CEO Report

CEO Report

SUMMER 2023

This year is flying by, and it’s nice to be writing this with the sun shining and the promise of summer holidays around the corner. The Spring quarter has been as busy as ever for Surrey Law Society and I’m pleased to update you on everything that we’ve been up to since the last issue.

As you know, our President Madeleine Beresford recently went on maternity leave and I’m delighted to share that she has now had a beautiful baby boy, and both mother and baby are doing well. Since Maddie’s departure, Past Presidents Kieran Bowe and Nick Ball have taken on the role of Acting President, with committee member Dawn Lawson as Acting Vice President until the AGM in November. I would like to personally thank Maddie for all that she did for the Surrey Law Society during her term, as well as Kieran, Nick and Dawn for stepping in to assist with this period of transition.

On the training front, we’ve been continuing our programme of webinars, online courses and in-person sessions for members, with some of our recent webinars proving our most popular ever. We’ve been lucky to host sessions on Commercial Awareness & Business Development, Contentious Probate – Issues and Funding, Managing Complex Family Dynamics in the Probate Process and Maximising Income and Increasing your Profit Margins. These have been incredibly well received and I’d like to thank all of our speakers for giving their time so generously to present for the Society. Remember, our entire webinar programme is available free of charge for SLS members so if you weren’t able to attend any of the above but would like a copy of the recording, please do get in touch. In addition to our webinars, we have also hosted online courses on Capital Gains Tax –A Guide for Private Client Lawyers and a Residential Conveyancing Update for 2023, as well as in-person sessions on Purchases of New Builds and Shared Ownership Leases, and Use of Wills, Trusts and Variations for IHT Planning in the Stealth Tax Age.

June saw the return of our Past President’s Championship Cup at Daytona Sandown Park and you can read more about this later in the magazine. It was, as always, a fantastic evening with much healthy competition and good company. If you’ve never attended this event before, I can highly recommend it for the future, so do look out for it next year.

The shortlist for the SLS Legal Awards has now been announced and is available to view overleaf. Many thanks to all who submitted nominations this year and huge congratulations to all the finalists, I know that our shortlisters found it extremely challenging to score so many phenomenal entries and that is truly a testament to the extraordinary talent in the county. We’ve also been excited to announce our very special guest speaker at the Awards, Shaparak Khorsandi. Shaparak is a comedian, author, speaker and advocate for human rights and is going to be an outstanding addition to our Awards programme. As you will see overleaf, booking is now open, and we’d encourage you to make your bookings soon so that you can take advantage of the early bird rate. We’re also excited to announce that this year we have introduced a ‘second table’ discount, so you can now book 2 tables of 10 for just £100 plus VAT per person. As you already know, this year’s Awards has moved to G Live and we’re really looking forward to showcasing all your talent on a much bigger stage!

In April, the Law Society published its Guidance on the Impact of Climate Change on Solicitors, which created a lot of discussion. SLS Patron Landmark Information invited Surrey Law Society members to a webinar on 4 May which looked at what this meant for solicitors and asked what

lawyers required to be able to fulfil the guidance. We are now pleased to advise that Landmark are presenting a further session for members on 5th July on Climate Change Reporting - A Practical Guide, and we very much hope to see you there. The Law Society Guidance comprises 2 parts:

Part A is about reducing the climate change impact of the law firm and its clients. For law firms, this involves assessing the annual carbon emissions that the firm makes and then setting targets to drive down these emissions with the ultimate goal of reaching Net Zero by 2050 or earlier.

Part B of the guidance looks at climate change risks. For property lawyers, the key parts here are the duties to advise and warn clients about such risks.

In the coming months, we will be working closely with Landmark to provide invaluable information on how to fulfil the guidance and I’d like to personally thank Landmark for their support with this.

Lastly, I wanted to update you on a couple of the ongoing activities of our EDI Committee. On 9th September, Surrey Law Society will be joining forces with Surrey Junior Lawyers Division to attend Pride in Surrey, which is this year taking place in Reigate. We would love for you to join us, so if you are interested in attending, please do get in touch. The committee is also working on an initiative to promote equality and diversity within the legal profession from an early age, and is reaching out to secondary schools across the county to offer them the chance for members to give a careers presentation to their schools. Again, if this is an initiative that you would like to be involved in, we would love to hear from you.

Wishing you all a wonderful summer

Helen.

Helen Opie

Chief Executive & Magazine Editor

T. 0333 5773830

E. helen.opie@surreylawsociety.org.uk

@SurreyLawSoc

@surreylawsociety

Helen Opie (Chief Executive at Surrey Law Society)

Law Society