EVENTS

MEMBERSHIP

About Us

The Westminster & Holborn Law Society is a vibrant, diverse and welcoming organisation representing approximately 20,000 solicitors and legal professionals across Westminster, Holborn and Central London.

Our Society is an ideal forum for local and international networking with a variety of professional development, networking and social events.  Our annual black tie dinner at the House of Lords is one of the highlights.  Our Society’s magazine, Central London Lawyer, keeps members up-to-date with the latest legal developments, and we welcome contributions from our membership.  

What sets us apart from other societies is our strong links to regional and influential international legal organisations.  We are a part of the Fédération des Barreaux d’Europe (FBE) and are twinned with the Paris, Berlin, Milan, Barcelona, Palermo, Krakow and Cluj-Napoca bar associations, among others.  We also have long standing informal associations with other respected legal organisations internationally.

Membership is the cornerstone of our Society and all members have a vital role to play.  There are many opportunities to get involved and we hope you will join us!

Membership Benefits

 • Being part of an inclusive and active law society with links to, and events with, regional and international legal organisations, including membership in the Fédération des Barreaux d'Europe (FBE).

 • Numerous educational and social networking events, including updates on important legal and practice developments.

• Reduced price attendance for members at Society events.

• Free subscription to the Society's quarterly magazine, Central London Lawyer, and the opportunity to contribute articles to showcase your legal expertise and promote issues important to you.  

• An opportunity to develop leadership skills through involvement in our subcommittees and to comment on, and influence, law reform and legal developments on behalf of our members.

• Promotion of members' achievements in our magazine and through our social media.

• A Junior Lawyers' Division (JLD), with membership open to trainee  solicitors and other junior lawyers, law students, barristers and pupils.

• Welcome reception for new members.

• Opportunity to apply for the Rising Star Award open to newly qualified solicitors.

• A voice on the national Law Society's Council through the election of local Council members.

• Invitations to prestigious events with other law Societies and legal organisations across London, Europe and internationally.  

For membership enquiries, please contact our Membership Chair Joanne Skolnick at cwhlawsoc@gmail.com 

To join our Society, please fill out the membership form on 

our website at https://www.cwhls.org.uk/  We look forward 

to seeing you soon! 

International Committee

Twinning with Cluj Napoco in Romania

We had a fantastic trip to the second largest city in Romania to sign a twinning agreement. WHLS first met Calin Iuga from this Bar Association through the Federation of European Bar Associations (www.FBE.org) and have been developing this link for some years. Calin and a group of his colleagues visited London pre -pandemic when we arranged legal interest trips and talks in and around central London.

2024 was the turn of London WHLS members to visit. Coral Hill and Sara Chandler, Chair and Vice Chair of the International Committee attended together with members, Gillian Fielden, Remus Robu and Maria-Larisa Lancu.

A twinning agreement was signed and gifts duly exchanged. The beautiful painting of Cluj Napoco was presented to our committee and it will be hung in the offices of Dawson Cornwell, who regularly support our evening events.

The theme of the event was to provide an insight to the artistic world of Cluj Napoco and to reflect and discuss the importance of human rights and justice are for the arts. This was particularly relevant as many artists had felt unable to express themselves during the time of Ceausescu. We had a range of talks from artists on this topic and heard about initiatives in Romania. We had a historical walk through the city which included visiting the sculpture in memory of the people shot in the Square in 1989. We visited the national theatre and saw an excellent performance of Twelve Angry Men

The Bar Association also emphasized the creativity of its lawyers by holding an art exhibition displaying work from its members as well as books, poetry and photographs We also were able to enjoy the huge variety of excellent food and wine available. This included a wonderful gala dinner where we were able to hear from opera singers and some contemporary singers. The final evening we dined with traditional Romanian music and dancing. We even joined in for some of it!

All the members of the Bar Association were incredibly welcoming and keen to maintain links. We will ensure we arrange a trip to London next year and hope as many members as possible come to meet them. 

