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.”