Speech given by Michael Samuel to the Rotary Club of Glasgow on 1st. April 2008 regarding the work of The Royal Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow and issues facing the legal profession in Scotland today.
[/summary] [content]Last year, when Dean of the Royal Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow to give its full title, I was honoured and surprised while chatting with Brian Evans at a legal event, he asked if I would speak to Glasgow Rotary about the history, and work of the Royal Faculty, during his presidential year. I was delighted to accept. Firstly, as Dean I was of course passionate about all matters concerning the Royal Faculty. Not enough people know about its history, its place in this city of Glasgow, and even its position in the legal community. Secondly, being asked to speak before a distinguished audience is not an opportunity which often arises. I should caution you before I speak about the subject matter, that I have a unique and distinguished record as a public speaker. People always tell me that I speak well, but no one has ever asked me back to speak for a second time at any event. Perhaps you are about to find out why – hold on!
I would like to deal with my talk in two parts – (Firstly) a short history of the Royal Faculty of Procurators and (Secondly) my views on its role today, and then some reflections following from my term of office as Dean.
The Royal Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow (then known as the Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow) was recognised as a Corporate Body by Royal Charter granted by King George III on 6th June 1796. It recognised that “for centuries past the members of the Commissary Courts of Glasgow and of Hamilton and Campsie have been, and are now united into a Society called the Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow”. The history of the legal profession in Glasgow can be traced back to the mid-twelfth century. The Faculty as such was not formally organised until the seventeenth century. The first indication of the process of incorporation and creation of a specific identity was in 1668. In these days the Faculty was a society for court practitioners who enjoyed, if that’s the correct word, exclusive right to appear in the Local Courts. Part of the reason of granting the Charter was “to give all proper encouragement to so useful and charitable an institution”. So you see, lawyers, were not all bad even in these days, especially if they were members of the Faculty.
Faculty meetings have been presided over by an elected Dean since the election of the First Dean, John Wardrop in 1748. The office of Dean still exists today. The exclusive right to practice in the courts lasted until the passing of the Law Agents (Scotland) Act 1873. By that Act, Parliament abolished the exclusive privileges of the Legal Societies in Scotland. It sought to widen the recruitment and training of Law Agents. As a kind of quid pro quo, however, a further Royal Charter confirming the privileges of the Faculty was granted in 1897. In these days the Faculty had power to fix fees for all legal matters including conveyancing, and was the patron of, and allowed to nominate the Professor of Conveyancing at Glasgow University, a right that was only brought to an end in 1993.
Membership of the Faculty has increased steadily from these early days. Early records show that in 1560, 13 Notaries were listed as being granted the right to practice in Glasgow Courts. By 1668 there were 28, in 1796 – 70, in 1896 – 300, in 1950 – 500 members and today I can tell you that there are some 212 member firms of the Royal Faculty representing some 1400 lawyers. That’s what happens when our legislators feel the need to pass so many new laws. Apparently, it's all designed to keep us in touch with the modernisation of our society. I sometimes wonder what it’s all about, and I doubt whether these changes make Scotland a better place in which to live for its citizens. Interestingly enough, in these early days Faculty members comprised the sons of merchants, other lawyers and farmers, as well as many who were sons of Ministers of the Church. That does not seem so different from the membership criteria of Rotary – where I note that members must hold or be retired from “a professional, proprietary, executive or managerial position”. However, I see that women were not allowed in Rotary until 1987 in the USA, and elsewhere in 1989. Miss Muriel Isabella Jeffrey joined as the first female member of the Faculty in 1924. We have not elected a Lady Dean as yet, but I’m sure that day is not far off.
The lawyers of Glasgow and members of the Faculty have always contributed to the life and public work of the City. They assisted the merchant and craft guilds in the working of their money and purchase of land. They contributed to worthy projects to highlight their importance. Causes such as the building of the University in the High Street, the building of the Royal Infirmary, and the raising of funds for a regiment to fight in the American Revolution were examples. It wasn’t always successful. In 1696 each member subscribed £100 to the Ill Fated Darien Expedition.
The prominence of the Faculty continued until the reorganisation of the legal profession in the 20th Century. The Solicitors (Scotland) Acts of 1933 and 1949 set up the Law Society of Scotland. All practising solicitors in Scotland must be members. The Society governs the profession as a whole, and that effectively removed the power of the Faculty. Whilst it removed its power it did not, I trust, remove its influence on the profession and community. I will explain that shortly.
The grant of the title “Royal” to the Faculty by George VI in 1950 was thought a fitting recognition of “its long and honourable history” and the role it had played in the life of Glasgow and the administration of justice in the city.
– The Role of the Royal Faculty today
The issues facing the Royal Faculty today are two fold.
1. To continue to be relevant for and therefore retain its membership.
2. To remain financially secure.
Both issues are dependent on each other. The Royal Faculty since 1848 has been located in a magnificent building in Nelson Mandela Square. It’s an old building which requires constant upkeep and maintenance. To survive and prosper, the Royal Faculty needs to retain its large membership .To do that it requires to offer services to their members that they need, that are relevant, and that they can’t find elsewhere. Only that will convince the members to remain as part of the Royal Faculty. Needless to say that task never gets easier. It doesn’t take much to imagine that in this modern computer age one has to keep ahead of the competitors and run your business as efficiently as possible, and hopefully profitably. Sentiment and history don’t have much place in today’s commercial world. The Royal Faculty is no exception to this rule.
