Robert Bourns, the senior partner of TLT Solicitors, is set to become president of the Law Society in 2016, after stepping in as deputy vice president in July this year.

Bourns was chosen ahead of six other candidates for the deputy vice president post, having been appointed to the Law Society Council in 2011, joining the management board last year.

The senior leadership of the Law Society operates a three-year promotional structure, with the deputy vice president moving into the vice president and president roles over successive years.

Current president Nick Fluck will be replaced by vice president Andrew Caplen later this year, with deputy vice president Jonathan Smithers taking up the role in 2015.

Bourns – an employment lawyer who qualified at Osborne Clarke in 1978 – has held the senior partner role at TLT for three successive terms, having previously served as managing partner  for six years.

He is one of five representatives for the Law Society's City of London constituency.

"The Law Society has an incredibly important job to do in maintaining trust and confidence across a diverse profession," Bourns told Legal Week. "In the context of continuing changes to regulation it should be recognised for its relentless protection of the rule of law.

"My concern is that the Law Society Council should be recognised as the governing body of the Law Society and that we as an organisation should be developing and maintaining alliances with other bodies such as the SRA and BSB."

"That's something that will become increasingly necessary in an environment where the threat to justice is ever more apparent."