The Law Society of New South Wales is a professional association which represents over 42,000 solicitors in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The Law Society has

statutory power A statute is a law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten law (also known as common law) in that they are the expressed wil ...

s and regulates the practice of law in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

.http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/psc/ll_psc.nsf/vwFiles/Scheme_LawSociety_Summary_nsw_20062011.pdf/$file/Scheme_LawSociety_Summary_nsw_20062011.pdf retrieved 2010-10-27 The Law Society of NSW encourages debate and actively drives law reform issues through policy submissions and open dialogue with governments, parliamentary bodies, the courts and the New South Wales Department of Justice. It ensures the general public has appropriate access to justice and can be easily connected to members of the profession when they require legal advice. Along with the Office of the Legal Services Commissioner, the Law Society sets and enforces professional standards, licenses solicitors to practise, investigates complaints and administers discipline to ensure both the community and the profession are properly served by ethical and responsible solicitors. Arms of the Law Society of New South Wales

Arms of the Law Society of New South Wales

History

The Law Society was informally started in 1842. In 1884, the society was formalized as "The Incorporated Law Institute of New South Wales", and had its first annual meeting the following year. In 1960, the institute was renamed to "The Law Society of New South Wales". In 1963, the Society started publishing ''The Law Society Journal''. The society also established the

College of Law A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary school ...

in 1973, the ''Legal Practitioners Act 1987'' (NSW), Law Industry Superannuation Trust (LIST) and LawCare in 1989, and the Office of the Legal Services Commissioner in 1992. Vis-a-vis the Office of the Legal Services Commissioner (OLSC), alternatively, according to a 1994 leaflet from the OLSC, the OLSC was set up by the NSW government not the Law Society, and in July 1994 not 1992, by way of an amendment to the Legal Profession Act 1987, in particular Part 10. The 1987 Act was repealed in 2005 and replaced with the Legal Profession Act 2004 - in particular see Part 7.3. Legal Services Commissioner 1994 Leaflet side b

Legal Services Commissioner 1994 Leaflet side b

List of presidents

Structure and organisation

The Law Society is governed by an internal Council, the ''Legal Profession Act 2004'' (NSW) and the ''Corporations Act 2001'' (Cth). The Council meets monthly and has 15 elected members who sit for 3 year terms and one appointed member who sits for 1 year. The Council has 1 country lawyer councillor, 1 suburban lawyer councillor, 1 city lawyer councillor, 1 corporate lawyer councillor, 1 government lawyer councillor, 1 large firm lawyer councillor, 1 NSW Young Lawyers councillor (appointed), and 8 general councillors. Law Society Councillors sit on the boards of LawCover (legal insurer), the NSW Legal Practitioners Fidelity Fund, the Legal Profession Admissions Board, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (among others). The Law Society has 23 committees devoted to different aspects of law.

Pro-bono work

The society started a voluntary "

Pro Bono ( English: 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. The term traditionally referred to provision of legal services by legal professionals for people who a ...

Scheme" in 1992.

Journal

''The Law Society Journal'' is a

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the te ...

organization owned by the society. Published since 1963, the journal is funded by mandatory membership fees paid to the society by New South Wales lawyers. ''The Law Society Journal'' is published quarterly and has an audited distribution of 26,746 as at September 2023.Journal, The Law Society, December 2024 LSJ Media page 143 Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/the-law-society-journal-december-2024-page-143-internet-archive

References

External links

*
Law Society Journal
{{Authority control Legal organisations based in Australia

Organizations established in 1884 1884 establishments in Australia