Law Society President visits Red Kite Law team

by Robert Lloyd

The Red Kite Law team welcomed the President of the Law Society, Andrew Caplen, to the firm’s Carmarthen office.

Mr Caplen was on a fact-finding tour of Wales and met senior partners at Red Kite Law for a discussion on the challenges facing the legal services industry.

Red Kite Law partner David Sangster said: “We had an excellent meeting with Mr Caplen, who outlined his vision for the Law Society.

“We were also able to highlight our success stories here at Red Kite Law.”

Mr Caplen is a consultant with Heppenstalls, a predominantly private client firm in Hampshire.

He has been a Law Society Council member for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight since 2000 and has a particular interest in access to justice and legal aid issues.

Mr Caplen plans to use his presidential year to highlight the work of the Law Society and the English and Welsh legal profession in three broad areas – Access to justice; Diversity and inclusion and Membership engagement.

Mr Caplen said: “Speaking up for the most vulnerable is what enticed many solicitors to study law and to become lawyers in the first place. Access to justice is about ensuring that nobody is alienated from our legal system: not the homeless, nor the jobless, nor the victims of domestic violence.

“The heart of this debate is not about fees, but about the basic functioning of our democratic society. The Law Society is attempting to persuade the government of the vital nature of this work, through accumulating evidence and case studies, undertaking a programme of research looking at the effects of the civil legal aid changes, and launching an ‘access to justice’ campaign this autumn.”

Mr Caplen added that the Law Society hoped to build on its work in the areas of equality, diversity and inclusion.