WALES COMMITTEE – 3 OCTOBER 2011
Item 9
PROPOSED APPROACH TO LAW SOCIETY PUBLISHING LTD TO PUBLISH A BOOK
ON WELSH DEVOLUTION
The Wales Committee’s terms of reference place considerable emphasis on the function of
monitoring devolution and the activities of the National Assembly. Of the 8 terms of
reference, 3 are dedicated to this function:
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5
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To monitor the progress of devolution in Wales.
To monitor the programme of devolved legislation in Wales and to liaise as
necessary with the National Assembly for Wales.
To disseminate to the profession in Wales and to solicitors in England information
about the activities of the National Assembly for Wales and the impact of legislation
passed by that Assembly.
All 3 are important objectives which the committee, and the Wales office, have discharged
faithfully over the years. However, the fact is that 12 years after the National Assembly sat
for the first time, no book has yet been published which explains to the profession the
legislative process in Wales, what types of legislation are produced, how it is to be
interpreted or where to find it. Since it is within the remit of the Wales committee to
disseminate information about the activities of the National Assembly to the profession in
England and Wales, this is a matter which should cause us some concern and one which we
should seek to address and, if possible, rectify.
Professor Thomas Watkin is speaking at the Legal Wales conference on 7 October on the
topic of 'Making Law in Wales Accessible`. It is possible that in this talk he will say that
commercial publishers are, at last, taking an interest in devolution and its effects. This brief
paper argues that even if there is an initiative from commercial publishers to produce books
dealing with devolution more thoroughly, the Wales committee should approach Law Society
Publishing Ltd to commission a book on devolution, the legislation process in Wales, the
interpretation of Welsh legislation and so on.
What does Law Society Publishing Ltd do?
Law Society Publishing Ltd (LSP) does not appear to have its own website. It is only
possible to identify which books it publishes through the Law Society’s bookshop. Even this
is a laborious process as one has to click on to each of the 25 categories of publication listed
on the site and scroll down the lists of books that the bookshop sells to identify which of
these is published by LSP.
Many of LSP’s titles deal with professional conduct and regulatory issues but many of the 25
categories deal with areas of legal practice – the types of work in respect of which the Law
Society has established specialist committees, such as the Wales committee, over which the
Legal Affairs and Policy Board has oversight. To provide a flavour of the sort of books LSP
publishes, here is a list of the books published by LPS within the specialism of various LAPB
committees.
LAPB committee
Access to Justice
Civil Justice
Company Law
:
Conveyancing & Land Law
Criminal Law
Employment Law
Family
Housing Law
Mental Health & Disability
Planning and Environmental Law
Wills & Equity
Title
Making a Success of Legal Aid
Criminal Injuries Compensation Claims 2008
Company Law Handbook
Companies Act 2006: A Guide to the New Law
Conveyancing Handbook
Conveyancing Quality Scheme Toolkit
Conveyancing Protocol
Conveyancing Checklists
Stamp Duty Land Tax: A Practical Guide
Property Development: A Practical Guide
Preventative Orders: A Practical Guide
Fixed Fees in the Criminal Courts
Advising Mentally Disordered Offenders: A Practical
Guide
Employment Law Handbook
Drafting Employment Contracts
Equality Act 2010: A Guide to the New Law
Employment Tribunals
Age Discrimination: A Guide to the New Law
Family Procedure Rules 2010: A Guide to the New Law
Family Law Protocol
Good Practice in Child Care Cases
Housing Law Handbook: A Practical Guide
Assessment of Mental Capacity
Environmental Law Handbook
Environmental Information Regulations
Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004: A Guide
to the New Law
Lasting Powers of Attorney: A Practical Guide
Probate Practitioners’ Handbook
Trust Practitioners’ Handbook
Inheritance Act Claims: A Practical Guide
Making A Will Won’t Kill You.
LSP does not currently publish any books within the subject matter of the Civil Justice,
European Union, Immigration Law, International Human Rights, International Issues and
Wales committees - it published a Civil Litigation Handbook, but this is now out of print.
