President’s Foreword

INTRODUCTION

President’s Foreword

Autumn 2022

Gemma Hughes

This is the last edition of the magazine which I will oversee. I hope that you have found the first three issues interesting and engaging. From our original meeting with the editors of the magazine a number of months ago, having no concept of what the end product would look like or what material we might have to fill it, I am incredibly proud of what we have produced.

A magazine is only made successful by its contributors, and this has been a revelation. Who knew that there were so many incredible stories and such literary talent rolling around the Shropshire Hills?

If you are interested in contributing to the magazine in the future either as a one off or as a regular feature writer, please do let us know at info@shropshirelawsociety.com.

In this edition of the magazine we have writeups of our recent events including the Shropshire Legal Walk up the Wrekin in aid of the Access to Justice Foundation, and the President’s Dinner held on 6th October where our guest speaker was Nazir Afzal OBE.

There is useful advice for all of us in a great article by Marguerite Elcock on managing workplace stress. Marguerite used to work for the CPS and also served as deputy coroner for Worcestershire, so she can clearly empathise with the day to day struggles of stress management. We also feature a valuable insight into mediation by Peter McLoughlin, including tips on how you can help to prepare your client even before the first meeting.

Finally there is a wonderful picture of Nigel Redfern who worked for GHP Legal for many years and who recently sadly passed away. Our colleagues are always much more than colleagues and I’m sure the lovely picture painted by Chris Scott will be widely appreciated by his co-workers at GHP as well as Nigel’s family. Whilst lawyers are often caricatured in the press as fat cats and ambulance chasers, and attacked by the government as lefty activists, undertaking this job has shown me that the legal profession is, above all, a caring profession both for our clients and for our colleagues.

With all best wishes,

Gemma Hughes

President