Law Council of Wales proposed

A Welsh government taskforce has proposed the establishment of a Law Council of Wales.

The Commission on Justice in Wales said that the proposed body would promote legal education and awareness of Welsh law. The commission said that it has considered many submissions and comments made on its proposal, which was first put forward at the Legal Wales Conference in Aberystwyth last year.

The commission was established in 2017 to review the justice system in Wales, as well as craft a long-term vision for the system’s future. It is chaired by John Thomas, Baron Thomas of Cwmgiedd, the former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales.

“Our report is due to be published on 24 October. We considered it might be helpful if our proposal on a Law Council of Wales was published in advance of the Legal Wales Conference at the University of South Wales on 11 October, as there was a need to set up a Law Council and as the proposal is not contingent on the other issues we have considered,” he said.

Thomas said that the need for collaboration between the legal professions and law schools has long been recognised in Scotland.

“There they have the Joint Standing Committee for Legal Education to promote the interests of legal education in academia and in the professions. It brings together people with key roles relating to legal education and training in Scotland, the judiciary, the Bar, the Law Society, the law schools and lay members, and is highly effective,” he said.

The proposal to establish a Law Council of Wales comes after a similar suggestion was made in 2017 by Sir David Lloyd Jones, the first Supreme Court judge from Wales.