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THE FUTURE FOR THE ALCD

A New Year message from the chairman                                         

Dear Member  

On 1st January 2007 the ALCD assumed Authorised Body status bringing law costs draftsmen into line with - and putting us on a par with – other legal professionals.   As Master Hurst put it at last year's conference, we have become 'grown-up’ members of the legal profession.   It is serendipity that this has happened in our 30th Anniversary year.  

Our new status will bring with it added responsibilities and we will be subject to regulation by the Legal Services Board and come under the remit of the Legal Services Ombudsman.   The Council, through the Rules Committee, is working on updating and bringing our rules and by-laws into line with our new status.  

The change also leads to new opportunities for our profession and we should all be looking forward to the future, Lord Carter notwithstanding!   For those of our members who are independent, new opportunities will arise, not just to represent litigants in person, but also to independently act for other organisations, such as insurers. For our in-house members, this development will provide a tangible increase in status and will consequently mean improved employment and promotion prospects.  

  The Council will also be seeking a more active role for the Association in the decision making process as it affects costs issues and will continue to lobby hard to represent the views of the Association.  

However, the Council also wants to use this opportunity to ensure first and foremost, that the Association is fully servicing the needs and wishes of its members.   We also want to see the Association becoming the representative voice of the whole profession by encouraging all those who are currently non-members to join us.    

It is with these opportunities in mind that I am delighted to inform you the ALCD Council has appointed an independent Marketing Consultancy, Total Training Wales, to undertake a marketing project on our behalf.   The main focus of this project will be to establish the views of existing members and those outside of the Association with a professional interest and to utilise the feedback received to create an appropriate Development Strategy for the ALCD .    

The first phase of this project is about to start and very shortly you will receive a Member Survey for completion.   The survey will also be available via the members’ area of ALCD website and should take no more than 15-20 minutes of your time to complete.   I am sure you will appreciate that it is vital we establish the views of as many of our members as possible, in order to incorporate these into an agreed strategy for the future of the Association.   It is your Association and we want to ensure that its future direction is supported by you.   It is with this in mind that I ask you to take the time to participate in this vital project.  

If you should require any further information at this stage please feel free to contact Caroline Rowlands, Managing Director of Total Training Wales, whose contact details can be found at the end of the questionnaire.  

We intend to outline the results of the survey at the AGM on 17th March and to give members an indication of how we will use the information to improve our services to members, to make the association fully representative of the profession and to raise the profile and influence of costs draftsmen throughout the legal world.  

Please accept my personal thanks in anticipation of your co-operation and may I take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy New Year.  

With kind regards  

Yours sincerely  

JOHN HOCKING
Chairman

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