Officers and Committee Members for 2023-24

Officers

President*

Oliver Maxwell Nelsons 01332 378696 oliver.maxwell@nelsonslaw.co.uk

Vice-President*

Tina Attenborough Attenborough Law, Derby Tel: 01332 558508 tina@attenboroughlaw.co.uk

Immediate Past President* Manesha Ruparel Alexander & Co Solicitors LLP Tel: (01332) 600005 mr@aandco.co.uk

Deputy Vice-President* Lucy Tissington lucy.tissington@familylawgroup. co.uk

Honorary Secretary* Fiona Apthorpe Geldards LLP, Derby Tel: 01332 378335 Fiona.Apthorpe@geldards.com

(*=Ex-Officio)

Parliamentary Liaison Officer

Julie Skill, Elliot Mather LLP Chesterfield Tel: 01246 231288 julie.skill@elliotmather.co.uk

Public Relations Officer (+) Vacant

Derby Junior Lawyers Alex Needham alexander.needham@geldards. com

John Ellis john.ellis@aandco.co.uk

Laura Matthews laura.matthews@geldards.com

Constituency Council Representative, Derbyshire (+) Shama Gupta shama.gupta@freeths.co.uk

(+)attendCommitteebyinvitation

Other Committee Members Julie Skill, Elliot Mather LLP Chesterfield Tel: 01246 231288; julie.skill@elliotmather.co.uk

Tina Attenborough tina@attenboroughlaw.co.uk

Andrew Cochrane Flint Bishop, Derby Tel: 01332 340211 andrew.cochrane@flintbishop. co.uk

Diana Copestake Freeth Cartwright LLP Tel: 0845 2725674 diana.copestake@freeths.co.uk

David Hardy Tel: 01332 842008 david.hardy1630@gmail.com

Natalie Haydon-Yeung Geldards LLP 01332 331631 natalie.yeung@geldards.com

Martin Salt martinsalt@johnmlewis.co.uk

Tel: 01773 540480

Della Copley Della.copley@geldards.com

Sue Jennings Tel: (M) 07946 609436 s.jennings@derby.ac.uk

Treasurer*

Ben Lawson Elliot Mather LLP Tel: 01246 231288 ben.lawson@elliotmather.co.uk

Claire Rudkin Flint Bishop, Derby Tel: 01332 340211 claire.rudkin@flintbishop.co.uk

Simon Stevens

Eddowes Waldron 01332 348484 sws@ewlaw.co.uk

Chloe Summers chloe.summers@nelsonslaw.co.uk area representative Peter Lord 9 Larkhill, Swanwick DE55 1DD Tel: 01773 541753

Administrator / Bulletin Editor Julia Saunders, 14 Risborrow Close, Etwall, Derby DE65 6HY Tel: 01283 734989 Mobile: 07964 358042

Email: admin@derbylaw.net

Sub-Committees (Secretaryinitalics)

Criminal Litigation SimonStevens

Andy Cash Felicity Coats felicity.coats@elliotmather.co.uk

Andrew Oldroyd (01332 225225)

Education & Training SueJennings, & all Sub-Committee Secretaries

Employment and Business Law SueJennings

Tina Attenborough tina@attenboroughlaw.co.uk

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion ManeshaRuparel mr@aandco.co.uk

Tina Attenborough tina@attenboroughlaw.co.uk

Sue Jennings s.jennings@derby.ac.uk

Natalie Haydon-Yeung natalie.yeung@geldards.com

FionaApthorpe

David Guthrie dg@aflp.co.uk

Diana Copestake diana.copestake@freeths.co.uk

Fiona Apthorpe Fiona.Apthorpe@geldards.com

Fiona Lazenby fiona.lazenby@knightsplc.com

Julie Skill Julie.Skill@elliotmather.co.uk

Kelly Mower kellym@eglegal.co.uk

Liz Guyler lizguyler@eglegal.co.uk

Lucy Tissington lucy.tissington@familylawgroup. co.uk

Melanie Bridgen melanie.bridgen@nelsonslaw. co.uk

Natalie Haydon-Yeung Natalie.Haydon-Yeung@geldards. com

Nick Herbert nh@aflp.co.uk

Ruth Jones ruth.jones@smithpartnership. co.uk

Sole Practitioners’ Group (SPG) TinaAttenborough

Solicitors’ Benevolent Assoc.

