CEO Report

INTRODUCTION

CEO Report

SPRING 2022

As I write this report, Easter is fast approaching and fortunately Spring is now upon us, although the current temperature doesn’t really reflect this. It’s been an exciting start to the year at Surrey Law Society HQ and I’m pleased to share with you some of the recent developments at the Society, which I hope you will find of interest.

We kicked of 2022 by sharing our programme of training and events for the year and are delighted to have received such a positive response to the planned activities. Continuing our pandemic-related activities, we have scheduled a range of webinars across the year that are completely free to SLS members. These cover a broad range of topics and practice areas, with sessions so far on the CQS, The Family Solutions Initiative, Contested Wills and Estates, Diversity & Inclusion in the Workplace and No-Fault Divorce. Attendance at these webinars has been our highest ever and the feedback extremely positive, so we really do hope that they are adding value to your membership. Just a gentle reminder that only people nominated as members within your firm are eligible for free attendance, where others are asked to pay a £15 attendance fee, so please do ensure that you have all the correct people listed on your membership renewal notice.

In addition to free webinars, the Society has a full schedule of longer online courses, recent ones having taken place on ‘Protecting You and Your Client: Unmissable Guidance for Residential Conveyancers’ and ‘Pensions and Life Policies in the Context of Estate Planning’, and a number of in-person sessions, which can be booked at our lowest ever fee of £95 plus VAT. Forthcoming sessions include in-person courses on Maximising Family Wealth Through Efficient Tax Planning and a Residential Conveyancing Update for 2022, as well as an online course on Crypto-Assets in Divorce & Separation – An Introduction for Family Lawyers. You can view more information on each session and the full programme at www.surreylawsociety.org.uk.

The Society is also pleased to have resumed its Supporting Surrey programme, which is run in collaboration with Surrey Junior Lawyers Division and this time focuses on Mental Wellbeing. In February, we launched the programme with a session on ‘How to Leave the Office on Time Every Night: Tips on Achieving the Right Work Life Balance in 2022’ with Anthony Taylor and you can find an article on this later in the magazine. Our next webinar, taking place on 5th May, is ‘Burn Brighter than Your Imposter Syndrome’ and you can find more information and booking details for this on the Surrey Law Society website. Supporting Surrey webinars are free to members of Surrey Law Society, subscribers to the Surrey Junior Lawyers Division mailing list and students at the University of Law Guildford and School of Law at the University of Surrey.

In addition to training, we were also delighted to kick off our social events programme for the year with our inaugural John Perry Memorial Dinner, which took place on Thursday 31st March. This special occasion was held at Glenmore House in Surbiton and replaced our traditional President’s Dinner. It was an evening of music, laughter and great company and you can read more about the evening later in the magazine.

Looking to the future, we have scheduled our annual go-karting competition, the Past President’s Championship Cup, to take place at Daytona, Sandown Park, on Thursday 16th June, and this year we’re thrilled to be inviting friends from Kent Law Society to join in the fun. The SLS Legal Awards will return to the calendar on Thursday 22nd September, and we encourage all of you to nominate yourself or your colleagues in one of the 11 categories, details of which can be found later on.

Away from training and events, the Society has been delighted to renew its partnership with our 2021 patrons as well as welcoming new partners, Howden, Tower Street Finance and TWM Solicitors. I would like to thank all our patrons, listed below, for their continued support, without which we would not be able to put on the comprehensive programme of activity for members.

■ HFS Milbourne

■ Landmark Information Group

■ Howden

■ Tower Street Finance

■ Moneypenny

■ Chadwick Nott

■ Finders International

■ Pro-Drive IT

■ TWM Solicitors

■ Conscious Solutions

■ LawSure Insurance

In other news, many of you may have recently received communications from our newest member of the team, Elouise Enright, who has joined the Society as Membership & Events Coordinator. Elouise joined us in March through the Government’s Kickstart Scheme and is already proving to be a great asset. I’m sure you will join me in welcoming Elouise to the Society and she looks forward to meeting you at a course or event soon.

You will hopefully by now have received your renewal notice for the membership year 2022-2023; thank you to those who have already processed your new subscription. This year we have added further to the list of benefits that are included in your membership and are delighted to announce a collaboration between Surrey Law Society and the Law Firm Marketing Club, which allows SLS members to attend or access recordings from the insightful, informative, and educational webinars run by the LFMC on a range of topics specifically focused on help law firms to do better marketing. We hope that you find this valuable.

So, it’s been a busy time for the Society, and we’re looking forward to more activity over the next few months. We very much hope to see you at the Past President’s Championship Cup, or one of our forthcoming webinars or courses in the very near future. ■

Helen Opie

Helen Opie

Chief Executive & Magazine Editor

T. 0333 5773830

E. helen.opie@surreylawsociety.org.uk

@SurreyLawSoc

@surreylawsociety

LinkedIn SLS Group https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8731473