5 minute read
President's Review
President’s Review
MAY 2023
Well we have moved in to our busiest time of year and are pleased to be both offering and taking part in lots of social events, lectures, meetings and consultations.
The inaugural HILS ‘Bowl & Chat’ took place and was a lively, social event which was much enjoyed. It was a nice opportunity to relax and unwind given the stressful jobs that we do. It was also good to mix with different people and firms and understand more about each other and what we all do. The Coffee & Chat which took place in Whiteley was also a good event from which some new contacts were made for HILS which is always good.
The HW Conveyancing Seminar which took place in March 2023 was a ‘sell out’ (although of course it was free to HILS members) and was a great set of speakers followed by some lively questions and answers. A really good opportunity to both engage with some prime topics but also to see and speak with others in the same fields and share frustrations and experiences. Sometimes it is just nice to know you are not alone!
The HILS Quiz took place once again at The Grand Café in Southampton and was a very well attended and thoroughly enjoyable event. Massive thanks to HW Conveyancing for sponsoring the evening as well as taking part and to Quantuma for providing the Quiz Master. Huge thanks to all the individuals and teams that took part it, it was a wonderful evening, with good food, good questions and some good competition. We hope that everyone had a great time and we are also very pleased to have supported The Wessex Cancer Trust and to have heard about their fantastic work.
I attended the Bournemouth Law Society Annual Dinner in April which was a wonderful event at the Highcliff Marriott with an entertaining speaker – Edward Boydell who gave some amusing insights in to the world of Family Law. Recently I also attended the Dorset Law Society annual dinner at the Dorset County Museum, another fantastic event and wonderful to attend as it is the first they have been able to run for over 4 years, so great to see that the other local law societies are rallying and things are moving onwards and upwards.
Following on from the above HILS have their own annual dinner event taking place at The Hilton at the Ageas Bowl on Friday 16 June 2023 where we have an interesting and unique speaker lined up. Ben Owen is a Global Hunter featuring in the British, US and Australian versions of the hit show ‘Hunted’. Ben has featured
as ‘The Boss’ on the UK version. He is also an internationally recognised expert in covert operations, surveillance and online investigations with over 17 years’ experience. Prior to joining the British Intelligence Services he was a Sniper in the British forces. I really hope that people will be able to join us at this very special event, we are also raising money and awareness for the Wessex Cancer Trust and we will be joined by the President of the National Law Society – Lubna Shuja.
To coincide with Lubna’s visit to Hampshire for the annual dinner HILS are also organising various ‘roadshows’ for our members to visit and speak with the President on Thursday 15th and Friday 16th June 2023. We hope that many of you will take advantage of this opportunity.
We are looking forward to a Summer of activity with the HILS Scavenger Hunt scheduled to run again for the week of 10 – 14 July 2023. There is no cost to participate and it is intended to be a fun mini challenge for all – family, friends, students, colleagues and everything in between! First prize is afternoon tea for 4 at The Hambledon Vineyard so watch out for details about this and be sure to enter a team.
Our social media channels go from strength to strength and we are pleased to see many new connections each week. If you or your firm have any newsworthy items or events that you want us to promote then please share these to me or the HILS administrator so that we can enhance your memberships further.
Don’t forget that the review of our Corporate Membership Packages have now taken effect and we are pleased to confirm that these packages have been enhanced so that you get more for your membership. Now is the time to upgrade from individual membership to firm membership and take advantage of the additional features in the new package and the fact that all members of staff that hold a qualifying role within your firm will then be members of HILS and will benefit from the discounted rates and free events.
The efforts of the committee continue apace to bring you more events and more lectures and more for your membership. My thanks to the committee for their support, ideas and energy as we carry on with the planning for the remainder of the 2023 programme. If you have any interest in joining the committee or any ideas for other types of events, lectures or seminars then please get in touch.
We look forward to seeing you soon! ■