Family Law

Lastupdated15.05.23

The final piece!

It feels like yesterday that I commenced my term as President and what a year it has been. I was warned by past presidents that the year would fly by in the blink of an eye, they were not wrong.

It has been a very busy year and we have made some great strides, notably: -

• The Annual Awards Dinner was a great success with lots of positive feedback, both in person and online.

• We have re-connected with our neighbouring law societies, strengthening ties, and establishing new links including Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Hertfordshire, Birmingham and Leicestershire, placing Derby firmly back on the map.

• Our Social media presence via LinkedIn and the launch of our Instagram page has enabled us to progress and modernise, helping to engage our younger generation of lawyers, increasing our online presence and attracting sponsors.

• We have developed Sponsorship packages which have helped to elevate the interest in our brand and increase the amount of sponsorship we have received. We can look to further enhance and leverage on the relationships we have initiated this year. I am pleased to confirm this year, that we successfully raised £12,800 in sponsorship.

• We also raised over £1,750 for our charity – Derbyshire Mind, proceeds were raised at charitable events including the DDLS Bake Off and raffles at our Christmas Social and Annual Awards Dinner.

• We have continued our close ties with the University of Derby, mentoring and judging the Skills Triathlon. Our relationship with the University is one of many of our society’s benefits, it differentiates us from other societies in the country and enables us to give back to the community including working with local schools in the debate competition which is always a great success.

• Other well attended and fun social events including the Christmas Social, the Quiz, a Golf Day and Cricket matches.

• The successful relaunch of Derby Junior Lawyers, they have re-ignited the Junior Lawyers with great efforts and engaged many junior lawyers in and around the area.

I wish to convey sincere gratitude and thanks to many. It was wonderful to be supported by such a great committee and team, notably

Oliver Maxwell and Tina Attenborough who have been a fantastic sounding board and key in developing the strategy for the future our society.

I am grateful to my colleagues and friends at Alexander & Co Solicitors LLP who have fully supported me and our society throughout the past year.

A special thanks to Derby Junior Lawyers, particular thanks to John Ellis who has been a key and invaluable support in the success of the last 12 months.

A big thank you to Julia in her role as administrator for the society, the day to day running and organisation of events is only possible with Julia’s efforts.

And as always, thank you to you our members, for allowing me the opportunity to represent our society as your President and the ongoing support and attendance at our events. Our members are the heart of our society, without you we would not exist.

I am pleased to confirm that we are moving in the right direction, as we continue to grow by failing fast and learning as we progress.

I am excited about the future of our society and have no doubt Oliver will continue the momentum and elevate our Society to the next level for many generations to come.

Manesha Ruparel President, 2022-23

Well the gong and, with it, the reigns of the Society’s presidency are duly handed over to me. It will be quite an act to follow but, on behalf of us all, I would like to convey my sincere thanks to our outgoing president Manesha for her stellar performance this year. Manesha, of course, becomes our newest immediate past president and so she can enjoy some well-deserved relaxation, for now at least. Manesha has demonstrated impeccable leadership this year and, in my view, laid the foundations for the society to go from strength-tostrength over the coming years. Thank you also to Julia for her ongoing commitment to the cause. Her efforts in raising the online profile of the society (as well as all of the other day-to-day tasks, without which the society would not operate) have been noted both internally and externally.

It’s been an exciting year and one in which, certainly for the first time since my involvement in the society began back in 2017, the president, vice-president and deputy vice president have all regularly met and collaborated as an executive committee to discuss ideas with a view of pushing the society forwards. There is, increasingly, a palpable “buzz” about the society and, I’m glad to say, its future. That collaboration is set to continue, with Manesha, Tina, Lucy and I all committing to retain the executive committee meetings during my presidential year.

