1. Name

The Association shall be called the Financial Services Lawyers Association (“the Association”).

2. Objects

The objects of the Association are:

(1) to provide a forum for open exchanges of views;

(2) to facilitate the dissemination of knowledge and ideas in financial services law, regulation and related areas;

(3) to further members’ education and training;

(4) to encourage the involvement of students, graduates, trainee solicitors, pupil barristers and junior lawyers in the activities of the Association;

(5) to foster co-operation between the various financial services stakeholders, including practitioners, academics, industry, the Financial Services Authority and government.

3. Membership

Membership shall be open to all qualified lawyers (including barristers, solicitors and foreign qualified lawyers), all trainee solicitors, all pupil barristers, all students (of law or any other discipline) and all other persons who work in or are otherwise interested in the financial services industry. The Association shall consist of Ordinary Members and Honorary Members.

4. Election of members

The election of members shall be vested in the Committee. A person who wishes to be elected as an Ordinary Member shall fill in an individual application form provided by the Committee. The Committee may elect as Honorary Members those persons, not exceeding 25 in number, who in the opinion of the Committee have for good or sufficient reason merited this status and who have agreed to become Honorary Members. Honorary Members shall be exempt from paying any subscription and shall be entitled to all the privileges of membership. The membership of Honorary Members shall expire two years after their election, but they may be re-elected (an unlimited number of times) in accordance with this rule.

5. Subscriptions

The categories of Ordinary Membership and the annual subscription payable by each category of Ordinary Members shall be determined from time to time by the Committee.

6. Resignation of members

A member may resign from the Association by informing the Secretary in writing of his intention to do so. A member remains liable for his subscription for the year in which he resigned (a year for this purpose shall run from the date the member was accepted as a member or last renewed his membership).

7. Suspension and expulsion of members

The Committee shall have the power to suspend for a period not exceeding 12 months or to expel a member who infringes any of these rules or whose conduct is in the opinion of the Committee renders him unfit for membership. No person shall be suspended or expelled without first being summoned before the Committee and full opportunity afforded to him to advance a defence nor unless three-quarters of the Committee then present shall vote for his suspension or expulsion.

8. Officers of the Association

The Association shall have two honorary officers (the Secretary and the Treasurer) and between four and eight other officers, who shall hold office for a period of two years. Such officers shall be elected at an AGM. Upon expiry of their term of office, they may offer themselves for re-election.

9. Management of the Association

The management and control of the affairs of the Association shall be vested in an executive committee of members (“the Committee”). The Committee shall consist of the Secretary, the Treasurer and the other officers. The Committee shall meet as and when appropriate. A quorum for meetings of the Committee shall be three members. Meetings of the Committee shall be chaired by the Secretary, alternatively in his or her absence the Treasurer, or alternatively in their absence such other member as the Committee may determine. The chair of any Committee meeting shall have a casting vote in addition to his ordinary vote.

10. Powers of the Committee

The Committee shall have the following specific powers:

(1) to fill any vacancy amongst the officers until the next AGM;

(2) to appoint such sub-committees as it deems necessary;

(3) to retain and hold as property of the Association all sums of money coming into the Association and to bank the funds of the Association. All cheques drawn by the Association shall be signed by the Chair and the Treasurer or by such other officers of the Association as may be duly authorised by the Committee, provided that all cheques are signed by two officers;

(4) to invest sums of money in any prudent manner which the Committee things will benefit the Association;

(5) to permit all officers to be paid out of pocket expenses authorised by the Committee;

(6) to arrange any appropriate insurance cover.

11. Advisory Board

Upon their election, Honorary Members shall automatically become members of the Advisory Board (“the Advisory Board”). The function of the Advisory Board shall be to provide guidance and non-binding advice to the Committee on such issues as it or the Committee considers appropriate. The Secretary and Treasurer shall be members of the Advisory Board. The Advisory Board shall meet as and when appropriate. Any member of the Committee may attend such meetings. A quorum for meetings of the Advisory Board shall be four members. The chair of any such meeting (who shall be appointed by consensus at the start of each meeting) shall have a casting vote in addition to his ordinary vote.

12. Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting (“AGM”) of the Association shall be held in May of each year for the purpose of receiving the reports of the Committee, any sub-committee and the Treasurer in respect of the Association’s activities since the previous AGM, receiving and, if thought fit, approving the accounts in respect of the preceding financial year; electing the officers of the Association; fixing the subscriptions; and for the transaction of the general business of the Association. All members shall receive 14 days’ notice in writing of the date of such meeting by email. No member, save with the permission of the chair of the meeting, may bring any matter before the meeting unless, 14 days prior to the AGM, he has given notice in writing to the Secretary of the substance of the matter which he wishes to raise at the meeting.

13. Special meetings

An Extraordinary General Meeting (“EGM”) shall be convened by the Secretary within 28 days of receipt by him or her of a direction by the Committee or of a requisition signed (or otherwise assented to) by not fewer than one-fifth of the total membership. All members shall receive 14 days notice in writing of such meeting by email. The notice will specify the purpose of the meeting and no other matter may be brought before such meeting.

14. Quorum and voting at meetings

A general meeting (namely, an AGM or an EGM) may proceed to business if ten members are present within half an hour after the time fixed for the meeting; otherwise the meeting, if convened on the requisition of the members, shall be dissolved but, if convened by direction of the Committee, shall stand adjourned to the same time in the following week, save that the adjourned meeting may proceed to business whatever the number of members present. Only members who have paid their subscriptions shall be allowed to vote at a general meeting. The chair of the meeting shall have a casting vote in addition to his ordinary vote. Any motion to be carried shall require a simple majority of those entitled to vote and present at the meeting, save that for any amendment of the rules or the dissolution of the Association which shall require a two-thirds majority of those entitled to vote and present at the meeting.

15. Amendment of the rules

These rules may be added to, altered or revoked by members at an EGM or, if the amendment is proposed by the Committee, at an AGM. Any amendment to be proposed at the AGM must be contained in the notice of the AGM sent under Rule 12.

16. Dissolution of the Association

In the event that the members pass a resolution to dissolve the Association, any property belonging to the Association shall not be distributed to the members if there is a surplus of assets over liabilities, but will be given or transferred to the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux or such other association having similar objects as the members of the Association may decide upon.