Solicitors reject Law Society split

Solicitors voted overwhelmingly against a proposal to split the Law Society's regulatory and trade union functions.

The proposal, promoted by Anthony Bogan of the breakaway Solicitors' Association, was defeated by 14,199 votes to 8,881. Only 29.8 per cent of the 81,589 solicitors in England and Wales voted. Tony Girling, the society's president, said the proposal had now been defeated three times - in the presidential election, at the annual general meeting and in a ballot of the whole profession. "It is time to draw a line under this divisive and costly argument."