CEO Report

INTRODUCTION

CEO Report

SUMMER 2022

It’s hard to believe that as I write this, we are almost halfway through the year. It doesn’t feel like much time has passed since Christmas, although it is nice to see the warmer temperatures and longer days.

Thanks to the sunnier skies, Surrey Law Society members were able to enjoy a fantastic evening of racing at our Past President’s Championship Cup, which was held on the 16th June at Daytona Racetrack, Sandown Park. With 60 drivers, comprising 20 teams, taking part, this was certainly our best attended race yet. You can read a full report on the event later in the magazine, but, needless to say, great fun was had by all.

In other news, we have recently released the shortlist for the SLS Legal Awards, which can be viewed overleaf. We were overwhelmed to receive so many nominations this year and I know that our shortlisters found their task extremely challenging. I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to all those who made submissions, it is so reassuring to see more and more people engaging with the programme every year, and of course, many congratulations to those who made the shortlist.

The Awards Ceremony will take place at the Mandolay Hotel in Guildford on the evening of Thursday 22nd September. This year, we are thrilled to welcome special guest speaker, Clive Anderson, who will also be our compère for the Awards ceremony. Clive is a barrister by training but is best known for being an award-winning and versatile, broadcaster and comedy writer, making him the perfect addition to the evening’s programme. We are also currently looking at other exciting additions to the event and hope to be sharing these with you very soon. We’re confident that this year will be our best yet, so don’t forget to visit the Awards website at https://awards. surreylawsociety.org.uk/ for all the latest news about the event and information on how to book.

Away from events, we have been continuing our programme of training for members hosting a webinar on ‘Fire Safety and Cladding Issues for Residential Conveyancers’ and a Supporting Surrey session on ‘Burning Brighter than Your Imposter Syndrome’, as well as longer online courses on ‘Pensions and Life Policies in the Context of Estate Planning’ and ‘Crypto-Assets in Divorce & Separation’. We were also thrilled to resume our in-person training with a 3-hour course on ‘Maximising Family Wealth Through Efficient Tax Planning’ with the excellent Robert Jamieson MA FCA CTA. This was our first in-person course following the move to TWM Solicitors, and our new venue provided an excellent base in the heart of Guildford, and only a 10-minute walk from the station. Our next course, which will have taken place by the time you read this, is a ‘Residential Conveyancing Update’ given by David Keighley, and we are thrilled to have introduced a ‘Trainee and Student’ discounted fee for this, charging only £40 plus VAT for 3 hours of training. Moving forward, we will be offering this discounted rate on all our future training sessions to ensure that we are making the programme accessible to all members, irrespective of what stage they are at on their career path. And remember, our standard attendance rate is at its lowest ever, at just £95 plus VAT, which we hope represents fantastic value for money for 3 hours of CPD, particularly when combined with one of our offers for multiple bookings.

We are absolutely delighted that so many of you have processed your subscription renewal following the end of the membership year in March. This year, we have tried to ensure that you are receiving even more value for money with your annual membership by including new benefits such as access to the Law Firm Marketing Club webinar recordings, as well as offering a whole programme of our own free webinars. The average attendance at our SLS webinars has almost doubled since 2021, so we hope this gives a good indication that the programme is of interest. Don’t forget, that if you were unable to attend one of the webinars hosted so far, you can access this on our Vimeo channel, you just need to contact the SLS office, who will send you the relevant link and password.

As we continue to improve the Society’s offering, I would like to mention the work of our main committee and sub-committees, who are instrumental in moving the Society forward and keeping us relevant. We are always looking for new people to join these groups, so if you are interested in helping shape the future direction of the Society, please do get in touch, we’d love to hear from you. No experience is required, and we try not to make any role overly time consuming, so if you think you could assist with the main committee, or one of our sub-committees (Private Client, Property, Social, or ED&I), then please do get in touch.

As always, I would like to thank our patrons for their continued support of the Society, without which much of our activity would be impossible. They are:

■ Evelyn Partners (formerly HFS Milbourne)

■ Landmark Information Group

■ Howden

■ Tower Street Finance

■ Moneypenny

■ Chadwick Nott

■ Finders International

■ TWM Solicitors

■ Conscious Solutions

■ LawSure Insurance

It only remains for me to wish you a wonderful summer; I hope that those of you who have trips abroad planned have problemfree flights and anyone staying home will be enjoying sunny days and time away from the desk. ■

Helen Opie

Helen Opie

Chief Executive & Magazine Editor