Yellow Sheet

The Yellow Sheet June 2020

Informals Honorary Secretary

Carolyn Palmer Honorary Secretary At the time of writing, lockdown mode is still on and working from home is quickly becoming the new norm. Whilst I’m missing my colleagues and the buzz of the office, as well as my lunch time walks along the beach and group catch ups in the garden, working from home has its perks. With the sun rising nice and early, not travelling to work means I get to sleep in until a reasonable time, go for a morning jog and still be at my desk (my dining room table) and ready to start work by around 08.30 – winner!

Whilst working from home has undoubtedly freed up a bit more time, the last month nevertheless seems to have been busier than ever. So, what have I been doing?

Focusing on the things of most relevance, on Wednesday 6 May, I attended the second Zoom CIPA Council meeting and I must say I’m amazed at how smoothly Zoom meetings with large numbers of people can run. Once the meeting finished, I joined my second Zoom meeting of the afternoon, with my fellow Informals Committee members. Of course, top of the agenda was exams and with the, now cancelled, EQE 2020, attention has turned to (1) the UK exams and (2) the EQE 2021.

Firstly, for all trainees planning to sit exams in October 2020, please know that the Informals are working closely with CIPA to ensure that the PEB is fully aware of the need for early certainty and the need for the exams to take place, even if not in the usual format. As soon as the Informals has any news, we will update the Yellow Sheet. Regarding the EQE 2021, and the increased numbers of students sitting the Main Examination, please know that CIPA is working hard to secure a larger venue than usual to reduce the likelihood of UK candidates having to travel to Munich to sit their exams. Again, once I have more concrete news in this regard, I will be sure to pass it on.

In other news, many of you will have seen emails about, or perhaps even listened to, the new CIPA podcast. If you haven’t listened to the podcast already, I highly recommend doing so. In the next couple of weeks, I, alongside two of my fellow trainees, will be taking part in a podcast focused on isolation from a trainee’s perspective. Each of us are from different firms and have different levels of experience, meaning we will hopefully cover the different challenges that occur depending on things like the size of your firm or your level of experience/responsibility within the firm. If any of you have any ideas for further topics you would like to see covered in a podcast, do get in touch.

I think that’s all for now! Stay healthy.

Editorial

Jonathan Foster Yellow Sheet Editor After such a packed Yellow Sheet last month, we have tactically given the reader a lighter edition this month. As has become normal in these times, I won’t try and talk about anything ‘current’ or ‘topical’, because who knows what will have changed between the time of me writing this, and the time of you reading it!

If you are a trainee in Northern Ireland or Cambridge, your prayers have finally been answered – you have a regional secretary! Helen Lavery and Lindsay Pike will be taking the helm in Northern Ireland and Cambridge regions, respectively; so make sure you read their introductions below, and get in touch with them if you’d like to be included in any future events.

While Mental Health Awareness week is now long past us, it is still more important than ever to look after yourselves, not just physically, but mentally. If you missed last month’s edition, make sure you go back and read the brilliant article written by Val McCartney of Jonathan’s Voice.

And with that in mind, here’s Joel to introduce a new role on the Informals Committee…

Updates

Joel Briscoe Blog, Website and Social Media Editor Hey everyone, recently many firms and businesses have trained up Mental Health First Aiders (MHFAs), however, we understand it may be difficult to reach out to a person within your own firm, or your firm may not have such a role. So, working together with CIPA and Jonathan’s Voice, the Informals are in the process of launching a new role on the committee, the Welfare Officer.

This person will be trained through a Mental Health England approved trainer, kindly paid for by CIPA, so that we can provide that service to our readership. First thing first though, we need somebody to do this role. If this sounds interesting to you, and you’d like to know more – see the post of the Yellow Sheet blog (over at yellowsheet.wordpress.com), or email: informalsyellowsheet@gmail.com.

Regional Secretaries

Helen Bartlett East Midlands Regional Sec The East Midlands Informals are planning a “virtual social” in the next few weeks (exact date TBD) so we can catch up with those we don’t chat with on a day-to-day basis whilst working from home. We are planning to hold some sort of virtual pub quiz, so please do join in if you are in the East Midlands group. I can organise more virtual meet ups if people enjoy this one, so as always you can let me know if you have any ideas of what we can try!

Helen Lavery Northern Ireland Regional Sec Hi, I’m Helen, the new Northern Ireland regional secretary. I have been a trainee at Murgitroyd for just over two years, and I work between the Glasgow and Belfast offices. I’m originally from outside Belfast so thankfully this means I can visit home pretty often.

Before joining Murgitroyd I worked in London for Shell, in the IP team that provided IP support to Retail Fuels in both the UK and Germany.

I have already met quite a lot of the trainees in Belfast at exams/revision courses, etc, and once lockdown is over, I’m sure everyone will be champing at the bit to get a pint so I will be organising some social events in the Cathedral Quarter.

If there are any new trainees who would like to join, that would be great! Just send me an email and I’ll pop you on the mailing list – my email address is in the Informals contact list below. There’s not too many of us training in NI and so it’s especially important to have a good support network – the more the merrier.

As the UK exams are not held in Northern Ireland, the Belfast trainees always have to travel and it can be easy to feel out of the loop, so I hope that by getting everyone together for a drink, every now and then, the NI trainees will feel more included in the wider CIPA network.

I spend my spare time (which there isn’t always a lot of) with my pals, and aside from that I go to a boxing gym and try my best to get on holidays whenever I can! I was actually supposed to be spending most of April in California, as I had tickets to Coachella, but sadly my plans were foiled by Covid-19. Hope to hear from you soon!

Buddy scheme

Have you joined the profession in the past year?

CIPA and the Informals are working to offer a buddy scheme in which you will be paired up with a more experienced trainee from a different organisation. The scheme has been designed for those who are working in firms or departments with few other trainees. It is hoped that your buddy will provide you with general assistance and information relating to different aspects of the profession such as exams, training structure, how to access resources and further support, etc. The idea is that a buddy could help you settle into the profession that may seem daunting at the beginning, especially when you have no one else in your organisation at a trainee level.

If you are in this situation and you would like to be paired up with a buddy, please email either Sara Jane Paines (SJPaines@marks-clerk.com) or Khushbu Solanki (k.solanki@csy-ip.com). We will then find you a buddy. Please note that this scheme is currently only available to the trainees who are in their first year. Please sign up by 1 July 2020.