Below you will find the rules for the West London Law Society:
Name
The Society shall be called "WEST LONDON LAW SOCIETY" and is hereinafter referred to as "the Society".
Objects
2.The objects of the Society are:-
(a) To support and protect the character, status and interests of Solicitors practising or residing within the area of the Society as hereinafter defined; to maintain honourable practice and to settle disputed points of practice and conduct.
(b) To consider questions affecting the profession at large, including the alteration or administration of the law, and to take action thereon.
(c) To encourage legal education and the entry of suitable persons into the Solicitors branch of the legal profession.
(d) To co-operate with and to subscribe to the funds of any professional body having the same or similar objects as the Society.
(e)To purchase, take on lease, or exchange, hire or otherwise acquire any real and personal property and any rights and privileges necessary or convenient for the purposes of the Society.
(f) To borrow any moneys required for the purposes of the Society.
(g) To sell, improve, manage, lease, mortgage, dispose of or otherwise to deal with all or any part of the property of the Society.
(h) To appoint Trustees and vest in them any real or personal property acquired by the Society.
(i) To raise money for the purpose of establishing a benevolent fund for charitable objects including the grant of financial aid to any Members of the Society, past or present, or their dependents in need of assistance.
(j) To encourage and facilitate social intercourse among Members of the Society.
(k) To do all such things as are incidental or conducive to the attainment of the above objects or any of them.
Membership
3. The Society shall consist of :-
(a) All Solicitors who joined the Society before the 6th April 1960 who shall be Founder Members; and
(b) All Solicitors practising, employed or residing in the area of the Society, together with any other practising or non-practising Solicitors who have some other significant past or current connection with the Society or the area of the Society, who shall comply with the provisions of Rule 4 or become Members by virtue of the provisions of Rule 5.
(c) In these Rules, "the area of the Society" shall mean the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, the London Borough of Hammersmith and those parts of the London Borough of the City of Westminster which prior to the creation of that London Borough comprised or formed part of the former Metropolitan Boroughs of Hampstead, Paddington, St. Marylebone and St. Pancras, provided that those Solicitors practising in that part of the former Metropolitan Borough of the City of Westminster which is within the W.1 postal district who were members of the Society on the 15th February 1968 may retain their Membership.
4.Any Solicitor eligible for Membership who shall have submitted an application in the prescribed form to one of the Joint Honorary Secretaries shall upon payment of his subscription for the then current year become a Member.
5.(a) Any past or present Member of the legal profession may be elected by the Society in General Meeting as an Honorary Member of the Society.
(b) (i) On submitting to one of the Honorary Joint Secretaries an application in the prescribed form the following persons shall become an associate member of the society
Any trainee solicitor
Any qualified legal executive in the employ of a solicitor
Any barrister in the employ of or in partnership with a solicitor.
(ii) On submitting to one of the Honorary Joint Secretaries an application in the prescribed form accompanied by a letter of recommendation from his employer the following persons shall become an associate member of the society
Any paralegal, clerk, outdoor clerk, accredited police station representative or other person in the employ of a solicitor
(iii) On submitting to one of the Honorary Joint Secretaries an application in the prescribed form accompanied by a letter of recommendation from his Academic Establishment, the following persons shall become an associate member of the society
Any registered LPC student
(c)Neither an Honorary Member nor an Associate Member shall be entitled to vote at any meetings.
6.The Annual subscription which should be payable in advance on the 1st day of January in every year shall be such sum as the Society in General Meeting may from time to time determine provided that on the admission of any Member, the Committee shall be at liberty to remit a proportionate part of the annual subscription relative to the part of the then current year which shall have already expired at the date of his becoming a Member.
7.Any Member or Associate Member may withdraw from the Society by giving notice in writing to one of the Honorary Secretaries at any time of his intention so to do and upon the expiration of the current year in which such notice is given he shall cease to be a Member or Associate Member, but without prejudice to the right of the Society to recover from him any arrears of subscription or other sums which may be owing by him to the Society.
8.Any Member whose name shall be removed from the Roll of Solicitors shall thereupon forthwith cease to be a Member.
Officers and Committee
9.The Officers of the Society shall consist of a President, two Vice-Presidents, two Joint Honorary Secretaries and an Honorary Treasurer.
10.The affairs of the Society shall be managed by a Committee of twelve elected Members and the following ex-officia Members namely, the Officers for the time being of the Society and the immediate Past President. The Committee shall have power to co-opt additional Members to the Committee or to any Sub-Committee thereof.
11.Not less than three days' notice of any Committee Meeting specifying the place, the day and the hour of the meeting and the general nature of the business to be transacted shall be given to each Member of the Committee. At any meeting of the Committee seven Members thereof shall be a quorum.
12.The Committee may employ and pay for any assistance required by the Officers of the Society in due discharge of their duties.
13.The Committee shall have power to appoint Sub-Committees and may delegate powers to them.
14.The Officers and the Committee of the Society and two Honorary Auditors shall be elected at its Annual General Meeting and shall hold office until the annual General Meeting of the following year but, except for the President as such, shall be eligible for re-election.
15.If, in the course of a year, a vacancy shall occur in the office of President, Vice-President, an Honorary Secretary, Honorary Treasurer, Committee Member or Auditor such vacancy may be filled by the Committee.
Accounts
16.The Committee shall cause to be kept true accounts of the moneys received and expended for or on account of the Society and of the assets, credits and liabilities of the Society. The accounts shall be closed on the 31st December in every year and shall be audited by the Honorary Auditors whose report thereon shall be sent to every Member with the notice convening the annual General Meeting of the Society.
Power to appoint Representatives
17.The Committee shall have power to nominate any Member of the Society as its representative and to confer upon such representative voting powers on behalf of the Society and to pay the reasonable expenses of such Member.
General Meetings
18.The Annual Meeting of the Society shall be held not later than the end of February in each year.
19.The Committee may, whenever it thinks fit, and shall, within 28 days upon the receipt of a requisition in writing signed by not less than ten Members of the Society, convene an extraordinary General Meeting. Any such requisition shall express the object of the proposed meeting and shall be delivered to one of the Joint Honorary Secretaries.
20.Not less than ten days' notice of any General Meeting specifying the place, the day and the hour of the meeting and the general nature of the business to be transacted shall be given to each Member. At any General Meeting of the Society fifteen Members thereof shall be a quorum. All Members attending shall sign an attendance record.
21.Any notice required to be served under these Rules shall be deemed to be duly served by posting the same to the usual or last known place of residence or practice of the member as recorded in the Society's books.
22.The President, or in his absence, a Vice-President, shall preside as Chairman at every General Meeting of the Society. If there be no President or Vice-President or if at any meeting none of them shall be present at the time appointed for the meeting, the Members present shall choose one of their number to be Chairman of such meeting.
Alteration of Rules
23.These Rules may from time to time be altered or new Rules made at any General Meeting, provided that particulars of any proposed alterations or new Rules are specified in the notice convening such General Meeting and provided also that the same shall be approved by not less than two-thirds of the Members attending such meeting.