Law Society hires ex-housing association chief exec as interim chief executive

The Law Society of England and Wales has appointed a former chief executive of a housing association as its interim chief executive.

Paul Tennant stood down as chief executive of Orbit in December 2016, after 14 years in charge.

He will take over at Chancery Lane from Catherine Dixon, who resigned amid reports she was unhappy at the slow pace of governance reform.

Robert Bourns, Law Society president, said: "Paul has been chief executive of a large and complex housing organisation but also has a clear understanding of non-executive leadership roles, having been president of the Chartered Institute of Housing. This perspective will be helpful as we consider future ways of working.

"We have a clear business plan for the year focused on understanding and serving our members, transforming our IT and improving our efficiency and Paul will be working with our executive team to deliver our plans.

"Meanwhile, my focus will be on ensuring we represent the profession effectively through a period of significant change and working with council colleagues and others to progress our governance review.”

Bourns said the Law Society had also appointed the Good Governance Institute to help with its governance review and had also brought member perspectives on to its review working group.