BLS President Ashley Palminteri’s round up for May
Welcome again to this month’s roundup of events and happenings at Bristol Law Society. As always, there is quite a lot going on!
New Partners and Associates
It’s that time of year when many learn of their promotion. May I therefore congratulate all of those that have recently been made up to Partner or Associate. In particular, I would like to congratulate Ben Tarrant, our Vice President who was made a partner at TLT in their Real Estate team, with effect from 1 May. Well done to Ben and everyone else.
Bond Dickinson
I want to also congratulate everyone at Bond Dickinson following the completion of their merger. I am told by my inside sources that they celebrated the occasion with a request to wear yellow on their first day in line with their new corporate colour.
Lucy Scott-Moncrieff
I was delighted to welcome Lucy Scott-Moncrieff, President of The Law Society to Bristol on 1 May. Lucy hosted a meeting with a number of managing partners in central Bristol, followed by a lively Q&A session at the Law Library. I was then honoured to be invited to a private dinner at Hotel Du Vin with a number of other guests. Lucy’s second day in Bristol was spent visiting a number of ABS firms including Lyons Davidson and DAS, as well as Co-op Legal Services. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Lucy for her time, especially given her hectic itinerary.
HR Directors Dinner
We hosted our HR Directors’ Dinner on 25 April at Brasserie Blanc. The event was kindly sponsored by Portus Consulting. As with our Managing Partners’ Dinner the event was fully booked.
We were delighted to have Alison Eddy Regional Managing Partner at Irwin Mitchell, London. Alison shared with us some of the things that Irwin Mitchell had implemented such as flexible working to encourage working mums to develop their career. The event took the form of a discussion between attendees on the perennial question – Why are there not more female partners in law firms? Thank you to Alison and everyone that attended.
Annual Quiz
Our annual quiz was fiercely competed between 28 teams (five of whom were from Irwin Mitchell) at TOTOs on Thursday 2 May. The eventual winners were Guildhall Chambers. Thank you to Ben Holt, Osborne Clarke and Gary Lightwood, Pattinson & Brewer for organising the event – without them we simply could not do this. Thank you also to our sponsors for the event, Wesleyan for Lawyers, Averys, Paragon Cost Solutions and Connect2Law all of whom donated prizes.
Dispute Resolution Conference
Bristol Law Society’s Dispute Resolution Conference will be held at Foot Anstey on 12 June. Details have been circulated and can be found on our website.
Conference Season
Ben Tarrant and Michael Gupwell, your Vice-President and Deputy Vice-President attended the National Conference of local Law Societies in Cardiff on 19 & 20 April. They are due to feedback at our next council meeting.
Leon Smith, Honorary Secretary and myself are due to attend The Law Society’s President and Secretary’s Conference at Chancery Lane on 10 and 11 May. I shall report on anything of interest in my next roundup.
Legal Walk
May I remind everyone that The South West Legal Support Trust annual legal walk will take place on Monday 3 June. Please do come along. It is a great opportunity to raise awareness about Access to Justice and also to meet other lawyers and judiciary on a pleasant stroll through our beautiful city.
The meeting point is the Law Library, Small Street at 5pm with the event finishing at the Civil Courts with an informal reception. Further details to follow.
Law Surgery
Our next Law Surgery is on Thursday 30 May, 2pm – 3.30pm, at the Law Library.
Ian Kelcey, your local Law Society Council member, Matthew Still your Regional Support Manager and myself, will be in attendance. After hearing the number of topics raised at Lucy Scott-Moncrieff’s recent Q&A event there are clearly a number of issues and changing events which still concern us as a profession. Please telephone BLS’s office on (0117) 976 3087 to arrange an appointment.
BRILL Meeting
I was pleased to be able to welcome some of the local law librarians to our Law Library on 10 April, where they convened one of their quarterly meetings.
Recruitment Service
May I remind everyone that BLS’s recruitment service is up and running again.
If you have any recruitment needs or indeed wish to discuss your current position in confidence then please do not hesitate to contact Helen Read either by email helen.read@bristollawsociety.com or telephone 07771 594582.
Dates for the diary
May Financial Directors dinner (23rd); Law Surgery (30th)
June Legal Walk (3rd); Dispute Resolution conference (12th)
July Summer Party (11th); Law Surgery (25th)
September Music quiz (19th); Private client conference (25th); Law Surgery (26th)
October Annual Awards dinner (10th); Newly Qualified event (17th); Property conference (24th)
November AGM (27th); Law Surgery (28th)
Jacek Wojcik
I would like to thank our current administrator at BLS, Jacek Wojcik for his enthusiasm, energy and drive over the last 16 months. Sadly, Jacek has informed us that he wishes to pursue other ventures. On behalf of everyone at Bristol Law Society, especially members of Council and Exec, may I express our gratitude and best wishes to him. His last day in the office will be 28 June.