The Bookshop site does not contain a Public Law category as such: the most similar
category is 'Public authorities`. Of the 3 titles listed in that category, only one is published by
LSP – Licensing Law Handbook, which is described as “A Practical Guide to Liquor and
Entertainment Licensing”.
LSP publishes books on discrete areas of practice which it calls “handbooks” and books
which are described as “guides to the new law” and “practical guides”. It does not publish
academic books, so an academic book on devolution and public law is unlikely to fit within its
list. However, the new constitutional settlement as it is now operates in Wales which
produces new law is a subject that would fit within its list, particularly if the book has a
practical or practice-based focus.
LSP is a commercial enterprise so it may share the commercial publishers’ lack of
enthusiasm for publishing a book which they are likely to consider is unlikely to sell in large
numbers: against that, it could be said that LSP publishes books in specialist fields within
which there is competition from commercial publishers which may affect the profitability of
these books. Since devolution and the development of distinct law in Wales has not
attracted commercial publishers to date, the field is free and the lack of competition should
enhance sales opportunities and profitability.
Further, if LSP was to publish such a book, as well as plugging a gap in the market and
filling the need for such a book, it would send a signal that the Law Society of England and
Wales regards Welsh devolution as a serious subject that the profession, in both Wales and
England, should be reminded of, should take heed of and should know about. This would be
the case even if commercial providers decided to publish books on Welsh legislation. Since
these would be likely to have a more academic focus, a more practical and practitionerfocused book on the subject would have its own place and serve an unmet need. To
conclude, if the Law Society published such a book, the Law Society would match the
rhetoric expressed during last June’s council meeting with action.
Contents of the proposed book
In order to make the book “inclusive”, the suggestion is that various authors should be
approached to write particular chapters, and that the project should be controlled by an
editor who will work with the committee to produce the book. It would be sensible to identify
chapter titles (or subject areas) to be included within the book when we prepare any
proposal to the publisher, and these would form a basis upon which the editor could develop
the project, but the editor should be able to alter, delete or add to this outline scheme.
Similarly, we could identify possible contributors to the work, but it would have to be left to
the editor (who will be in close contact with the contributors) to decide who to approach and
who is to write which chapter.
Suggested contents are (in no particular order):
Foreword – written on behalf of the Wales committee
Preface – written by someone eminent (Thomas LJ? Carwyn Jones?)
Introduction – to be written by the editor
Historical context: how we have got to the position where the Assembly can pass Acts of the
Assembly
The process for passing Acts of the Assembly
Various types of secondary legislation and the process of making it
Interpretation of Welsh legislation
Scrutiny of Welsh legislation
Where to find it
The fields of legislative competence and difficulties associated with them
Cross-border issues
Is there a case for a separate Welsh judiciary or a separate welsh legal system to deal with
Welsh legislation?
What next?
Suggested contributors include:
Professor Thomas Watkin
Professor Richard Rawlings
David Lambert
Keith Bush
Emyr Lewis
Huw Williams
Time frame
If the committee agrees to take on this project, we should aim to have approval from LSP by
the March meeting, an editor in place by the June meeting and to have the book published
by March 2014 at the latest (and preferably sometime in 2013)..
What the committee is being asked to do
The Wales Committee is asked to
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consider whether there is a need for such a book;
comment on the suggested list of contents;
comment on possible contributors and suggest possible editors, and, if the book is
needed, to agree that a book proposal should be submitted to LSP to commission
such a book for publication.
The Wales committee is not being asked to edit any book. Any book proposal should make
it clear that the intention is to commission an editor to do this work. The Wales committee
should approve any book proposal before it is submitted to LSP.
Next steps
Assuming the committee agrees in principle to approaching LSP with a book proposal, the
next steps will be to:
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draw up the book proposal and circulate it amongst the committee for suggestions
and approval;
lobby Des Hudson, John Wotton and the other office holders (and Christina
Blacklaws, as chair of LAPB?) for support for the idea; and
identify a shortlist of editors to approach to take the project forward, should LSP
agree to commission such a book.
David Dixon