Our Purpose & Structure
The Law Council for Wales has been established to promote legal education and training and awareness in Welsh Law, the use of legal technology and innovation, and support the economic development and sustainability of the legal sector in Wales.
Its establishment was a recommendation from the independent Commission of Justice in Wales, chaired by Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, the former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, which delivered a landmark report in 2019 setting out a vision for justice in Wales.
The Commission on Justice in Wales (Thomas Commission) delivered a landmark report, Justice in Wales for the People of Wales, in October 2019 with a comprehensive set of recommendations setting a future vision for justice in Wales.
Our Purpose
The Law Council will be a forum by which the whole Welsh legal community can agree priorities, establish working groups, and collaborate with each other – and with Welsh Government – to support the growth of the legal sector and further the interests of the law.
In a written statement on the 30 September 2021, Mick Antoniw MS, Counsel General for Wales and Minister for the Constitution, said:
“While it will be for the Law Council itself to determine its precise remit, based on discussions with the sector we anticipate it will extend beyond legal education and Welsh law to cover economic development of the sector and legal technology and innovation.”
And at the Legal Wales Conference, hosted on 8 October 2021, he said:
“As the Law Council will be independent from government, it will be for the Council itself to determine its constitution and whether it wants to keep the arrangements which we have developed in consultation with the sector.
“There will need to be a review at the end of the Council’s first establishment year to ensure it is operating as intended. But I hope in the meantime you will all welcome it as an important development and a vital forum not just for airing issues affecting the professions, but for agreeing collective action to address them."
Our Constitution
To view the constitution of the Law Council of Wales, click here.
The Executive
Our work will be taken forward in between meetings by an executive committee, steered by former Justice of the Supreme Court, Lord Lloyd-Jones, who will serve as President. (Click here to view the Executive Committee members.)
The Executive Committee members reflect a diverse range of experience, knowledge and interests in the legal sector in Wales: from legal education to the growing body of Welsh Law, private practice, the Crown Prosecution Service, the Bar, the Judiciary, in-house legal services and legal advice centres.
There are 15 member seats on the Executive Committee for its establishment year.
The purpose of the executive is to ensure that the Law Council does not just talk about the challenges facing Wales’s legal sector but formulates and takes forward a plan for addressing those challenges.
Our Meetings
Meeting agendas and minutes are published here for public viewing.
The Secretariat
Law Society Wales will provide secretariat duties to the independent Council. Jonathan Davies, Head of Wales at the Law Society, is the Council Secretary.
Our Communications
Media enquiries are being managed by the Communications Consultant to the Law Council: Emma Waddingham, Director, Emma Waddingham Consulting Ltd.