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President’s Review
President’s Review
JULY 2025
Welcome to the Summer edition of the Hampshire Law Society magazine. My second report since being elected as President of Hampshire Law Society.
This year as you know marks the 200 years of The Law Society and I and the other members of the committee have been busy liaising with the Law Society for the President’s (Richard Atkinson) visit which has been confirmed as 9th July 2025 in Southampton. There will be a discussion at Southampton University law school between 2.30 and 4.00 when the discussion topic will be Access to Justice. This will be followed by a networking event aimed at junior lawyers between 5.30 and 8.00pm - please keep an eye out for our newsletters which will provide further details on how to get involved.
I had the privilege of attending Chancery Lane with our Council member Adrienne Edgerly-Harris for a tour leaning about the history of the law society and was fascinated by the building, it architecture and stain glass windows here are a few key facts that caught my eye.
2nd June 1825 Law society was formed
1831 building opens in Chancery lane
1843 first solicitors act comes into force
1872 14,000 solicitors were on the roll
1888 Eliza Orme became first woman to obtain a law degree
1914 Babb and the Law Society ruled that woman could not be admitted as solicitors
1916 David Lloyd George became prime minster the first and only solicitor and Welshman to hold the office
1919 women allowed to qualify as solicitors because of the sex discrimination Act
1922 Carrie Morrisson becomes first woman to be admitted as a solicitor
1943 Sir Earnest Bird becomes the first known disabled President
1955 first kinown black solicitor Manuel Chandri Delgardo qualified many non-white solciitors were kept out of the profession until 1974
1962 Eric Irons becomes the first black Magistrate
1977 First female council member elected
2002 first female president (Caroyln Kirby) elected
2021 first black president (I, Stephanie Boyce) Elected
2022 first Asian and Muslim president elected.
I have met with Southampton’s legal department and have agreed how the local authority lawyers can join the HILS and this has had a superb response and I look forward to welcoming members from Southampton City Council soon.
I and some of our amazing committee attended our annual Dinner and awards on Friday 13th June at the MacDonald Botley Park Hotel, it was a splendid evening, well attended and very enjoyable indeed. The evening culminated in our annual awards, and I would like to congratulate all the nominees, runners up and winners of this year’s awards. A more detailed report of the evening can be found later on in this addition. Enjoy the summer everyone. ■
