IT IS no surprise that Alison Atack wants to make finding ways to promote diversity and inclusion one of the key focuses of her year-long tenure as president of the Law Society of Scotland, given her own experiences as a solicitor.
Having started her career at commercial firms Biggart Baillie and McClure Naismith, the private client specialist knew she wanted to continue in practice when she decided to start a family but, with flexible working not on the profession’s agenda at the time, ended up having to start her own firm in order to find the right balance.
That firm eventually became part of Glasgow outfit Kidstons, which in turn was taken over by Lindsays in 2008, returning Ms Atack to the kind of firm she had started at in the process.
Read more: Recruitment is challenge for rural practices, says new Law Society chief
Now, having retired from partnership at Lindsays in order to focus on her work at the Law Society, Ms Atack said she is keen to find ways of helping firms across the profession use flexible-working practices to improve their diversity profiles.
“We have to think about flexibility with working,” she said. “That’s something we have to roll out to get people to be aware of how important it is.
“I’m quite passionate about equality and diversity work and that’s one area that we have to push on.”
While flexible-working patterns are most likely to benefit solicitors with young families - and women in particular - Ms Atack said the Law Society’s recent Profile of the Profession survey was designed to inform a wider-reaching diversity and inclusion framework for the profession.
“There were questions asked in that that are quite searching,” she said, adding that gender pay and social mobility are areas where it is expected action will need to be taken.
Whether she will be able see any actions through to fruition herself seems doubtful, with Ms Atack noting that a year in office is “not a long time to see the end of things”.
“I’m beginning to see the year disappearing quite fast,” she said.
Two big matters that are due to come across her desk during the 12 months are the Scottish Government’s reviews on legal aid and the regulation of legal services, both of which have been rumbling on since her predecessor Graham Matthews was in post.
Read more: Government review rejects pleas to raise legal aid fees
When he took up the presidency last year Mr Matthews, who continues to work alongside Ms Atack and current vice-president John Mulholland on Law Society matters, said he expected the “legal aid thing to run and run”.
Ms Atack agrees. With the Government currently considering recommendations put forward by Carnegie UK Trust chief executive Martyn Evans, who led the legal aid review, it is anticipated that changes to the system could be announced soon.
How they will be received remains to be seen, with Ms Atack admitting that not everything mooted by Mr Evans went down well with the Law Society’s members.
“There were quite a lot of positive points," she said. "The scope of legal aid hasn’t changed, which is a big plus point, and despite there being no increase in rates at the moment, there is a commitment to conduct independent fee reviews, especially for criminal legal aid.”
It was Mr Evans’ refusal to recommend an increase in fee levels that particularly grated with criminal defence lawyers, especially as the rates for some of the work they do have not increased for more than two decades.
Ms Atack admitted that the question of fees is likely to remain an issue regardless of which other parts of Mr Evans’ plan the Government decides to bring forward, particularly as the Law Society has provided evidence of the economic benefits a robust legal aid system provides.
Read more: Review how legal aid fees are set with urgency, lawyers plead
“We’ve conducted research into the social return on investment in legal aid and it shows that legal aid work, for example in the areas of housing or family law, saves the Government money in having to rehouse people,” Ms Atack said. “For every pound spent on legal aid there’s an overall benefit.”
When it comes to the Government’s other review, which is expected to report in the autumn, Ms Atack said that with Brexit dominating the political landscape it is unlikely that any regulatory changes will be mooted until 2020 at the earliest.
In other words, as Mr Matthews found before her, the issue is likely to run and run.
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