We have now been in lockdown more than 100 days and the following is an update on the COVID related work the Law Society has been undertaking on your behalf.
- 100 days in numbers
We have produced an infographic summarising the Law society’s COVID related work and outcomes. Some highlights include:
This work resulted in:
· The MoJ and the SRA agreeing to allow oaths relating to commercial transactions to be sworn via videolink (although appropriate record keeping will help if the oath’s validity is later challenged).
· The Land Registry to accept Mercury signatures, following our feedback on the difficulties of obtaining wet signatures in the current circumstances.
· The majority of trainees and students being able to still sit their exams, despite the SRA’s initial intention to suspend these.
The full infographic with more metrics and outcomes is here: https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/topics/coronavirus/100-days-in-lockdown
2. Return, Restart and Recovery campaign
We launched a new campaign on Return, Restart and Recovery:
- Return: focusing on supporting law firms and organisations to re-open their doors safely and business support measures to address the courts backlog which do not compromise on the quality of justice.
Restart: focusing on steps the government can take to help solicitors in revitalising key markets, such as:
- bespoke support for the civil and criminal legal aid sectors
- changes to the apprenticeship levy to promote job creation and training, and
- targeted tax incentives to support employment and stimulate activity in key markets
Recovery: focusing on the wider role legal services will play in the country’s recovery from coronavirus, both in economic terms and in social ones. This means:
- continuing to promote England and Wales internationally as a global legal centre
- investing in adoption of new technologies in the legal sector, and
- ensuring access to justice for all to help ensure our communities emerge from the crisis more resilient and more supported than before.
We have made a submission to the Treasury with our key economic policy asks (including tax), ahead of the Chancellor’s July statement: https://beta.lawsociety.org.uk/campaigns/return-restart-and-recovery/submission-to-the-treasury-return-restart-recovery
3. Support package for law firms and individual solicitors
As part of our new RRR campaign we have produced a support package for individual solicitors that are going through redundancy (or facing uncertainty due to end of furlough).
We have also published new resources for law firms to adapt to new ways of working as lockdown eases. This includes resources for firms that might be considering becoming fully virtual or dispersed, employment law guidance if changing their business structures and how to make the most of their LawTech systems and operations.
Paul Tennant
Chief Executive
The Law Society