Law Society international head Alison Hook is set to leave after nearly a decade with the representative body.

Hook is leaving the Law Society at the end of the year to pursue her own legally-related independent project. Her replacement is yet to be confirmed.

She has been head of the international division since starting at the Law Society nine years ago, prior to which she worked at the European Commission and Foreign and Commonwealth office.

She is currently based at the Law Society's Chancery Lane office.

A Law Society spokesperson said: "Our resources headcount and spending on international work in 2011 will be the same as 2010. Suggestions that the work of this team is to be marginalised are wrong.

"There are many opportunities for the Law Society and its members, including the opening of legal markets and the expansion of international work, and our team of international advisers will continue to pursue such opportunities."

Hook (pictured) said: "I have decided to move on from the Law Society after nine extremely rewarding years in order to pursue a new project of my own. I have a fantastic team here who will continue, and I hope expand further, the international work of the Law Society."

Mental health and human rights lawyer Lucy Scott-Moncrieff was this summer chosen as the future leader of the Law Society after winning a vote to take on the deputy vice president (DVP) role in July.

The society elects a new DVP each year, who then automatically progresses over a three-year period to become vice president and then president.