Secretary's Report by Andrew Wainwright

THE WEST LONDON LAW SOCIETY

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

5^TH FEBRUARY 2008

AT RAF CLUB

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SECRETARY

The General Committee of the West London Law Society has met on 10 occasions this year.  My thanks go to the members of the Committee for their contributions throughout the year and also to the two Council Members, Lucy Scott-Moncrieff and Michael Franks, for their regular monthly reports to the Committee meetings.  Their contributions this year have been enormous as the profession tries to grapple with Clementi and Carter.  I would also like to thank the partners of Messrs. Finers Stephens Innocent for letting us have the use of their offices for the monthly meetings and providing us with refreshments.  The Regional Secretary of the Greater London Law Society, Morag Goldfinch, has also continued to support the Society by attending some of the monthly Committee meetings.  However it will be noted that the Law Society are no longer able to send circulars and flyers for the various events.  The problem of communicating with our members has been an issue for the Committee throughout the year, but we appear to be moving towards a solution, which I will allude to later in this report. 

Our President this year, Julian Young, has led the Society with his usual passion and vigour.  Notwithstanding the ever increasing demands of running a busy legal aid practice, Julian has been able to maintain the Society’s position as one of the most active local Law Society’s in London.  He has been ably assisted by his Vice-President Frankie Goodman, and the former President Michael Nathan.  During the course of our meetings we have had robust reports from the Membership Sub-Committee, Education and Training Sub-Committee, Trainee and Young Solicitors Sub-Committee and the Family Sub-Committee.  Credit must go to the Membership Secretary Ben Lansbury who, with the assistance of Richard Dexter, has created a whole new data base of members.  It is highly encouraging that the membership lists continues to grow.  The Education and Training Sub-Committee has been ably led by Dr. Kyriakides.  It is also highly encouraging to see the Trainee and Young Solicitors organisation continue to grow under the leadership of Shona Perkins.  They organise their own social and educational events, to which Committee Members are also invited.  Finally the Family Law Sub-Committee is headed up by Karina Leapman, and they have proven to be very active.

During  the course of the year, the Society organised seven educational and training events all of these events.  All of these events have been held at the Royal Air Force Club in Piccadilly.  We thank Maurice Nadeem, life President, and member of the club for his assistance in organising the events.  Clearly the purpose of the events is partly educational, and to assist members in obtaining CPD points, but they also give an opportunity for members to meet each other. 

On the 22^nd March 2007, we held an event giving an over view of the Companies Act 2006.  Mark Watson-Ghandi Counsel from 13 Old Square and Professor of Corporate Finance Law at the University of Westminster spoke at the event.  On the 24^th April we held a family law meeting which concentrated on the expensive divorce.  We thank Karina Leapman for her part in putting this event together.  On 22^nd May, Dr. Kyriakides organised an event on the impact of Clementi and Carter on solicitors practices.  The panel of speakers gave us their views, including an highly interesting discourse from Dr. Kyriakides .  The beleaguered legal aid practitioner may have been given some comfort from one of the speakers, who suggested if they could survive Carter, they could survive anything.   

On 19^th June, the conveyancers were given a talk by Colin Tate, the Land Registrar on land registration and avoiding requisitions.  In September we were due to hold a meeting on the problems that flow from solicitors ever increasing reliance upon information technology and emails. This meeting had to be cancelled, due to the problems in communicating with our members.  The problem with communication was particularly exacerbated over the summer break.  On 9^th October, Carolyn Brown, partner with FSI, gave one of her talks on employment law for the non-employment lawyers.  Carolyn is clearly a highly able lawyer, and spoke most eloquently.  The topic is becoming ever more relevant to owners of legal practices.  Finally on 13^th November, the  lauded civil procedure update event was presented by District Judge Stephen Gerlis.  As always Stephen was on top of his game, and shared his knowledge and humour with us both equally.

Finally an informal dinner of the Committee Members took place following the final Committee Meeting of the year on 10^th December 2007.  It is highly encouraging to report that all of the events were extremely well attended, and we received a very positive feedback from members who attended. 

Turning to the issue of communication, the Committee have now resolved to communicate with members through the following channels:-

1.                   regular updates on the website;

2.                   through our Council members correspondence with members;

3.                   Ben Lansbury has very kindly agreed to print DX labels for all members to assist the organisers of events.

Michael Franks is to be commended for his regular updating of the highly accessible website and for his monthly email newsletters.

Sadly John Gripton left the Committee this year following his decision to go into industry.  On any view he was highly instrumental in promoting the Trainee and Young Solicitors group.  The Committee of course now welcome Shona Perkins who has taken over as Chair.  The Committee were also very pleased to welcome back an old face David Rosenberg.  We have missed his wisdom, and look forward to his thoughtful contributions during the course of the forthcoming year.  The Committee also welcomed this year Richard Dexter whose background in banking and finance have been extremely helpful in assisting Ben Lansbury’s position as Membership Secretary. Richard occupies an unofficial position on the Committee

Throughout the year, Ash Patel and I have received  correspondence and reports from the Law Society and now of course the SRA which have been brought to the attention of the Committee Members at each meeting.  In addition we have also received  newsletters and circulars from the Manchester Law Society, the Westminster and Holborn Law Society and other local Law Societies.  We have also received various communications from members requesting information concerning the events of the Society, and have endeavoured to reply to all correspondence as best we can. 

May I once again thank all the Committee Members for their thoughtful contributions throughout the year, and to their assistance in promoting the Society.  May I also thank my Co-Secretary Ash Patel who has assisted  in attending meetings and taking the minutes which are duly circulated to Committee Members.  Credit also goes to the Treasurer David Fleming for his continued efforts in looking after the finances of the Society.

Finally once again I would like to commend Julian Young on his leadership.  Ash and I also look forward to working very closely with our new President Frankie Goodman, who brings her ineffable charm and candour to this position.  On any view this is going to be a challenging year as the reality of the Carter fixed fees impact upon the legal aid practitioner.  Ash and I have no doubt however that Frankie will lead us into this brave new world with her usual vigour.  If you are not already a member of the Society, can I now encourage you to join, as the greater our membership base, the stronger our voice. 

Andrew Wainwright