It seems to me that support and collaboration are the key to progression but, at the same time, we need to be realistic about what we can achieve and, increasingly, how to demonstrate value. As an executive committee, we have often said (and I appreciate this is slightly cliché, but bear with me) that we are in the process of planting the trees under which we will ultimately shade in years to come. One element of that process is changing the way in which the membership is structured so that we can increase the number of lawyers that we represent. This, in turn, is part (and I emphasise the word “part”) of the key to unlocking the inevitable economies of scale that come with a larger membership when it comes to things like retailer discounts and other member benefits that we can offer. But, as I have said, value (both in a monetary sense and more generally) in terms of membership re-structuring is key.

So what about value? We have made significant progress this year by offering more training and social events, the creation of the diversity and inclusion committee and the creation of the property law professionals network (which held its very successful inaugural event at the Orange Tree on 22nd March) to name but a few. We also enjoyed the busiest and most successful awards ceremony in recent history and have plans to launch a new “Tapas Thursdays” networking event in collaboration with the award-winning Lorentes restaurant in Darley Abbey. All credit also to the Derby Junior Lawyers, with whom I am meeting next week to discuss halloween socials, after their successful re-launch. The Christmas social, albeit an intimate affair, was a lovely evening and something which we should continue to offer. I think we can all agree that Manesha’s nibble platters at that event were second to none. We do, however, need to do more if we are to take the society to the next level.

Returning to membership, then. In my year, there is going to be a significant focus on engaging with the member firms to see, ultimately, what they want the society to offer and how that lines up with the objects within our constitution. I am sure you will all have the constitutional objects committed to memory but, by way of re-cap, they are:-

1. To promote the growth of the legal profession and its reputation;

2. To encourage legal education; and

3. To facilitate communication between the local legal profession and the national law society and other organisations/ government.

I can’t think of many firms that would be averse to growth or the provision of more legal education which is, of course, key to our continuing development and success. Education is important to practice. To use civil as an example, those who practice in that area will know that the rules on Fixed Recoverable Costs are being extended this year, as well as the introduction of a new “intermediate” track (in addition to small, fast and multi-tracks). There are exclusions, of course, but going forwards most civil litigation lawyers will have to deal with not only the allocation of claims but, also, the assignment of those claims to a complexity band which will impact the Fixed Recoverable Costs that will be available. Keeping abreast of these kind of procedural changes is essential. As a society, we already offer Chamber-led updates on crime and family, but I want to increase that over the course of my presidential year into the areas of civil litigation, personal injury and noncontentious areas too such as conveyancing and commercial real estate. It may not all happen this year but, rest assured, in the same way that Manesha will continue to support us post-presidency, I make a commitment do the same.

So what of communication? I have found historically (and I stress this is in the world of civil litigation in which I practice) that there is a tendency for lawyers to be quite “stand-offish” with one another. It is a trait that is gradually (and thankfully) eroding and, increasingly, lawyers can see the benefits of communication and collaboration. As an example, I was recently contacted by a member of the civil litigation sub-committee which I tried to launch this year. They were enquiring as to whether we are going to seek to revive it and it is certainly something that I am keen to do. Family and criminal lawyers all tend to “talk” and that, in turn, results in more positive working relationship and, ultimately, better outcomes for our clients. That must be beneficial. Also, communication is key to referrals. As you know, Rotheras recently took over J H Powell and that, in turn, has led to them reaching out to me to discuss conflict referrals. This is important to keep legal jobs within the Derbyshire market which, again, is hugely positive.

It is in the background of the above that I now offer my services to the society as president over the forthcoming coming year. Once again, thank you to Manesha and, indeed, all the committee members for their input and efforts this year. Let’s see if we can keep the momentum going and ensure that the society has a bright and prosperous future.

Oliver Maxwell