Liverpool Law Society are immensely proud to announce that it will be granted the Freedom of Association by Liverpool City Council; an accolade to recognise and celebrate the work of LLS in promoting and facilitating access to justice for the most vulnerable in society. The award is the equivalent of the Freedom of the City, an honour bestowed upon individuals in recognition of their contributions to the City of Liverpool and its people. The Society has requested the ceremony be held in 2027, which is an important year as we launch our bicentenary celebrations to mark 200 years of LLS serving the local legal community as a representative body.
The Society has had a longstanding history of providing access to justice. Between the two world wars, the Society implemented the ‘Poor Man’s Lawyer’ scheme which provided free legal advice to those who needed it. In 1973, the Society and Liverpool City Council established the Vauxhall Law Centre, in one of the most deprived areas in the Country. The Law Centre was one of the first in the Country and is now over 50 years old and still going strong, and the links to this Society remain strong too. Our president from 2019-21 is on the VLC board currently. In 1981, a further Law Centre was established in Liverpool 8 as an initiative of Local Community and Church leaders and the Society was also strongly involved in its establishment. Recently, through the Society’s Access to Justice Committee, a new Wirral Advice Centre has launched in Birkenhead in January 2025, assisted by Vauxhall Law Centre and WEB Merseyside.
In 1989, the city went through one of the darkest times with the Hillsborough disaster, which prompted the launch of the Hillsborough Justice Campaign. After many years of tireless campaigning, Hillsborough Law is scheduled to be introduced this year. The Society continues to play a role with local issues raised by its membership and coordinates meetings with Directors of the Society and local MPs to discuss the issues affecting the Liverpool legal community and those who come to them for legal assistance.
The Bicentenary:
In 2027, LLS look forward to welcoming the local legal community and beyond to a varied program of events to reflect upon and celebrate the progression of the Society as it has gone from strength to strength over the last 200 years. The Society now proudly has circa 2400 members and is one of the largest local Law Societies in England and Wales, enjoying links with other regional Law Societies.
Anthony Neild – Costs Lawyer– JMW Solicitors LLP
Director & Public Relations Officer of Liverpool Law Society
anthony.neild@jmw.co.uk