Voice from the chair #1

Happy new year! You’ve arrived at the website for the newly formed Junior Lawyers' Division of the Law Society of England and Wales (lovingly abbreviated to the ‘JLD’). The JLD is a new start for the representation of junior lawyers – so when better to launch it than the new year?

The JLD takes over representation of the interests of junior lawyers from the previous representative groups – the TSG and the YSG. ‘Junior lawyers’ simply means Law Society enrolled law students, paralegals, trainee solicitors, NQs and solicitors in active practice up to five years PQE. The role of the JLD is simple – to ensure that the voice of its members is heard and to provide pastoral care and support when needed.

There’s a lot for the JLD to cover, but here are the issues we feel are currently burning a hole in the legal horizon:

• LPC regulation and content
• Supervision on training contracts
• Retention of junior lawyers (including work/life balance – whatever that is)

There are many other thorny issues affecting our membership and we haven't forgotten about them – we’ll keep you posted here over the next few weeks. We also really want to hear your views. The JLD needs the opinions of the membership to ensure we are properly representing your views. Whatever you think about the services we should offer and how you can get value out of us, make sure you tell us. Post your thoughts here or e-mail me

It’s not just me who is fighting for your interests. I am supported by a committed team of junior lawyers from varied backgrounds. We have an Executive Committee of eight executive members and three Council members. The executive provides the focus for debates on policy and provides the representative voice of junior lawyers within the Law Society. The Council members sit on the Law Society Council to represent the junior lawyer position. Read profiles of the committee members

We’re running a series of launch events throughout January and we’d be really pleased to see you there. There will also be a local group in your area – this may be a TSG or YSG or JLD group. The truly passionate could keep an eye out for the elections in June/July and join us on the committee.

Finally, I would like to thank you for reading this blog and for your interest! It is an exciting time for us. We have the chance to create a group which is engaging, representative and authoritative. Get involved now and be part of the movement!

Kat

Post your comments here or e-mail me