Introduction
President’s Review May 2020
F
irstly, I hope that everyone remains safe and well in this time.
I sit here as the lockdown period has been extended, writing this and wondering what the future will look like for us all. Both inside and outside of the legal profession. Many people talk about how this time has changed them and changed their perspective on things and about how they will go back to supporting local business, whether it is for the weekly shopping or for other aspects of their life once the lockdown is lifted and they are able to go out again. For others it has also meant a change in the way that they work. From my perspective, I rarely worked at home previously but living in the world we live in with technology as it is, it has meant I have been able to carry on as normal, just from a different office so to speak and had “meetings” via video conference rather than face to face to be able to give my clients the same service they enjoyed prior to Covid-19, could this be the new way of working going forward? Only time will tell what law firms decide to do once restrictions are lifted and I am sure that different firms will have different ideas.
the restrictions are lifted. So whilst it is a shame that many of the social events have had to be postponed, such as the quiz and our annual dinner, we are aiming to still provide our members with as full a service as we can and we are still here, should you need to contact us or have any ideas going forward. In terms of what else has been happening during this period, we are still looking to move forward with creating links with our local universities with the aim of ensuring that graduating law students remain in the area to ensure that Hampshire continues to offer the high level of legal services that we currently provide, well into the future. Whilst discussion need to be had via telephone, email, or video conference, we do not want to stand still on this and will continue to push this forward. Due to the current situation, there is not really much else to say at the moment other than stay safe and I will see you all on the other side of this pandemic! ■
James Gleisner
President Hampshire Law Society
At Hampshire Law Society we are still going ahead with as many plans as we can whilst keeping within the Governments guidelines. We have had our first meeting by video conference for our education sub-committee. This was a good test to check functionality before rolling our lecture programme via the same method. This is something that, should our members wish, can continue into the future once HAMPSHIRE LEGAL 5
