President’s Jottings

SUMMER 2020

It has been over 100 days since we were told to stay at home, to protect the NHS and save lives. Lockdown has altered all our lives in a fundamental way. It has challenged many of us in ways we never would have imagined and the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is impacting law firms in an exceptional way.

Clients across most sectors have been understandably nervous to spend, or have been putting plans on hold, but some areas have seen a boost in work. Some work areas, such as property transactions, ground to a halt during lockdown.

We know that some of our members are facing financial pressures during this time and we have looked to support you as best we can by providing guidance, webinars and resources to help you navigate the impact Coronavirus is having on you and your business.

During lockdown we have:

■ hosted a number of business continuity webinars on a range of topics, including cash flow management, cyber security and marketing;

■ hosted several interactive online forums focusing on particular areas of law enabling members to meet to discuss current issues and possible solutions. Forums covered private client work and property law and proved to be very popular;

■ focused on conveyancing and provided a series of webinars covering conveyancing issues; and

■ provided over 40 pieces of guidance and signposted information via the SLS website, social media and email updates.

All of the support has been provided free of charge to members and we hope that you have found it helpful. None of this would have been possible though without the hard work and dedication of the SLS team and the support of our patrons. I would like to personally thank Helen Opie, Kieran Bowe, Victoria Clarke and Mumtaz Hussain in particular for their help over the last few months.

Looking ahead as we ease our way out of lockdown, we will continue to provide members with guidance and information where we can and will look to resume some of the courses on our programme for 2020. We made the decision to postpone the SLS Awards until March 2021, but nominations are still open and it remains a great opportunity to showcase your talent in difficult times.

As well as chairing several of our webinars, I have attended a number of virtual meetings with the Law Society, the County Societies Group and others to share ideas and experiences and to better understand what is happening across the country.

There are signs that things are starting to improve, but there is still a long way to go before we are out of the woods with regard to the Coronavirus pandemic and we must not forget other issues that are also coming down the track, including Brexit, the closure of the Solicitors Indemnity Fund (SIF) and the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) to name just a few.

While there is some breathing space because the closure of SIF has been postponed for 12 months until 30 September 2021, the issue of being unable to obtain suitable insurance cover has not gone away and it remains to be seen whether that will change in a marketplace that has continued to harden during the Coronavirus pandemic. On the subject of SQE, I chaired a three hour online roundtable discussion with the Surrey Junior Lawyers Division, Julie Brannan, Director of Education and Training at the SRA, Benedict Fisher, Head of External Communications at the SRA, the University of Law and the University of Surrey Law School on 9th July 2020. The meeting was productive, with many questions asked of the SRA to get clarity on issues and to raise concerns that people have with the changes proposed by SQE, and I stressed to the SRA that it is important that it gets SQE right because it will impact our profession for generations to come. My thanks must go to Surrey Junior Lawyers Division and, in particular, Martin Whitehorn and Yasmin Curry, for all their hard work in organising the roundtable discussion. It is great to see that we have such an active branch of the JLD in Surrey that is doing good work supporting junior lawyers across the county.

Reflecting on the last few months, I am proud of what the SLS has achieved in very challenging and troubling times. The Coronavirus pandemic was not in any business plan for 2020 and we, like you, have had to adapt and we will continue to do so as an organisation to support you as best we can. If you have any feedback on the work that the SLS has been doing, it would be great to hear from you. If you would like to get involved in the work of the SLS, please do get in touch with Helen Opie because there has never been a more important time to help shape the future of the profession. With my very best wishes. ■

Nick Ball

President