Law Society of Scotland Communication

Peter Maxwell made this Freedom of Information request to Scottish Parliament

The request was partially successful.

From: Peter Maxwell

29 November 2008

Dear Sir or Madam,

Can you please provide me with

- a copy of all correspondence entered into with the Law Society of
Scotland by the Scottish Government (or Scottish Executive at the
time) in the last five years;

- a copy of any documentation held by the Scottish Government (or
Scottish Executive at the time) connected with the Law Society of
Scotland in the last five years.

This request understandably should omit any correspondence or
documentation protected under client privilege law.

If the amount of documentation under either request is too large
for a Freedom of Information Request, please provide and index or
summary of such correspondence or documents.

Thank you for your assistance,

Yours faithfully,

Peter Maxwell

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Scottish Parliament

1 December 2008

Dear Mr Maxwell

Can I just check that you intended to send your email to the Scottish
Parliament? If you are looking for information held by the Scottish
Government (and Scottish Executive) you should email your request to:
[email address]

More information can be found on the Government's FOI pages:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/FOI

Kind regards

Steven Tallach
FOI Officer

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From: Peter Maxwell

2 December 2008

Dear Mr Tallach,

Apologies for the error - yes it was meant to go to yourselves at
the Scottish Parliament. The request is a duplicate from a request
I'd sent to the Scottish Government, but I'd forgot to amend the
request accordingly.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Maxwell

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Scottish Parliament

15 January 2009

Dear Mr Maxwell

I'm afraid to say that I have not progressed your request any further. I
originally misread your email to say that you had intended the request
to go to the Government. While corresponding with staff at the What Do
They Know website yesterday it was brought to my attention that you had
in fact intended the request for the Parliament.

I will progress your request as quickly as I can. Can I just confirm
with you that the terms of the request? From your last email my
understanding is that you are looking for:

"A copy of all correspondence entered into with the Law Society of
Scotland by the Scottish Parliament in the last five years;

A copy of any documentation held by the Scottish Parliament connected
with the Law Society of Scotland in the last five years."

Is that correct?

Can I ask if there are there any particular issues on which the
Parliament and Law Society might have corresponded that you are
interested in? Are there any particular Committees or offices of the
Parliament that you are particularly interested in seeking
correspondence from? If you can give us any further information it would
be helpful.

If you are content with the terms of the request as laid out above
however, please let me know.

Once again I apologise for the delay in responding to your request.

Kind regards

Steven Tallach
FOI Officer
Scottish Parliament

Tel: 0131 348 5449
Fax: 0131 348 5050

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From: Peter Maxwell

22 January 2009

Dear Steven Tallach,

Thank you for your reply - there's no massive rush on the request
so don't worry.

I'm not familiar with the type or volume of correspondence that the
Scottish Parliament enters into with the Law Society of Scotland,
if at all; I also don't know if the Scottish Parliament stores
documentation relating to the Law Society of Scotland - hence the
rather wide framing of the original request.

If the amount of correspondence/documentation is particularly
volumous, specifically over the FOI limits, then an index or
general outline of the catagories of information stored would be
most helpful.

Thank you again for your assistance,

Yours sincerely,

Peter Maxwell

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Scottish Parliament

26 January 2009

Dear Mr Maxwell

Several offices of the Parliament do hold correspondence with the Law
Society. I have checked with colleagues and set out the offices that
hold correspondence and types of correspondence below:

Presiding Officer's Office - the Office of the Presiding Officer holds a
limited amount of correspondence (a handful of letters since 2007) from
and to the Presiding Officer on "non-substantive" issues, e.g. an
invitation to a function. I also understand that the Chief Executive's
Office holds a handful of letters that are, as far as I'm aware,
similarly non-substantive.

Committee Office and Chamber Office - the Committee and Chamber Offices
are responsible for running the Parliament's Committees. In the course
of their business the Committees may seek the opinions of the Law
Society. See for example the Law Society's submission to the Justice
Committee's call for evidence on the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Bill:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/s3/com...
Offences/documents/SO39.LawSocietyofScotland.pdf

Another example is this letter to the Law Society in relation to a
petition being considered by the Public Petitions Committee:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/s3/com...
sions/sub-07/PE1009D.pdf

The Committee and Chamber Offices will hold a fair amount of
correspondence with the Law Society. In addition to letters sent to the
Law Society seeking written evidence the Office will hold letters and
emails relating to arrangements for Law Society attendance of Committee
meetings. Each of the Parliament's fourteen Committees holds its own
correspondence and the process of checking may take us over the FOI cost
threshold.

However most, if not all, of the correspondence to the Committee and
Chamber Offices will be available on the Parliament's website.

Directorate of Legal Services - the Directorate provides legal advice to
the Parliament. I am informed that members of staff in Legal Services
hold, in a personal capacity, correspondence with the Law Society of
Scotland. For instance invitations to seminars run by the Society and
emails relating to membership of the Society will be held.

I hope you find the above information useful.

Kind regards

Steven Tallach
FOI Officer

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Scottish Parliament

16 March 2009

Dear Mr Maxwell

In relation to your freedom of information request, on which I emailed
to ask for clarification on 26 January 2009 (see below), I propose that
I shall close the request in two weeks time, on 30 March 2009, if I do
not hear from you before then.

Kind regards

Steven Tallach
FOI Officer

Dear Mr Maxwell

Several offices of the Parliament do hold correspondence with the Law
Society. I have checked with colleagues and set out the offices that
hold correspondence and types of correspondence below:

Presiding Officer's Office - the Office of the Presiding Officer holds a
limited amount of correspondence (a handful of letters since 2007) from
and to the Presiding Officer on "non-substantive" issues, e.g. an
invitation to a function. I also understand that the Chief Executive's
Office holds a handful of letters that are, as far as I'm aware,
similarly non-substantive.

Committee Office and Chamber Office - the Committee and Chamber Offices
are responsible for running the Parliament's Committees. In the course
of their business the Committees may seek the opinions of the Law
Society. See for example the Law Society's submission to the Justice
Committee's call for evidence on the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Bill:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/s3/com...
Offences/documents/SO39.LawSocietyofScotland.pdf

Another example is this letter to the Law Society in relation to a
petition being considered by the Public Petitions Committee:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/s3/com...
sions/sub-07/PE1009D.pdf

The Committee and Chamber Offices will hold a fair amount of
correspondence with the Law Society. In addition to letters sent to the
Law Society seeking written evidence the Office will hold letters and
emails relating to arrangements for Law Society attendance of Committee
meetings. Each of the Parliament's fourteen Committees holds its own
correspondence and the process of checking may take us over the FOI cost
threshold.

However most, if not all, of the correspondence to the Committee and
Chamber Offices will be available on the Parliament's website.

Directorate of Legal Services - the Directorate provides legal advice to
the Parliament. I am informed that members of staff in Legal Services
hold, in a personal capacity, correspondence with the Law Society of
Scotland. For instance invitations to seminars run by the Society and
emails relating to membership of the Society will be held.

I hope you find the above information useful.

Kind regards

Steven Tallach
FOI Officer

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Things to do with this request

Anyone:
Scottish Parliament only: