Birmingham Law Society Bulletin Dec 2019 / Jan 2020

BULLETIN

THE MAGAZINE OF THE BIRMINGHAM LAW SOCIETY

PROTECTING DATA IN THE CLOUD

THE BLS ANNUAL DINNER

COMPLIANCE

TOP 10 FOR 2020

FAMILY LAW CONFERENCE 2019

THE BOY IN THE DRESS @ THE RSC DEC 2019/ JAN 2020

ONE PROFESSION... ONE REGION... ONE VOICE

THIS ISSUE

ADVERTISE HERE INSIDE THIS ISSUE THE BIRMINGHAM LAW SOCIETY BULLETIN IS PUBLISHED BY FRASER URQUHART MEDIA. To advertise your business to Birmingham Law Society members call Fraser Urquhart Media on 0116 2533445 or email jon@fu-media.co.uk or kevin@fu-media.co.uk Editorial enquiries to info@fu-media.co.uk and editorial@birminghamlawsociety.co.uk

Disclaimer: Copyright Fraser Urquhart Media. No part of this publication may be copied or reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means - electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publishers. Whilst every attempt has been made to ensure accuracy in compiling this publication, the Publisher cannot accept responsibility for any inaccuracies, omissions, breach of copyright or otherwise since compilation. The Publisher cannot be held responsible for any material submitted to the publication, not excluding advertisements. The views expressed within this title are not necessarily the views of the Publisher. Acceptance of advertisements does not imply recommendation by the Publisher. © Fraser Urquhart Media 2019

4.

President's Letter. Another Year Over… And A New One Just Begun

6.

News. A round up of what's been happening at the Society and members' news.

14.

Regulation Report. Jayne Willetts Compliance Top 10 for 2020.

13.

Breaking The Myths Of Pro Bono For National Pro Bono Week

16.

Opinion. Solicitors And Chartered Legal Executives Can Become Judges Too

17.

Opinion. Brownfield Development: What Do Property Conveyancers Need To Consider?

20.

Out of Hours. The Birmingham Law Society Annual Dinner in pictures.

22.

Out Of Hours. We talk to David Walliams as he opens his all new musical, The Boy In The Dress at The RSC.

CONTACT US Birmingham Law Society Suite 101, Cheltenham House 14-16 Temple Street Birmingham B2 5BG Tel 0121 227 8700 info@birminghamlawsociety.co.uk www.birminghamlawsociety.co.uk @birminghamlawsociety Officers April 2019 - April 2020 President – Linden Thomas – University of Birmingham Vice President – Inez Brown – Harrison Clark Rickerbys Deputy Vice President – Stephanie Perraton Squire Patton Boggs Hon. Secretaries – Chaitali Desai – Eversheds Sutherland & Sophie Samani – Henderson & Jones The Board 2019/2020 Chair: Regan Peggs Director: Karen Bailey Director: Caroline Coates Director: Laura Daly Director: Catherine Edwards Director: PJ Ellis Vice Chair: Professor Bernardette Griffin Finance Director: Ben Henry Director: Dee Kundi Director: Tony McDaid Ex Officio: Linden Thomas Ex Officio: James Turner Contact c/o Birmingham Law Society www.birminghamlawsociety.co.uk 3

PRESIDENT’S LETTER

ANOTHER YEAR OVER… AND A NEW ONE JUST BEGUN - Engage with representatives from partner organisations – There are many organisations that it can be beneficial for local law societies to work with.

Such organisations are often invited to speak at Joint Five meetings. Recent examples include: the Legal Education Foundation; the Access to Justice Foundation; LawWorks; and The Law Society of England and Wales, all of which have good working relationships with Birmingham Law Society.

International networks: At the beginning of December, I was fortunate to be invited to represent Birmingham at the Reaffirmation of the Paris Bar. Two days of formal events and networking with Presidents and Chairs of local and national law societies from across the globe offered an excellent opportunity to fly the flag for Birmingham and the local legal profession.

Birmingham Law Society’s engagement with such networks will continue in 2020.

For example, we will be welcoming Simon Davis, President of the Law Society of England & Wales, to the January meeting of the Birmingham Law Society Council. Our Council members have already prepared a list of topics that they would like Simon to address, which features questions on the Law Society’s responses to pressing issues in property law, criminal law, the Solicitors Qualifying Examination and much more.

As I write this article, 2019 is drawing to a close, and it has been a busy end to another busy year for Birmingham Law Society.

In last month’s Bulletin, I wrote about the local legal community that is created through Birmingham Law Society and the advantages that brings for our members. This month, I want to shine a light on the wider communities that the Society is part of. Much of my time as President is spent representing Birmingham Law Society and its members within networks that extend beyond our local legal community.

The Society has connections at local, national and international level which can, and do, yield benefits for our members. Here are just three examples: Local networks: In November, I was invited to attend a dinner hosted by the West Midlands Growth Company, along with around 10 other leaders from professional services organisations in the region. The purpose of the dinner was to discuss the future of professional services in the West Midlands, including future strengths, challenges and opportunities and the likely future requirements of the region in terms of skills and infrastructure. The evening provided an excellent opportunity to engage in thought provoking discussion, 4 www.birminghamlawsociety.co.uk

highlight the contribution of the legal sector in the region and feed into the formulation of future plans to promote the region and the sector domestically and internationally.

National networks: A few weeks ago, our Deputy Vice President, Stephanie Perraton, and I attended the quarterly meeting of the ‘Joint Five’ largest local law societies outside of London. The Joint Five members are Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester law societies. These meetings provide an opportunity to: - Discuss common issues impacting upon our members and our responses to these - It is not unusual for a collective response or plan of action to come out of these discussions. On important topics, five voices that together represent more than 20,000 members of the legal profession, can be stronger than one, particularly when engaging with the legal regulators, The Law Society and others; - Share ideas as to events and initiatives that benefit local law society members – It is often the case that what works well and brings benefits for local law society members in one city will do the same in another and sharing good practice negates the need to reinvent the wheel;

Later that month, I will be attending a meeting at the French Embassy in London to discuss the work that Birmingham Law Society has done on gender equality with representatives of the French and British judiciary. And in February, we will be hosting a roundtable event with the Ministry of Justice, which will give our members the opportunity to share their views on means testing for legal aid.

Much networking lies ahead then. There are many new connections to be made and many more opportunities to promote our city and the interests our profession.

But for now, I wish all of our members a relaxing and peaceful festive season and a very happy New Year. I look forward to continuing to work with you in 2020.

Linden Birmingham Law Society is proud to work in partnership with our sponsors:

MONEYPENNY CREATES LEGAL LIVE CHAT TEAM the benefit of handling customer enquiries in real-time and using their websites to generate and convert leads.

Ella Nelson, Business Development Manager for Moneypenny said: “Law firms are becoming much savvier about the importance of offering digital channels for customers and the need to respond outside of traditional office hours.

“They are also recognising how potentially lucrative it can be, as 57%[2] of the legal live chats we handle are actionable new business enquiries and 22%[3] are during weekends and after standard business hours.

Live chat is a must-have in legal client care and business development.

Moneypenny, the world’s leading provider of outsourced communications, has created a dedicated legal live chat team to meet rising demand among the UK’s legal profession.

Moneypenny provides telephone answering and live chat services to more than 950 UK legal firms, including 65 of the Top 200, and expects to extend its share of the market with its new, dedicated team of three legal PAs. Over the last 12 months, Moneypenny has experienced a 115% increase[1] in the number of UK law firms adding the company’s Live Chat service to their websites. The increase comes as firms realise

Ella added: “One of our key strengths is that we thoroughly understand our law firm clients’ needs, which is why we have created a dedicated team of PAs to solely manage the Live Chat for firms – just as we do with our Legal Telephone Answering team – either some or all of the time. With their experience and extensive sector knowledge, we offer a specialist and responsive service to meet the growing requirements of this sector.”

Amy Seppman, Marketing Manager at JCP Solicitors who uses Moneypenny Live Chat on its website, said: “We’ve really noticed an uplift in the number of new business leads since installing Live Chat on our website. Not only is it convenient, but it gives confidence to our prospects and clients knowing that there are people who are available and have the time to talk.”

To find out more about Moneypenny’s legal live chat team visit www.moneypenny.com/uk/legal

BLS NEWLY QUALIFIED EVENT 2019

www.birminghamlawsociety.co.uk 5

NEWS

IN HOUSE COMMITTEE:

WE TALK TO DAVINDER RANA

PAST PRESIDENTS' LUNCH At the beginning of November, Birmingham Law Society President, Linden Thomas, hosted the annual lunch for the Society’s past presidents. The event is an opportunity for the current President to update his or her predecessors on the activity of the organisation over the previous 12 months. Many past presidents maintain an active role in the organisation, and all maintain an active interest.

This year Linden spoke about her themes for her presidential year, which include: 100 years of women in law; mental health and wellbeing; social mobility and access to justice. In keeping with tradition, the earliest serving President in attendance also gave a short speech. This year the attendees heard from Peter Taylor, who was President in 1985.

SANTAS' CITY WALK FOR CHARITY A team of Santa solicitors undertook a charity fun walk through Birmingham city centre, raising festive funds for national charity PAPYRUS Prevention of Young Suicide.

Colleagues from the Birmingham office of Irwin Mitchell swapped suits for Santa hats and (optional!) fancy dress on the day, with all proceeds going to PAPYRUS, dedicated to preventing young suicide.

PAPYRUS was chosen by the Birmingham office as its 2019 Charity of the Year as part of the Irwin Mitchell Charities Foundation (IMCF), an independent charity founded in 1997 which has now raised more than £2 million for charities in the UK and abroad.

Liam Durkan, PAPYRUS Corporate Fundraising Officer, said: “We are grateful for all Irwin Mitchell’s fundraising on our behalf this year and can’t wait to see the final total. Our work is vital, particularly when working with vulnerable young people at Christmas. All the money we raise goes directly to improving young lives and ensuring fewer families are touched by suicide.”

Jenna Harris, a Senior Associate lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, said: “A Santa walk seemed a great way to get into the festive fundraising spirit and make our final push for our 2019 Charity of the Year.Unfortunately, the festive season can be a very lonely time for some, which in turn, sadly can lead to suicide. We have been working with PAPYRUS this year to raise awareness of the issue of mental health and Christmas is an important time to repeat the message.

In undertaking this walk, we are hoping to raise money, while also reminding people there is help out there for those who need it. We are proud to be playing our part in helping to ensure more families stay together and have a happy and healthy Christmas and New Year.”

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Tell me about your career history: My name is Davinder Rana I am a Solicitor with nearly 20 years PQE. First role as a qualified Solicitor was with the Treasury Solicitors Department in London. This was a varied and interesting role which exposed me to contentious public sector work. Following this I worked for several different local authorities as an in house Solicitor as well as for private practices. I also ran several businesses two of which were law firms.

In 2015, I won outstanding business woman of the year award this was through the Asian Business Chamber of Commerce. The ABCC is part of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group and specialises in supporting the needs of businesses across the West Midlands arena. To receive such a prestigious award was an amazing accolade which gave me a more solid foundation to continue with my career not only as a lawyer but as a business woman. More recently I joined a mental health NHS Trust as Trust Solicitor before my current role as Head of Legal Services with Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Hospitals Trust.

When did you start at SWBH? Started on 8 April 2019 What is your role at SWBH and what does it involve? I am Head of Legal Services.

It is a real privilege to be part of such a hardworking team.

I manage a legal team of approximately 8 staff including the Overseas Visitors Team.

My role to is to provide sound legal advice to the Trust. The legal team handle a variety of legal work including Clinical Negligence, Inquests and Employers and Public Liability work.

Why did you take on Chair of the Committee? In house lawyers are an integral part of the legal profession but for some reason they get overlooked as perhaps not making enough of a valid contribution. I am currently in an in house role with the NHS. At times it can appear as though the role is unsupported and lonely. I therefore took up the role as Chair so I could meet like-minded lawyers in similar situations and also to help grow a committee that could make a difference. My vision is to raise the profile of in house lawyers and to provide greater connections with the BLS. I want to be able to encourage more networking and the sharing of knowledge between the communities and for young aspiring lawyers to consider a career as an house lawyer.

What is the committee trying to achieve… what is important to the committee, what is it reflecting on and the reason for the committee? In house lawyers were under represented and did not have a committee solely dedicated to in house lawyers. Since the newly formed in house committee, the committee is working hard to ensure that all in house lawyers feel included and can make a valid contribution to changing any preconceived ideas.

There are better platforms and forums for the inclusion of in house lawyers so that the sharing of information can be streamlined. It is envisaged that the committee will raise the profile of in house lawyers and encourage further members to join the BLS. This will be done by providing information to the lawyers of the benefits of joining the BLS. What do you like to do in your spare time? In my spare time, I like to keep fit.

I enjoy running, swimming and attending the gym. I also like to cook trying out new recipes. I regularly attend networking events forging new relationships. I will shortly qualify as a Corporate Coach.

My goal is to expand upon my coaching skills and abilities by growing my knowledge and becoming an NLP Practitioner.

Once qualified, I hope to use my skills by giving back to the community by helping young adults to achieve their potential.

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PROTECTING DATA IN THE CLOUD - A GUIDE FOR LAW FIRMS By Tim Smith, Technical Director At Insight Legal data? Law firms must therefore cover off a host of possible scenarios in order to take the necessary steps to keeping full control over their company’s data.

BE PROACTIVE WITH DATA BACKUP The most obvious action for a practice to take is to carry out regular backups of your entire database. Every law firm should rightfully have round-the-clock access to their full set of data, with the freedom to backup or pull all data from their chosen system as and when required. Today, the responsibility should fall on the service provider to make it as easy as possible for firms to complete regular backups of all practice and client data both quickly and easily. There are a handful of providers which do offer builtin data backup services as standard and enable customers to download data from within the system at any time.

Data is a vital asset to every modern legal practice. It is the backbone of both case and business continuity and without it, almost any firm today would cease to operate. As data sets grow continuously, law firms are becoming ever more reliant on third party cloud-based systems to manage and store most, if not all of their business-critical data.

That said, there are still very few suppliers which will offer this level of support at no cost, Law firms must therefore do their own market research to ensure their chosen provider can give them the level of control needed to manage their legal data freely. Does their contract imply that they can hold your data to ransom? Maybe it says you can have a backup but there will be a “reasonable” charge. If this is the case, then what do they define as reasonable - £1,000, £10,000 or £50,000?

Despite all of its advantages by way of ease and efficiency in a digital world, storing data within the cloud does not come without risks. Firms have to ensure they are safeguarded from a potentially disastrous loss of all client, case and practice data.

Checking the small print and raising questions in the early stages of provider selection will allow firms to filter out the market noise and invest in a reputable supplier that allows them to backup their own data whenever they wish - and does not charge you a premium for the privilege.

The consequences of losing data could well be crippling for a practice of any size; without access to correspondence or case information, practitioners simply cannot function and significant financial implications will rapidly ensue.

Furthermore, a loss of data would prove extremely damaging for firms when they have to report activity to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).

PREPARE FOR THE WORST Taking a proactive approach when assessing cloud providers will prove essential for sourcing a fair and supportive supplier to assist with your data protection efforts. Other scenarios, however, are often much more difficult to predict and therefore require more strategic contingency planning.

The question is, simply, that if you store all of your data in the cloud, how do you back it up successfully? Further still, how do you also protect yourself against the risk of your provider ever losing your

For example, if your chosen provider suddenly goes out of business, or runs into their own financial difficulty leaving them unable to pay for the infrastructure needed to keep their service running.

What happens to your data then?

Typically, most cloud providers will not actually hold the data in their own data centre; they will rent equipment or space in someone else’s. Firms must therefore consider what might happen if this data centre is subject to a disaster? In a cloud environment the responsibility for protecting your data will fall on someone else but are they competent and trustworthy? The cloud provider should offer very clear guidelines as to where customer data will be stored and by whom, as well as what will happen to their data when such events occur.

To avoid any nasty surprises, firms must ensure they are aware of their current options and make any necessary changes to protect their data in the future. Establish whether you can take backups of your own data or will your supplier charge you if you want that?

