The Law Society is planning to overhaul its committee structure as it gears up for the introduction of the Legal Services Act (LSA).

The society's head of policy, Mark Stobbs, who joined the body in March, is leading the review and has sent a paper to committee chairs with suggestions for the new structure.

These include cutting the number of committees – currently standing at 20 – or providing additional resources.

Committee chairs have until September to put forward their proposals to Stobbs, who will then take his recommendations to the legal affairs and policy board and the council towards the end of the year.

Current committees deal with issues including criminal, civil litigation, family and immigration matters.

Stobbs told Legal Week: "There are a lot of committees which may not be structured as well as we need. It is important that the Law Society looks at its future in light of the LSA and is sure that committees are best suited to carrying forward policy and remain relevant."

The news comes as it emerges that the Law Society has cut the amount it takes from the practising certificate (PC) fee income by 20% this year.

The body's annual results show the Law Society took £122 from the PC fee in 2007-08, compared with £155 in 2006. The PC fee itself was also cut by £70 to £950.

The move comes after the representative body streamlined and cut its internal costs after axing 51 full-time positions, mainly in IT.

Chief executive Des Hudson commented: "The society is more efficient than it has ever been, through a combination of structural rationalisation and revenue generation. Building on the success of this year's reduction of PC fee income, I want to reduce that further so that, at some point in the near future, we will no longer depend on the PC fee income."