How do we achieve this?
(First) Fundamentally and most important is the legal library. It is the largest law library in the West of Scotland, with a branch within Glasgow Sheriff Court. Access to the library is available to members. It boasts the widest range of text books, journals, and case reports, some of which are available on line as well. It is staffed by a full time librarian, assisted by part time staff and opens from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m. weekdays, with weekend opening. If any of you would like to visit our building, just knock on the door and I am sure somebody will let you in and show you around. Just say I said it was all right. The Royal Faculty hall is one of these buildings that you’ve seen but you don’t what it is.
(Second) We arrange and provide Education for our members by way of Continuing Professional Development seminars and lectures open to members and non members alike. These are relevant to the legal issues and developments of the day. The programme that is offered is comprehensive and happily well attended.
(Third) We offer an auditing service for both the assessment of fees for Trust and executry work, commercial leases, corporate and general work and now there is a Court Auditing Service run along similar lines.
(Fourth) The Legal Vacancy Service allows members to advertise on the Royal Faculty’s website for staff at very reasonable rates.
(Fifth) The Royal Faculty administers Charitable Funds both for less fortunate members and those associated with the legal profession. Another fund also provides prizes for Law Students at the three Universities in Glasgow, all of which have Law Schools.
We communicate with our members by way of email, mail and all details can be found on the excellent Royal Faculty website. If you are at all interested please have a look.
Equally as important as these practical services is the resource to provide a forum for solicitors in Glasgow and the West of Scotland to meet and discuss the issues and challenges facing the legal profession today. I have always believed that the Royal Faculty should provide leadership where possible. The make up of the membership is diverse and ranges from one man firms to large commercial practices, from criminal and legal aid practitioners to corporate and commercial practitioners. Their interests clearly differ, but the Royal Faculty has to find a way whenever possible to provide a forum for all points of view. That is not easy. The main issues today that we face are threefold:-
a) In October the new Statutory Legal Complaints Commission starts work. It has been set up by the Scottish Parliament to deal with service complaints against lawyers with powers to fine up to £20,000. This is an independent Commission. For the last 50 years the Law Society has dealt with such complaints, so the change is fundamental. I rather suspect that we will have to deal with what I would call since last week only ! ‘The Terminal Five effect’ until things settle down, if that ever happens. The £20,000 is a fine - compensation and negligence claims will exist over and above that. I’ll say no more as that discussion is a topic all of its own.
b) Alternative Business Structures. Simply, this is what you may have read as Tesco Law. The right of non lawyers to own legal firms. Think about the implications for justice, independence and the like. Again, I won’t say more as this is a topic of its own.
c) The Lord Gill Review on the Courts. The implications and effect on public and profession of this comprehensive review on the whole workings of our court system. Everything is up for change. Again it’s a topic of its own.
These are the important matters to consider and debate. Never mind the introduction of standard missives for house purchase, and home reports, single surveys, energy reports for houses and the like – and that’s only for this year 2008. What will be next?
So you see, there are plenty of major issues that affect public and profession alike and no doubt more will arise before these have been finalised. The Royal Faculty will always endeavour to be prominent in the consultation process for the benefit of its members. By doing so and raising its profile, I am confident that it will remain relevant.
II – My Experiences as Dean
It was a great honour to be elected Dean. The surprising protocol of election of Dean meant that I was chosen and elected never having been a member of the Council before. I suppose it’s like a lifetime Oscar. You are chosen by your peers but there the difference ends. You are Dean for three years and serve on the Council for six after that. There are plenty of meetings and other matters to keep you busy. My term of office ended last June, so I am still on the Council. Thankfully, we are in the midst of altering the rules and bylaws, so that it is unlikely that a Dean will be elected as I was in the future.
I enjoyed my term of office. There was much to do, but like Rotary members, everyone, Council members and Faculty members were “nice people” and supportive of what I tried to do. It took me a year to understand the workings of and issues facing the Royal Faculty, and the remaining two years to carry out my programme. My aim always was to leave secure finances, and the programme was tailored to meet that objective. My main fear was that one day I would receive a call to tell me that a large crack had appeared on the ceiling of the building costing thousands of pounds to repair, money we didn’t have. Luckily, that didn’t happen, but I suppose that even if it did, we would have met the challenge.
I enjoyed meeting new people, chairing the meetings, sitting at top tables and generally at least for a while enjoying a status beyond my expectations. I enjoyed the work of the Faculty Charity Committees. In particular the Royal Faculty was involved in one charity known as “The Baillies Institution” which met four times per year and distributed funds to purchase books for the Universities and the Mitchell Library. I chaired that under the wonderful title, not of Chairman or Dean, but “Preceptor”. Nobody else here I suspect has every been called that or even heard of the title. The Treasurer is known as the Chamberlain and during my term that position was held by Douglas McKerral, known to many of you I am sure, and who sadly recently passed away.
The highlight was the annual Christmas lunch hosted by and at the Mitchell Library. Valuable books and exhibits, not on public display, were brought out so that we could see and touch them, albeit with white gloves. One book, I forget the name, about birds, was valued at £1.3 million.
I hope that you have enjoyed my short talk about the Royal Faculty and found it informative. I very much enjoyed meeting you and giving some insight into the history and workings of the Royal Faculty.