What if you can’t get a backup? Are you totally at the mercy of your cloud provider, not just if they go bust, but if their service level drops or they increase their prices; can you terminate your contract and get all of your data back? If so, will you be able to receive your data back in a useful and coherent format?

If your contract says you can extract your data by running reports, then it is unlikely that any migration from that product will give you the level of detail you require. Even if you are prepared to painstakingly run dozens of reports, can you access your entire document and email library in a coherent form?

The obvious answer to mitigating these potential risks amongst law firms is to eliminate them by choosing the right technology partners. Starting research well ahead of change, as well as ensuring they have full sight of exactly where their data is stored gives firms the head start they need to protect their data against unforeseen challenges.

Furthermore, they will be able to distinguish suppliers who conditionally hold legal data to ransom from the rest and find those offering the flexibility to back up data in full when it best suits their Firm’s needs.

To discuss this topic further or the services Insight Legal can offer, please call 01252 518939, email info@insightlegal.co.uk or visit www.insightlegal.co.uk.

UPCOMING BIRMINGHAM LAW SOCIETY EVENTS BLS CHOIR CHRISTMAS CONCERT 18/12/2019 18:45 @ Birmingham Conservatoire, 200 Jennens Rd, Birmingham B4 7XR RESTRICTIVE AND POSITIVE COVENANTS IN FREEHOLD LAND 22/01/2020 @ Clarke Willmott LLP 138 Edmund Street B3 2ES

GETTING TO GRIPS WITH ACCOUNTING AND VALUATIONS: FOUR SESSIONS 28/01/2020 08:00 - 29/04/2020 08:00 @ Mazars LLP, 45 Church Street B3 2RT BLS, BTSS & BSG LEGAL EAGLES QUIZ 04/02/2020 @ Bank Restaurant, Brindley Place B1 2JB

LEGAL AWARDS 2020 27/03/2020 18:45 - 01:00 @ The ICC, Broad Street B1 2EA BLS GOLF DAY 07/05/2020 @ Marriott Forest of Arden Golf Course CV7 7HR

BOOK YOUR PLACE AT: www.birminghamlawsociety.co.uk or email: events@birminghamlawsociety.co.uk

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NEWS

THE 2019 FAMILY LAW CONFERENCE Vanessa Meachin QC provided an insightful and encyclopaedic knowledge relating to financial remedies to provide an interesting round-up and update of case law. Nicholas Allen QC provided a talk relating to Dispute Resolution Arbitration to provide empirical and anecdotal evidence of current practice and procedure, in his position as an arbitrator in family law disputes.

On 18 October 2019 the Family Law Conference for 2019 took place at 3PB, Birmingham. The conference was an excellent success. The line-up of speakers included Sir Andrew McFarlane, the President of the Family Division, Sir Michael Keehan, the Family Division Liaison Judge for the Midlands, Vanessa Meachin QC, Nicholas Allen QC, Richard Hadley, Barrister at Law No. 5 Chambers, and Professor Lisa Webley of the University of Birmingham. The conference was chaired by His Honour Judge Robin Rowland, Circuit Judge and Deputy High Court Judge and the lead Judge for the Financial Remedies Court for the West Midlands.

Since its inaugural conference in 2013, the conference has taken place on a bi-annual basis. This year, for the first time, it took place on a Friday afternoon which proved a particular success.

We had record numbers attending the conference.

The focus of the talk by Sir Andrew McFarlane focussed on the well-being of lawyers and professionals in the Family Justice System. He remarked how, now more than ever, the immediacy of our means of communication causes a particular concern for the health of lawyers. His talk resonated with the lawyers in the room.

It, in particular, highlighted the need for lawyers to feel part of a community, such as Birmingham Law Society, to feel supported in modern times now as much as ever.

Sir Andrew McFarlane also spoke about the work of the Private Law Working Group and their report which he is considering, relating to a review of The Child Arrangements Programme.

Sir Michael Keehan spoke on the subject of the interim report of the Public Law Working Group, relating to recommendations to achieve best practice in the Child Protection and Family Justice System.

Richard Hadley, barrister at law, provided insightful lessons to be learned in managing serious and complex sexual abuse allegations, along with perspectives on procedure, preparation, presentation, pitfalls and perils in dealing with such cases.

