Lawyers query McLay proposal

Press, 14 September 1983, Page 26

Lawyers query McLay proposal

PA Wellington Some leading lawyers are puzzled by the proposal by the Minister of Justice, Mr McLay, to make Law Society membership voluntary. They say it is an about-face by the Government. Mr McLay said last week that the Government, in line with moves towards voluntary union membership, wanted the Law Society and other professional groups to end compulsory membership. The society’s acting president, Mr Richard Collins, said that he and the society’s vice-presidents were puzzled that the proposal was made only five months after the new Law Practitioners’ Act had come into force. The bill was given a thorough airing in Parliament and by the Statutes Revision Committee, but none of the many submissions to the committee suggested voluntary membership of the Law Society. Mr Collins said that when the bill went into the House,

Mr McLay said it would “provide the Law Society with a solid legislative foundation upon which to continue its task of taking the practice of law into the latter part of the twentieth century.”

Mr Collins said: “The Minister’s statement of last week seems to be a complete reversal of direction related more to the concept of voluntary unionism than to effective restructuring of the Law Society.” Mr McLay also said last week that making professional associations voluntary was “a view I have always held and publicly expressed in the past.”

Mr Collins said that he could not see the need for such early reappraisal of the society’s structure, particularly if it was likely to lead to an expensive new quango being created. The society has not yet received any letter from the Minister about his plans for voluntary membership of the society. Mr McLay said last week he would be writing to the society.