Simon Davis paints himself as an unapologetic optimist — but he is no radical disrupter. Today he becomes president of the Law Society, the 194-year-old organisation that represents about 140,000 solicitors in England and Wales.
Davis, who is a partner at Clifford Chance, one of London’s “magic circle” law firms, is optimistic that City lawyers can be persuaded to see value in an organisation that many in the Square Mile write off as being focused on the survival of smaller practices.
He also believes that the society can persuade the government not to pursue policies that could hasten the death of high street civil and criminal law firms.
But on the funding of the society, its relationship with the profession’s watchdog and regulation itself, Davis