Committees of the Council
23.—(1) After Article 73 of the Solicitors Order there shall be inserted—
“Committees of the Council
73A.—(1) The Council has power to appoint a committee for any such general or special purpose as in the opinion of the Council may be better regulated or managed by means of a committee, and may delegate to any committee so appointed, with or without restrictions or conditions, as they think fit, the exercise of any functions exercisable by the Council.
(2) Subject to paragraph (5), the number and term of office of the members of a committee appointed under this Article, and the number of those members necessary to form a quorum, shall be fixed by the Council.
(3) A committee appointed under this Article may include persons who are not members of the Council, and such persons need be neither members of the Society nor solicitors; but at least half of the members of any such committee (including the chairman) shall be members of the Council.
(4) If more than one-third of the members of any committee appointed under this Article are not members of the Council, no resolution of that committee shall be duly passed unless the majority of the members of the Council present vote in favour of it.
(5) Any committee to which any functions exercisable by the Council under Article 41A or 41B are delegated in pursuance of paragraph (1) shall include—
(a)such number of persons who are solicitors but not members of the Council as the committee may determine; and
(b)such number of persons who are neither solicitors nor members of the Bar of Northern Ireland as the Lord Chief Justice may, after consultation with the Council, determine.
(6) The persons to be appointed by the Council to any committee pursuant to paragraph (5)(b) shall be nominated by the Lord Chief Justice.
(7) The validity of any proceedings of a committee to which paragraph (5) applies shall not be affected by any casual vacancy among the persons appointed to it pursuant to that paragraph.”.
(2) In Article 74 of the Solicitors Order (powers to act on behalf of the Society)—
(a)in paragraph (1) at the end there shall be added “; and the power to delegate functions to committees conferred on the Council by Article 73A shall include power to delegate functions exercisable by the Council by virtue of this paragraph”;
(b)in paragraph (2)—
(i)after “Society” there shall be inserted “or the Council”;
(ii)for “by the secretary and” there shall be substituted “or, as the case may be, the Council by the secretary of the Society or”.