WHLS Success at the 31st Annual Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot

This March, numerous members of the WHLS participated both as competitors and as arbitrators at the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, the highly prestigious mooting competition held annually in Vienna. It is a “grand slam” moot, attracting 365 different teams from around the world. Simply being able to complete both in the written and oral rounds of the competition is a tremendous achievement. This is why it is informally called the “Olympics for law students”.

My team from the University of Law at Bloomsbury successfully competed in the two written rounds, and in four rounds of oral arguments against universities from Italy, Mexico, Canada, and Bulgaria. Our panel of three arbitrators in each round consisted of academics, judges, and practitioners from Pakistan, Canada, Austria, Saudi Arabia, Denmark, the USA, Germany, Brazil, and Switzerland. We also had the privilege of having a WHLS member as an arbitrator in our first oral round.

The Vis Moot is not only designed as a competition, but as a forum to foster cross border ties between national legal systems. Within the competition, there is an emphasis on placing common law teams against ones from civil law jurisdictions. As a member of the international committee, my participation at Vis allowed me to start building bridges with members from similar regional law societies and bar associations.

In addition, WHLS members participated in a series of workshops and conferences related to ADR at the Vienna offices of a variety of international law firms. I had the privilege of attending a workshop at Baker McKenzie

on disability inclusion in arbitration. In this workshop, participants were asked to make judgement calls on a variety of disability related scenarios pursuant to ICC rules.

Finally, our team had the difficult task of not only being representative of both our university and the UK, but also the host country of Austria.

In September 2020 I became one of the first individuals in Canada to have their Austrian citizenship restored as a grandchild of Holocaust survivors who fled Vienna in 1939. This made our participation at Vis incredibly important for the country’s efforts to re-integrate the descendants of victims of National Socialism into the Austrian legal system.

It was a wonderful yet surreal feeling to be competing against American, Canadian, and British participants as an “Austrian.” Legally speaking, we were a home team in Vienna. Participants treated us like locals, and continuously asked us for directions, things to do, and even how to use the Vienna tram system.

Wildon Rutherford Kaplan

WHLS International Committee Member

Polish Advocates and the Advocate Bear visited London

In May 2024, the International Committee of the Westminster and Holborn Law Society hosted a visit of advocates from the Pomeranian Bar Association, Poland. Aleksandra Kowalska, a member of the WHLS International Committee and the Committee for International Relations and Human Rights of the Pomeranian Bar Association hosted the visit and organised a number of activities for the guests.

The lawyers' trip was intended to strengthen ties and discuss cooperation with English lawyers and to introduce the educational project of the Polish Bar ‘Advocate Bear’ to Polish children living in London.

The visit was a joint initiative of two Committees of the Pomeranian Bar - the Committee for Education and the Committee for International Relations.

Lawyers visited two Polish schools and gave four presentations to over 200 Polish children living in London. They spoke about the legal profession, students’ rights, online hate and cyberbullying. The children also had an opportunity to take a photo in a Polish advocate’s gown.

The lawyers visited the Law Society, Royal Courts of Justice and the Inns of Court. The Advocate Bear also had a chance to meet the President of WHLS Phil Henson. Advocates visited East European Resource Centre, a charity providing help and support to vulnerable migrants from Central and Eastern Europe and discussed the challenges migrants face when they move abroad. Lawyers left some gifts for the children: teddy bears, puzzles and colouring books donated by the Polish Bar Association.

The Pomeranian Bar Association has a lot of interest in international cooperation and educational projects abroad. Alex has recently visited Poland to attend the ‘Advocate’s Day’ - an event for students interested in the legal profession and spoke about the legal professions in England and Wales to an audience of 500 students. The legal attire, a wig in particular, generated quite a lot of interest amongst students.

We are already planning the next visit of Pomeranian Advocates and working on strengthening the relationship. Advocate Bear is still resting after the trip, but he will be ready to travel again soon. 

Aleksandra Kowalska

Legal Counsel for East European Resource Centre