The president of the Law Society says David Lavery has his support to continue as chief executive after he provided a character reference for a cousin convicted of serious sexual offences.
Mark Borland said Lavery issued a “sincere apology” to the society for providing the reference for William Lloyd-Lavery, who was found guilty of indecently assaulting five girls at a south Belfast school in the 1970s.
In a statement, Lavery said providing the character reference represented a “serious error in judgement”.
A special meeting is to be held by the Law Society into the issues surrounding the character reference.
Lavery was sacked from his role as a human right commissioner last week.
Speaking to Good Morning Ulster, Borland expressed “regret” over how the society handled the situation and said they “got it wrong”.
The Law Society’s Special General Meeting (SGM) was triggered after 50 letters from members called for it.
It is understood the solicitors want to know how the decision was made to keep Lavery in post as chief executive, and on what basis.
“We failed to communicate what we were doing, why we were doing it and how we were doing it,” said Borland.
He added that the Law Society needed to figure out “what procedures we put in place to make sure we don’t get it wrong again”.
“David [Lavery] has my support to continue as the chief executive of the Law Society of Northern Ireland and to move us forward,” said Borland.
“This is an employment matter for the Law Society and David is our employee.”
Last week the Law Society said it had “undertaken an internal process” but would be making no further comment due to the “confidential nature of that process”.
In regard to the investigation, Borland said he “accepts that the process was independent and robust and therefore we must accept the outcome of that process, that is that David remains as chief executive.”
He continued: “David has apologised to everyone about this matter; he has issued a sincere apology to the society for his serious error in giving this [reference].”
Borland said the episode has harmed how people view the Law Society.
“Reputation is not something that we demand or can tell people that you need to respect,” he added.
“We need to back out and earn respect… we would like to have the definitive voice of the solicitor’s profession and a strong voice on justice in Northern Ireland.”
You can hear the interview in full on Good Morning Ulster.
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