Jon Robins looks behind the scenes of the cancelled Law Society conference
Well it wasn’t like there was a shortage of pressing issues to talk about—the double-dip economy, the forces of competition unleashed by the Legal Services Act 2007 (LSA 2007), the move to outcome focused regulation, and maybe even some time to dwell on the brutal LASPO cuts as of next April—and yet still they didn’t come.
A last minute decision to pull the Law Society 2012 conference scheduled to take place in Newport, South Wales last month—to be the first national conference in seven years—suggests a crisis of confidence at Chancery Lane and a flagging enthusiasm from the profession’s grass roots. The Society was expecting at least 300 delegates—mainly corporate lawyers—to hear Liberty’s Shami Chakrabarti, Eddie Ryan, formerly of the Co-op and Will Whitehorn, former president of Virgin Galactic.
The Society was forced to cancel because (in its words) “the geographical location presented something of an obstacle to the intended audience”. “South Wales seemed like a long way away. People weren’t willing to commit,” a spokesperson told me. Maybe, but
