Scots lawyers follow Irish in bidding farewell to ‘Dear Sirs’

Scots lawyers follow Irish in bidding farewell to 'Dear Sirs'

Scottish lawyers have voted to follow their Irish counterparts in dropping the use of “Dear Sirs” as a salutation in formal letters and emails, a new survey has revealed.

The Law Society of Ireland last year announced it would “lead the way in discontinuing the use of this outdated greeting”.

A survey conducted by our sister publication Scottish Legal News has now found that two-thirds of Scottish lawyers want to do the same in their jurisdiction.

Of the 720 respondents, 479 (66.5 per cent) agreed it should be dropped in favour of gender-neutral alternatives, while 241 (33.5) per cent disagreed.

Solicitors Seonaid Stevenson-McCabe, Katy MacAskill and Màiri McAllan, co-founders of RebLaw Scotland, pointed directly to the Irish example when they raised the issue earlier this week.

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