The President Writes

Welcome to this edition of the Bulletin...

It is a pleasure to be able to present to you the final edition of the Bulletin for 2022.

It has been a very busy year and from my own experience despite the raging war in Ukraine and the economic downturn; the change of prime ministers and chancellors; the increasing living costs; topped with the passing of HM The Queen; business has continued at a steady pace.

Having spoken to local Firms it appears most Firms are still busy and I have mostly heard that staff retention and recruitment appears to continue to be a problematic for Firms. I for one seem to have recruiters approaching me on LinkedIn on a regular basis and perhaps it’s the new digital age that is encouraging people to move Firms more?

I have been honoured to be invited to and attend the Dialogue Society Annual Community Ramadhan Dinner in association with Northamptonshire Police and thank you to Sophia Parveen for the invite.

I have again had the pleasure to attend many dinners and have had the pleasure of attending the Birmingham Legal Awards at the ICC, Birmingham and it was a pleasure to judge the Junior Lawyer Awards for them this year.

I would suspect things will slow down now with the rise in interest rates and the end of the year nearing. I would be interested in speaking to Practice Managers and Managing Partners to hear how Firms are doing and to arrange Firm meetings to increase membership and participation to try and encompass all of the Firms across the County. I via Carolyn Coles our Society Manager will be making contact soon and to arrange the Past Presidents Lunch and Managing Partners Lunch too. We hope to have a social in February too.

The NLS had continued to meet both in person and virtually. Council meetings are being held in person with some of us joining virtually which should hopefully make attendance by Council Members increase.

I have also attended the Nottingham Dinner and Awards and coincidently they also use the acronym “NLS’ and also annual dinners held by Derby Law Society, Warwickshire Law Society, Leicestershire Law Society and Hertfordshire Law Society. It has been a great honour and I have built some strong friendships and connections and the opportunity to exchange ideas and to comparatively discuss the societies has been great.

As your President I have continued my efforts to ensure the NLS is engaged in the local community and at the forefront of our President’s Charity, having received invites from an array of organisations and hopefully building future connections. KidsAid is a local charity that assists Children who have suffered trauma with much needed care; further information can be found at www.kidsaid.org.uk and the friendship between the NLS and KidsAid has grown considerably and thank you to Rebecca Caswell-Fox the CEO and Lorraine Elks the Fundraising Co-ordinator for attending the NLS Dinner and their continued partnership.

The highlight of the year has been the Annual NLS Dinner and Awards at The Marriott Hotel which were held on Friday 23rd September 2022. It was a pleasure to be sold out and to have so many of the local legal community attend. Having had a 2-year absence due to Covid-19 it was a privilege to extend the invites wider given my experiences at other societies.

I congratulate the winners but again we had very low entries in the award categories and I would be keen to discuss and learn of the reluctance and ways of increasing participation. KidsAid had a successful fundraising night and the dinner really highlighted the need in the county and our Vice President; Maurice Muchinda raised almost £500.00 in a charity Marathon too and we were able to help with the “BigGive” appeal too.

The invaluable contribution by our Patrons is great and we were able to secure attendance and sponsorship for the dinner and thank you to the Sponsors too.

The relationship with the University of Northampton has grown stronger and in May we were invited to an event entitled “Evening in Conversation with the Mayor” and Maurice was able to attend. The NLS were also invited for a tour of the Campus by the Vice Chancellor’s office which both me and Maurice attended. I have had the pleasure of attending the Law Graduations in April and November as well as the Vice Chancellors Drinks Reception. The relationship has developed and we are looking to provide Student Membership soon with a representative from the University Law Society joining the NLS Council meetings too.

The Legal Walk was a great success but we were low on numbers in terms of fellow solicitors and I would encourage more people to attend this year as it is a really pleasant and sociable walk and Carolyn has already started planning the same so look out for the date.

We have attended the Virtual Town Hall Meetings with the National Law Society and it is a pleasure to welcome Lubna Shuja as the new President who is a fellow owner of a small law firm and a friend I made at the dinners and SRA Conference and hopefully will support our work going forward.

We have now returned to face to face training and we held a successful Conveyancing CPD and Commercial Property CPD course in October 2022 which was well attended and hosted

by Ian Quayle and we are working on future courses so keep an eye out for Carolyn’s emails.

It has been a sad year as I attended the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Tea Party at the Guildhall on the invite of our Mayor and also Buckingham Palace for the “Party in the Palace” and upon the Queen’s sad passing I found myself at the Guildhall again attending the Proclamation of the Sovereign King Charles III. Again it has been an honour to bring the Presidency into the community and towns and I am looking forward to the High Sheriff’s Court’s Service in Rothwell in February.

DeMontfort University, Leicester have become good friends and as an alumnus I attended the first Vice Chancellor’s Dinner with Katie Normington and a number of other invites including a partnership event with Curve Theatre, The Leicester Comedy Festival Launch and other invites such as the Business & Law Talent Show, Investiture of the new Chancellor and The Leicester Science Festival were received. Again I feel we will be able to work closely with the University and its students to develop the NLS and assist the future of the career and thank you to Russell Towlson of DMU for the same.

In the same thread I had the pleasure of meeting I had the pleasure of meeting with Julie O’Shea of Buckingham Law School who is keen to place work experience students and assistance with their Street Legal Clinic.

I have for some time advocated that the Law Society have representation on Remembrance Sunday and the same has been resisted on the basis of a lack of time. This year fortunately in my dual capacity as the Secretary of the Northampton Bangladeshi Association (NBA) I did lay a wreath in both capacities on behalf of the NBA and the NLS. I am using my best endeavours to push this agenda and am hopeful the Mayor may influence some agreement.

I congratulate HCR Hewitsons on their move and thank Maurice for attending their opening and representing NLS at the same. I am a keen advocate of keeping the local Firms in the county and town.

Finally, it has been great to receive invites from Northamptonshire Community Foundation to their Celebration at Delapre Abbey in the summer and more recently their Annual Awards held at the Royal & Derngate Theatre, which I was able to attend and support our Charity KidsAid who won the Edge Award. I must than Rachel McGrath the CEO and Rachel Mallows DL the Chair for their kind support and invite.

I feel as a Local Society we are now more involved in the communities in which we work and there are great opportunities for partnership working and to “give back” to the communities and I would encourage members to contact me with ideas and if they wish to get involved.

On behalf of the NLS I responded to the SPG’s research in relation to “Conveyancing Solicitors being excluded by Mortgage Lenders” putting the case on behalf of small firms. I was also able to attend the SRA Compliance Officers Conference in Birmingham and the risks to Solicitors in terms of compliance, AML and Cybercrime are ever increasing and I advise those of us who could not attend to review the same on the SRA website.

I am still keen to engage new members and local non-member firms and I would be pleased to hear from such with any suggestions or an invitation to meet.

On a final point I became a father for a second time early December and I take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy Christmas and New Year and hope to hold a networking event soon so we can meet in person.

I can be contacted at jm@shepherdandco.com

Best Regards

Jabeer Miah

President, Northamptonshire Law Society 16.12.2022

www.northamptonshirelawsociety.co.uk