90 David Ward
1988–89 Sir Richard Kennedy Harvey Gaskell
1987–88 Sir John Derek Richardson Bradbeer, OBE, TD
1986–87 Sir John Michael Wickerson
1985–86 Sir Colin Alan Bettridge Leslie
1984–85 Sir Arthur Hugh Hoole
1983–84 Sir Christopher Raynor Hewetson
1982–83 Sir William Maxwell Harries Williams
1981–82 Sir Denis Alfred Marshall
1980–81 Sir Jonathan Dennis Clarke
1979–80 Sir John Chalmer Stebbings
1978–79 Sir John Chance Palmer
1977–78 Sir Richard Kenneth Denby
1976–77 Sir David Napley
1975–76 Sir Edmund Naylor Liggins, TD
1974–75 Sir Edward Henry Sibbald Singleton
1973–74 Sir Martin Llewellyn Edwards
1972–73 Sir Desmond Heap
1971–72 Sir William Oscar Carter
1970–71 Sir Godfrey William Rowland Morley, OBE, TD
1969–70 Sir Robert Frederick Payne
1968–69 Sir Henry Edmund Sargant
1967–68 Sir John Renwick, JP
1966–67 Sir Charles Hilary Scott
1965–66 Sir Derek Percy Hilton, MBE
1964–65 Sir Robert John Formby Burrows
1963–64 Sir Ronald Long
1962–63 Sir Henry Brailsford Lawson
1961–62 Sir Arthur John Driver
1960–61 Colonel Sir Denys Theodore Hicks
1959–60 Sir Sydney Charles Thomas Littlewood
1958–59 Sir Leslie Ernest Peppiatt
1957–58 Sir Ian David Yeaman
1956–57 Edwin Herbert, Baron Tangley
1955–56 Sir Walter Charles Norton
1954–55 Frederic Hubert Jessop
1953–54 Sir William Charles Crocker
1952–53 Sir Dingwall Latham Bateson
1951–52 Sir Geoffrey Abdy Collins
1950–51 Sir Leonard Stanistreet Holmes
1949–50 Sir Harold Nevil Smart
1947-48 Sir William Alan Gillett
1946–47 Sir Douglas Thornbury Garrett
1945–46 Sir Hugh Matheson Foster, TD
1944–45 Sir Arthur Croke Morgan
1943–44 Sir Ernest Edward Bird
1942–43 Sir George Stanley Pott
1941–42 The Right Hon. Sir Dennis Henry Herbert, KBE, MP (later Baron Hemingford)
1940–41 Lt-Col. Samuel Tomkins Maynard, TD, JP
1939–40 Randle Fynes Wilson Holme
1938–39 Sir William Waymouth Gibson
1937–38 Sir Francis Edward James Smith
1936–37 Sir Hubert Arthur Dowson
1934–35 Harry Rowsell Blaker
1933–34 Sir Sir Reginald Ward Poole, KCVO
1932–33 Charles Edward Barry
1931–32 Sir Philip Hubert Martineau
1930–31 Sir John Roger Burrow Gregory
1929–30 Walter Henry Foster
1928–29 Sir Robert Mills Welsford
1927–28 Sir Cecil Coward
1926–27 Alfred Henry Coley
1925–26 Sir Herbert Gibson, Bt
1924–25 William H. Norton
1923–24 Sir Robert William Dibdin
1922–23 Sir Arthur Copson Peake
1921–22 J. J. Dumville Botterell
1920–21 Sir Charles Morton
1919–20 William A. Sharpe
1918–19 Sir Richard Pinsent, Bt
1917–18 Samuel Garrett
1916–17 Thomas Eggar
1915–16 Sir Richard Taylor
1914–15 Col. Sir Charles Longmore, KCB
1913–14 Sir Walter Trower
1912–13 Charles L. Samson
1911–12 William John Humfrey
1910–11 Sir Henry Johnson
1909–10 Sir William Winterbotham
1908–09 James Samuel Beale
1907–08 Edmund Kell Blythe
1906–07 Henry Attlee (father of prime minister Clement Attlee)
1905–06 Charles Mylne Barker
1904–05 Thomas Rawle
1903–04 Sir John Gray Hill
1902–03 Sir Albert Rollit
1901–02 Sir Henry Fowler
1900–01 Robert Ellett
1899–1900 Sir Henry Manisty
1898–99 Charles B. Margetts
1897–98 William Godden
1896–97 Joseph Addison
1895–96 John Wreford Budd
1894–95 John Hunter
1893–94 Frederic P. Morrell
1892–93 Richard Pennington
1891–92 William Melmoth Walters
1890–91 Robert Cunliffe
1889–90 Grinham Keen
1888–89 Benjamin G. Lake
1887–88 Henry Markby
1886–87 (Sir) Henry Watson Parker
1885–86 Henry Roscoe
1884–85 Cornelius T. Saunders
1883–84 Ebenezer John Bristow
1882–83 Sir Thomas Paine
1881–82 Charles Claridge Druce
1880–81 John Moxon Clabon
1879–80 Nathaniel Tertius Lawrence^{[citation needed]}
1878—79 Sir John Hollams
1877–78 Edward Frederick Burton
1876–77 Henry Thomas Young
1875—76 George Burrow Gregory, MP
1874–75 Francis Thomas Bircham
1873–74 Frederick Halsey Janson
1872–73 Park Nelson
1871–72 Frederic Ouvry
1870–71 William Ford
1869–70 Edward Lawrance
1868–69 John Henry Bolton
1867–68 Bartle J. L. Frere
1866–67 Alfred Bell
1865–66 William Williams
1864–65 Edward Savage Bailey
1863–64 James Leman
1862–63 William Sharpe
1861–62 Joseph Maynard
1860–61 William Strickland Cookson
1859–60 John Irving Glennie
1858–59 John Young
1857–58 Edward Leigh Pemberton
1856–57 Edward White
1855–56 Keith Barnes
1854–55 John J. J. Sudlow
1853–54 George H. Kinderley
1852–53 John Coverdale
1851–52 John Swarbreck Gregory
1850–51 Richard Harrison
1849–50 Thomas Clarke
1848–49 Benjamin Austen
1847–48 Charles Ranken
1846–47 Edward Rowland Pickering
1845–46 Michael Clayton

Chairman

Before 1845, the head of the Society's committee was called the Chairman. Source: "Past Presidents", The Law Society of England and Wales. Retrieved 8 June 2025.

1844 Edward Foss
1843 Edward Foss
1842 Edward Archer Wilde
1841 Thomas Metcalfe
1840 John Teesdale
1839 Iltid Nicholl
1838 Thomas Adlington
1837 William Tooke, MP
1836 George Frere
1835 George Frere
1835 James William Freshfield, MP
1834 Bryan Holme
1834 William Lowe
1833 Richard White

Standard Conditions of Sale

The "Standard Conditions of Sale" are issued by the Law Society to provide a standard set of rules and expectations for the sale and purchase of residential property in England and Wales. As a contractual instrument they are intended "to create legal rights and legal obligations" on the part of both parties to a transaction. The fifth (current) edition was initially published in 2011, and was revised in 2018. The majority of residential property sales are subject to these conditions.