The Law Society of New South Wales is a professional association which represents over 29,000 solicitors in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The Law Society has statutory powers and regulates the practice of law in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

.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.

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 law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction. Law degrees Argentina In Argentina, ...

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.

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 21 elected members who sit for 3 year terms and one appointed member who sits for 1 year. The Council has 2 country lawyer councillors, 2 suburban lawyer councillors, 2 city lawyer councillors, 2 corporate lawyer councillors, 2 government lawyer councillors, 2 large firm lawyer councillors, 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 ( en, 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. In the United States, the term typically refers to provision of legal services by legal professionals for pe ...

Scheme" in 1992.

References

External links

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