We had an academic's perspective from Professor Lisa Webley to provide her thoughts on the use of “AI” and its application to the practice of family law.

A networking event followed the conference which was very well attended by the delegates.

The conference was a significant success in terms of the funds raised for Birmingham Law Society to continue its good work to support our members.

Thanks to our speakers and to His Honour Judge Robin Rowland for the excellent chairing of the event. A further thank you for the support of persons attending.

I am delighted to say that only positive feedback was received from the delegates with significant support for organising a further Family Law Conference in the future.

EDUCATION LAW DEPARTMENT FOR NBB. Anita Chopra has joined Nicholls Brimble Bhol Solicitors (NBB) to head a new Education Law Department.

Anita is a specialist in Education law and has an outstanding reputation as an education lawyer.

She is a leading expert in this field and specifically acts for parents, children and teachers against local authorities and schools.

She has appeared in the Legal 500 and Chambers as a notable individual.

Rob Bhol, Managing Partner

at NBB said: “It is very exciting for us at NBB to have Anita on board and with her assistance, we are looking forward to being able to offer this additional legal service to our clients. The education and development of children is so critical but yet, it is often met with huge challenges faced by parents not knowing where to turn in their time of need. Now and with Anita’s assistance, they can turn to us for help.”

Anita Chopra said: “I have had the privilege of

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assisting many children and parents over the years. This has resulted in a positive change in people’s lives therefore, I am keen to continue the good fight as part of a new team.”

NEW ROLE FOR NEIL No5 Barristers’ Chambers’ Neil Chawla has been selected as the first Master of the Midland Circuit of Lincoln’s Inn. His appointment follows shortly after he was elected as a Bencher of Lincoln’s Inn – one of the youngest elected in recent years.

Master of the Midland Circuit is a new position, created this year, as Lincoln’s Inn look at ways to engage with members outside of London on the Circuits.

Neil said: “As Master of the Circuit, and assisted by an appointed representative, I will act as a line of communication between the Inn and its members outside of London, organise new Inn events and initiatives on Circuit and encourage engagement through existing Inn events and activities on Circuit. The Master of the Circuit should be a Master of the Bench or a senior member on Circuit.”

Neil added: “I am extremely honoured and humbled, both personally and professionally, for being appointed as a Bencher and, in relation to the appointment as Master of the Midland Circuit, being a member of the largest chambers in the Midlands means I will hopefully be in a prime position to fulfil the responsibilities and assist in the promotion of the Inn.” Neil Chawla is a member of the Alternative Dispute Resolution, Commercial Litigation, Criminal Fraud and Proceeds of Crime, Inheritance Wills Trusts and Estates, Insolvency, International Human Rights, Mediation, Personal Injury and Property groups at No5 Barristers’ Chambers.

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Firms are beginning to implement new technologies to improve efficiency and increase profitability, however the move is still a slow transition.

Unlike other sectors that evolve at a rapid pace incorporating tech into their practise in leaps and bounds, the legal industry has been more hesitant to adopt many of these technologies.

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NEWS

GOVERNMENT REVIEW SUCCESS FOR MIDLANDS CRIMINAL LAWYERS appeared in front of the review panel earlier this year alongside representatives of the Magistrates Association, the Criminal Justice department and the Criminal Bar Association.

In its submissions, the BLS Criminal Law Committee outlined the key issues affecting criminal justice in the Midlands.

These include the potential impact of the digital reforms being implemented by HMCTS (such as the development of an online plea system), as well as the impact on access to justice of HMCTS staffing cuts and widespread court closures.

Substantial evidence was also submitted relating to the increasing use of live video link technology in court - an issue that is particularly pertinent to the Midlands, with HMCTS currently piloting applications by video link to set aside default judgments in Birmingham Civil Justice Centres.

Senior District Judge/Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot cited in the report the “very strong views” held on this matter by criminal experts across the Midlands, with the Committee’s position that “the first hearing in a not guilty case cannot be held by video link, as it [is] not possible to have the necessary case management” being directly referenced.

The views of criminal law professionals across the Midlands have been represented in a landmark parliamentary report on access to justice in England and Wales, thanks to the work of the Birmingham Law Society Criminal Law Committee.

