Barclays Bank general counsel Howard Trust has been appointed as the Commerce & Industry Group's (C&I) second Law Society Council member.

Trust, one of the highest profile in-house lawyers to represent the C&I Group, will join existing C&I council representative Paul Gilbert, legal director at LawBook Consulting, in the Law Society council chamber. His appointment is effective immediately.

Gilbert has been in place for the past two years.
Legal Week understands that Trust was the only C&I Group member to stand for the position and as such he was appointed without a formal election.

The C&I group has had two seats in the council for a number of years, but the second seat has been vacant for almost 12 months.

The last member, Karen Mason, had to step down when she moved from an in-house role to private practice at Andersen Legal.

Gilbert welcomed Trust's appointment. "His involvement with the Law Society will be extremely welcome. The Law Society is both a fascinating and infuriating place to work," he said.