From the President...

I’ve really enjoyed my first few months as President of Hertfordshire Law Society. Since becoming President I have attended a number of local Law Society webinars organised by Nottinghamshire Law Society. These regular events are aimed at supporting local law societies to increase engagement and they have been a great way to network with other local law societies and pick up new ideas. So far I have attended sessions on organising social events, increasing engagement through the use of social media and ideas on increasing membership. I am looking forward to the next event in April which will cover communications with members. The topics are chosen in advance by the attendees and if anyone has any suggestions on future topics please let me know and I will be happy to suggest these.

I have also attended a number of events at the University of Hertfordshire in my capacity both as President of Hertfordshire Law Society and Associate Dean Enterprise of Hertfordshire Law School.

In February I attended the Hertfordshire Drug and Alcohol Symposium at the University’s Fielder Centre which was organised in collaboration with the High Sheriff of Hertfordshire Sally Burton DL. The event aimed at bringing together stakeholders from the police, probation, NHS and Public Health Hertfordshire, as well as local drugs charities, in order to improve inter-agency communication and collaboration. It was an inspiring few days and it was particularly interesting to hear the keynote speech by Dame Carol Black, the author of the government’s independent review of drugs, which has led to a shift in policy in favour of treating drug addiction as a health condition rather than simply a criminal justice issue.

In March I attended the High Sheriff’s annual awards at Hertford County Hall which recognised the fantastic contribution of many local charities in Hertfordshire including Herts CDA, The Living Room, Friends of SADA, the Recover Team and ELSA Next Generation.

I also attended the annual High Sheriff’s lecture by Marcus Taverner KC titled ‘May the Best Lawyer Win – the Adversarial versus the Inquisitorial Systems of Justice’. Marcus, who is a leading Construction KC and International Arbitrator, was a very engaging speaker and raised some interesting issues about the merits of our adversarial system.

Unfortunately the lecture clashed with the ICAEW Beds, Bucks & Herts President's Dinner and I am grateful to Treasurer Judith Gower for attending the dinner at Sopwell House in my place.

I was delighted to attend the Derby and District Annual Dinner at the end of March. The event was held at the home of Derby County Football Club Pride Park and I was thrilled to attend the President’s reception in the Director’s Box (pictured below).

It was a lovely evening and I had the opportunity to chat to a number of fellow local Law Society colleagues including the current President of Derbyshire Law Society Manesha Ruparel, Northamptonshire Law Society president Jabeer Miah, Birmingham Law Society Vice President Alice Kinder, Nottinghamshire Law Society President Janine McKinney and former president of Leicestershire Law Society Mathew Olner. Manesha made an inspiring speech about her experience as the first person in her family to attend university and to qualify as a solicitor, and the first person of colour to become President of Derbyshire Law Society.

The evening was topped off by a wonderful show by magician Alan Hudson who managed to magic away a diamond engagement ring belonging to Janine McKinney, who also happens to be the Chief Crown Prosecutor for the East Midlands! Luckily it was returned safely before any charges could be brought.

As part of International Women’s Day I was honoured to be invited to talk about my career journey as part of the Curwens IWD event together with Modupe Smith (Hertfordshire Law School), Sona Mehta (City Law School) and business consultants Jayne Bratton and Charlotte Dennis (pictured overleaf). This year’s theme was Embracing Equity and the speakers spoke passionately about what this meant to them.

I would like to thank the members of the Annual Dinner subgroup (Kirsty, Tahir, Steven and Judith) for all their help with organising the annual dinner which is due to take place at Hatfield House on 6 July. Grace Ononiwu, the Director of Legal Services for the CPS, has confirmed that she can attend as our keynote speaker and this promises to be a really wonderful evening. The ‘Save the Date’ emails went out just before Easter and we are planning to send out formal invitations in the next week or two. We will be contacting members shortly to invite nominations for the award categories:

• Junior Lawyer of the Year

• Excellence in Client Services

• Lifetime Achievement Award

• Community Engagement Award

• Professional Colleague Award

The Professional Colleague Award is new for this year and we look forward to celebrating the achievements of the many hard working administrators, executive assistants and office managers across Hertfordshire.

March also saw the 10 year anniversary for the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act which decimated civil legal aid. The Law Society published new heat maps showing expanding legal advice deserts in areas including housing, welfare, education, community care and immigration since the 2012 act took numerous areas out of scope. The number of legal aid cases to help people get early advice dropped from almost a million in 2009/10 to just 130,000 in 2021/22. The number of advice agencies and law centres doing this work has fallen by 59%. The President of the Law Society Lubna Shuja gave a number of interviews highlighting the anniversary and said, ‘Legal aid can be the difference between a family staying in a safe home or being made homeless, protection from domestic abuse or trapped in an abusive relationship. It can be what ensures that a child with disabilities gets the education and support they need.’

Over the next few weeks I am looking forward to attending the Hertfordshire Family Justice Board lecture on 27 April 2023 with Charles Hale KC and Dr Hessel Willemsen and the Nottinghamshire Annual Dinner at the end of April.

We are planning a number of family law training sessions and will be in touch soon with more information and dates.

We have also booked in a Stress Reduction Workshop with David Jockelson, a family solicitor and therapist. The sessions, which are free of charge, are open to all HLS members and are taking place on Zoom on Thursday 11 May between 1 and 2pm, and again between 5.30 and 6.30pm, for those who cannot make the lunchtime session. To find out more and sign up please visit the HLS website.

Once again I thank the committee who all volunteer and are busy working hard to plan for more events in the year. If you have any interest in joining the committee or any ideas for events, lectures or seminars then please get in touch.

Diana Kirsch President Hertfordshire Law Society