Ashley Palminteri Elected as New BLS President

Ashley Palminteri of The Family Law Practice was voted in as President of Bristol Law Society at ythe 142nd AGM, held in the Law Library on Wednesdya 28th November.

Ashley is a family solicitor, mediator and collaborative lawyer and has been a member of Council since November 2006.

In respect of his appointment, Ashley commented:-

“This is a real honour. Bristol Law Society is the oldest law society in the country, having been formed in 1770. To be part of that history is a privilege.

My goal this year is to help promote the legal sector and the excellence that we have within the City, and to work alongside our partners in commerce as well as those who help shape our future generations.

We are immensely proud of the partnerships that Bristol Law Society has established and of our projects with local schools, colleges and Universities – and in particular those with the University of the West of England, who have been one of our key sponsors over the last 3 years.

This forthcoming year will be a key year for a number of reasons. Following yesterday’s AGM, the membership approved a revision to our corporate rates which we believe will be of benefit to most, if not all firms. The intention is to ensure that Bristol Law Society is available to everyone in the legal sector, including non-solicitors, paralegals and non-fee earners. We want to be an inclusive membership.

We also want to increase our presence and work within ASWLS (Association of South West Law Societies) and the Joint IV Group (Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool and Manchester Law Societies). That will begin with us hosting the next Joint IV conference on 29 January.

This year saw the introduction of our newly qualified solicitors event which was extremely well attended and hosted by His Honour Judge Roach. That shall now become an annual event in the diary. I also aim to promote the Legal Awards which were only last month. Next year’s is already booked for 10 October 2013.

However, our biggest challenge is ensuring that we are able to represent the interests of all our firms, which is no mean feat. We recognise that the needs of firms and individuals varies greatly. Nevertheless, we have noticed that in these difficult times, Bristol Law Society can offer so much more and provide the connection between firms and the forum for support and representation. That is why we shall continue to host our Managing Partners dinner (14 March); HR dinner (25 April) and Financial Directors dinner (23 May).

We shall forge our relationships with WESCA and our many sponsors, all of whom have existing relationships with our member firms. I hope also to host an event with our new Bristol Mayor, George Ferguson and the Police and Crime Commissioner, Sue Mountstevens. 

Finally, I would like to express my personal gratitude to Nick Dell for all his efforts over the last year. His energy and enthusiasm rubbed off on us all.”