As Chancery Lane bigwigs announce new board chair in on-going governance shake-up
The Law Society is to begin recruiting for a new chief executive officer at the beginning of next year, Legal Cheek understands.
The representative body for solicitors has been run by an interim chief exec since Catherine Dixon dramatically resigned in January. Interim boss Paul Tennant will stay on into next summer while the hunt is underway for a permanent replacement, a Law Society spokesman confirmed.
Meanwhile there has been more change at the top echelons. After what the Society describes as a “wide-ranging” recruitment process, its president until July this year, Robert Bourns, was last week appointed to chair a new main board.
Frustration at the slow progress towards setting up this new structure was cited by Dixon in her resignation letter. It is supposed to streamline what she described as a system of “bureaucratic… complex and often overlapping boards” running the show at Chancery Lane.
Law Society president Joe Egan — who hit Legal Cheek headlines last month after it emerged that his law firm was not paying the recommended trainee solicitor minimum wage — said:
“I welcome Robert into the new role. Having worked with him in the office holder team, I am delighted with the appointment. As has already been announced, the new board represents a significant streamlining of existing structures for the professional body for solicitors.”
Egan will be replaced as president by family lawyer Christina Blacklaws next year, with Clifford Chance partner Simon Davis stepping up in 2019.