HISTORY TO THE CONSULTATION

TSG/YSG "MERGER"

Initially, the idea mooted to respond to the changes occurring in the profession was a merger between the TSG and the YSG.

The two groups met and created a proposal to put to both national committee and also to its members generally concerning the idea of a future merger.  This was done through the TSG and YSG websites, through the medium of an electronic survey.

The consultation at this stage was simply to determine whether or not, in principle, our members thought that this was a relevant or appropriate route for us to be taking or to be thinking about.  If the membership had disagreed at this stage, then the plans would be scrapped before a large amount of work had been done on them.

The membership of both groups responded to the preliminary consultation, and determined that this was an idea that they would be interested in looking at in more detail. 

You can view the preliminary CONSULTATION DOCUMENT here.

However, the TSG members were quite reserved.  Their reservation was trifold:

1) more details were needed  before they could commit ;

2) protections has to remain; and

3) how to ensure that the membership received the same or better services than before?

The problems were the differences between the membership of the groups.  The YSG covers qualified solicitors up to 10 years (excluding partners) and the TSG covers those before qualification and NQs.  The issues affecting these disparate groups were completely different - although the delivery methods were broadly the same. 

The problem would be maintaining separate representation and taking advantage of the economies of scale and scope that were identified.  This meant that the major problem would be governance and structure of a combined group.

A NEW SECTION

Therefore, the idea for a straight "merger" with the YSG was considered to be unworkable.  However, there was still felt to be mileage for a form of co-operation between the Groups - but representation could NOT be merged.  This was the TSG standpoint after the initial consultation responses.  The position was that we were happy to continue discussion with the YSG, but we were not happy to merge the representation elements of the Groups.

The next stage was to see if anything could be done to work together, without diluting representation.  At this point, the newly reformed Law Society became involved with the talks.

The Law Society's new remit is to properly represent all of the profession - which includes the TSG Membership.  The current position is that the Law Society achieves its aims of representing the minority elements of the profession through the use of recognised groups (such as the TSG, YSG, GSD and AWS, for example).  It was therefore free to focus on profession-wide issues.  The new remit has forced the Law Society to assess the support and representation it is providing across the board, and determine how better this could be delivered.

Representatives from TLS, TSG and YSG met on 29 April 2006 to discuss, in outline, the future of the Groups.  We had to acknowledge that one of the major drivers for change was the Groups' financial situations and the future of these in the light of the newly reformed Law Society.  Another driver was the representative voice of the Groups.  We needed to assess how strong this was at this time, and how strong it could be if combined.  All of this should only be considered in the light of the benefit to the membership - which is our number one priority.  If the members did not benefit from the new venture, then there would be little reason to go ahead with it. 

At the meeting, the TSG highlighted its major difficulty with the proposed merger - namely the problems surrounding the increasing of the membership pool.  The reservations of the TSG members were communicated to the Working Party.  Merging the groups to create a "super-group" may have the effect of further marginalising TSG members and diluting representation.  It would be difficult to ensure that the interests of these members were properly protected and served.

The proposal that was on the table at this time was the creation of a New Section of the Law Society itself.  The idea of a ‘merger’ per se was no longer considered to be viable, by all concerned.  The Working Party group concentrated on weighing up the pros and cons of such a venture, to determine whether this was something  that the Groups and the Law Society should continue discussions on.

The main advantages of setting up a New Section of the Law Society to represent "junior" solicitors far outweighed the initial questions of "how would this work?".  The advantages include economies of scale and scope - allowing the Section greater access to resources that it is not spending on governance structures (i.e. meetings!).  Also, it is expected that the New Section would be taken far more seriously by the Law Society, who would afford it increased respect.  There is a certain amount of strength in numbers - and when you consider that the combined forces of the TSG and YSG number over 50% of the profession - that's a loud voice.

One particular advantage of the New Section would be the non-dilution of representation.  Representation could be kept separate under this structure.  The New Section provides an administrative "umbrella" for the Groups to come under, allowing them the scope to focus on their own membership. 

Please see a diagram, detailing the outline of the new structure, by following the link below, which should give an indication of how the two structures are different, but how representation can remain separated under them.  Please note that this is in general terms only, as the governance structure has yet to be determined.    CLICK HERE. 

So, this structure removes some of the problems of representing the minority elements of the TSG membership and providing support and services to them.  However, these problems still remain and the governance structure of this new division would need a lot of work before the TSG would commit fully.

It is proposed that this initiative would not have a detrimental effect on the energy and enthusiasm for the local and regional groups and committees and would serve to energise them.

The outcome of the dialogue was that there was a case to set up a new entity within the structure of the Law Society. This new entity would be formed along the lines of a “Junior Law Society” or “New Entrants Division” (basically a representative ‘arm’ of the Law Society). This Division would allow for greater and more effective pastoral support of members, greater resources, higher profile, more effective representation and greater status.

However, it was decided that the Groups did not have the ability to look further into this matter without the authority of their national committees.  Now the Working Party had established that there was scope for continued discussion, what they would need was commitment from the Committees to enter into the new division should the structure and representation required be achievable.

The Groups and the Law Society agreed to look to achieving an agreement in principle between them at the beginning of July 2006. This decision would be subject to full consultation on the structure and governance of the new entity to ensure that the needs of ALL the sections of membership are fully met.

The paper on which the groups were asked to comment on appears here for your information --> JLS PROPOSAL PAPER.

The changes, if implemented, would affect the Groups at national level ONLY.  Local group structures would not be affected.  Local groups would be able to continue to operate in the same way.  They would  also be free to use the name "TSG".  They would not be forced to change their names or co-operate with existing YSG groups, should they not wish to. 

NEXT STEPS

The TSG National Committee decided, by an overwhelming majority, that the TSG should continue discussions with the Law Society and the YSG on the creation of this New Section.

The next step was to secure the Law Society's commitment to the project.

Although Fiona Woolf (the current President of the Law Society) chaired the April working party and is herself committed to the New Section idea, it was necessary for the Corporate Governance Board (“CGB”) of the Law Society to agree to continuing with these discussions. 

A paper was put to the CGB for their comments, and the full text of this is AVAILABLE HERE.

The outcome of the CGB consultation was that they agreed that the Law Society could continue discussions on this, and move to the next stages.

The Working Party formed of representatives from the TSG, YSG and the Law Society met on 14 October 2006 to continue discussions.

Please see the main page for the Current Position.