Have Your Say: Vote on The Law Society SGM Threshold Proposal

The Law Society has launched a ballot on a proposal to significantly increase the number of solicitors required
to call a Special General Meeting (SGM), raising the threshold from 100 members to
over 1,000.

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Members voted against this proposal at the recent AGM. Despite this, the matter has been put to a full
ballot of the profession. Importantly, The Law Society Council has since withdrawn its own support, raising concerns about
fairness, accountability and the drafting of the proposal.

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Why this matters

SGMs provide an essential route for members to question decisions or raise urgent issues. They are rare, but they play
a vital role in ensuring transparency and accountability within our representative body. Raising the threshold to over
1,000 signatures would make this mechanism significantly harder to access, particularly for small firms, sole practitioners,
in-house teams and specialist groups.

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Surrey Law Society’s position

Surrey Law Society believes the proposal is flawed and risks undermining equal representation across the profession.
We are therefore encouraging our members to vote NO.

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Ballot information

All solicitors should have received an email from UK Engage, the voting scrutineer administering
the ballot, containing their voting link. If you have not received your ballot email, please request it at:
ballotrequest@lawsociety.org.uk.

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Voting deadline

12 noon, Wednesday 17 December

We encourage all members to cast their vote ahead of the deadline to ensure that every part of our profession
retains a fair and equal voice.

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Further information

For those who would like more detail, please refer to the note summarising the Council’s reasons for withdrawing
its support and the key issues with the proposal, which can be viewed here.