5 minute read
President’s Address
Spring has definitely sprung! March has been a fantastic month for Birmingham Law Society, starting with a celebration of International Women’s day on 8 March and culminating with the 20th Anniversary Awards Celebration on 31st March.
On 8 March 2022, BLS hosted an event to mark the occasion jointly with Midlands Circuit Woman’s Forum and what an event it was. The theme, #Break the Bias, was fully embraced by our inspirational speakers, who shared tips as to how they have addressed bias in their careers. Thank you to Michelle Heeley QC (No5 Chamber), Bethany Stirling (St Ives Chambers), Jo Morgan (Director of Ethics and Compliance at BT), and James Turner, (Senior Partner at Tuckers). Finally we hosted a short video from Lady Hale and following a final plea for funds we are now able to give Lady Hale’s book, “Judge Brenda & the Supreme Court” to every Primary School in the region as part of the BLS book project.
I attended the Legal Dining Event at Keele University with some exceptional students, a lunch with Dr Jess Guth from Birmingham City University, an Insights evening at Hallfield School listening to the exceptional Rt Hon. Sir Colman Treacy and was a judge at the Global Legal Hackathon hosted by Birmingham University.
But, the icing on the cake was the 20th Anniversary Legal Awards. Our last in person awards was in 2019, and after last year’s virtual event, it was fantastic to get together. There was a real buzz in the room, with everyone ready to move forward, re-engage and re-connect again as a united legal community. And how smart everyone looked in person.
As we launched the awards back in November we had the new Covid 19 Omicron variant to deal with, there was talk of another lockdown, but thanks to our members, determined to recognise excellence in individuals and firms you made sure we had over 100 nominations for the awards. There were many times over the last 3 months that I didn’t think we’d be able to get together in person but we did.
It is a real testament to BLS and our members that we are still celebrating the achievements of our lawyers and law firms, across the city, 20 years after past president Mike Ward hosted the first event.
We all know that the Birmingham and West Midlands region is an unrivalled centre of legal excellence and it’s just a pity that the senior politicians and the press who are so quick to criticise lawyers, in many cases unfairly, were not in the room to witness the incredible talent and professionalism of our nominees and winners. We should and do take great pride in the people who make up our legal sector, which can only be described as a progressive, modern and diverse community.
Not only did we review the awards but also the panel of judges to ensure that we had the highest calibre of judges reflecting the diverse nature of our legal community. This year our head judge, Matt Hammond was not a lawyer but an accountant and senior partner at PWC Birmingham who brought with him a wealth of experience and business acumen from his time at the helm. The integrity of the awards is dependent on the rigorous process of selection and the tough task of selecting the winning candidate in each category. I would like to thank the judges for their time, commitment, independence and hard work. And finally, thanks go to our sponsors and Emma Jones (All in All Events) without whom the spectacular evening would not have been possible.
In order, to keep the awards current and relevant we reviewed all of the categories and this year we included two new awards, one for in-house counsel won by Cleo Stewart (Midland Heart) and one for equality, diversity and inclusion won by Trowers & Hamlins. In addition, the judges found the ED&I category so difficult to judge that they awarded highly commended to Shaid Parveen and Daniel Cash both from Aston University. We will be hearing more from our winners over the coming months in the Bulletin.
After dinner we heard from Andy Grant who motivated everyone in the room with his inspirational speech about his journey from adveristy to strength.
It was my absolute pleasure to recognise Jayne Willetts for the Lifetime Achievement Award. Jayne has been qualified for 40 years and during that time has celebrated many firsts including being the first woman President of BLS in 1999 and being part of the first group of 12 (11 men and 1 woman) to gain Higher Rights of Audience in 1994. Jayne has dedicated her career for the benefit of the profession as a whole, she fiercely defends what is right, she is powerhouse, mentor and friend and I could not believe that she had not been recognised before.
I do hope that you enjoy the photos in this Bulletin and it inspires you to take part next year. We have a full calendar of events planned over the coming months and I look forward to seeing you all soon.