The publication of the report follows an inquiry by the parliamentary cross-party Justice Select Committee, investigating the impact of the £1bn programme of court reforms launched in 2016 by HM Courts and Tribunals Services (HMCTS). The conclusions outlined in the report are supported by substantial evidence provided by Birmingham Law Society on behalf of its members, through its Criminal Law Committee.

In addition to providing comprehensive written evidence, the BLS Criminal Law Committee was also invited to give oral evidence to the inquiry. Matt O’Brien, chair of the Committee,

The Justice Committee report concludes that the HMCTS programme “risks excluding the most vulnerable in our society from access to justice” - a statement with which Birmingham Law Society agrees wholeheartedly. While efforts by HMCTS to introduce efficiencies and improve the court system in England and Wales are to be embraced, any unintended consequences on fairness and access to justice should be challenged.

Birmingham Law Society is proud of the work done by its Criminal Law Committee to act as the voice of its members and to champion the views of the legal community in the Midlands.

The fact that these views are reflected so thoroughly in the Justice Select Committee report is testament to the potential of Birmingham Law Society to influence government policy, and in doing so, to affect meaningful change that will benefit the profession and the region as a whole.

BIRMINGHAM-BASED LAW FIRM RANKED IN TOP 3 LEGAL ADVISERS TO CHARITIES FOR FIFTH YEAR Leading sector publication Charity Finance has once again named VWV in the top three legal firms for the UK's 350 leading charities in its latest survey, a position held by the firm since 2014.

Conducted independently, the Charity Finance Law Firm Survey assesses the size and effectiveness of the sector’s top charity teams in a range of areas.

VWV acts for more than 1,000 charities, from smaller charities working in local communities through to much larger national and international organisations, and advises on a wide range of challenging and commerciallysensitive work, including mergers and insolvencies, major capital projects, group reorganisations and staff restructuring.

VWV's Charities team is made up of 17 specialist charity lawyers and a wider team of 45 lawyers who advise charities on all aspects of what they do based in 12 www.birminghamlawsociety.co.uk

London, Watford, Bristol and Birmingham.

The team advises charities across the sector, with particular expertise in charities involved in health and social care, the arts and education. Clients include the Soil Association, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Society and College of Radiographers.

Con Alexander, who leads VWV's Charities team, recently spoke to Charity Finance about the latest trends in the sector, including a rise in "mergers of necessity". "For charities with a secure asset base, Con said, this presents an opportunity to grow and find new ways to serve the people they support."

Similarly, faith-based charities have faced a number of issues over the last 12 months, with Con recognising the "the governance issues that arise when running complex religious organisations in which the trustees are accountable to a large congregation that includes people from many different backgrounds."

BREAKING THE MYTHS OF PRO BONO FOR NATIONAL PRO BONO WEEK client. Michael gave his thoughts on how he and Gowling WLG have approached the challenges so often cited about pro bono, such as time, expertise, insurance, and how these have been dealt with and overcome.

Both he and Ayo spoke with enthusiasm but realism about their own roles in pro bono and working on Aji’s case.

Mark Taylor posed the question of whether risk really is a barrier for lawyers who want to do pro bono work. Michael responded: “It is a lawyer’s job to point out risks and find solutions to the problems.” The message seemed to be that risk should not be a barrier for a competent lawyer undertaking pro bono, given that it is something faced in the course of the regular day job. On the question of lawyers who are turned off by pro bono work due to profit considerations, Michael pointed out that while profit is not a bad thing, and is what law firms are there to achieve, we must not lose our compassion as a result of focusing on this alone.

On 7th November, our Birmingham Law Society Pro Bono Committee invited the local legal community to an evening marking National Pro Bono Week 2019.

The theme this year was ‘Breaking the Myths of Pro Bono’, exploring the perceived barriers to pro bono versus the reality. The evening was kindly hosted by Gowling WLG. The Committee invited a number of exhibitors from the third sector, including the Central England Law Centre, LawWorks, Support Through Court, charities and universities. This annual pro bono event is always a great chance to bring these organisations together to celebrate the wonderful work they are all achieving in Birmingham and to help raise awareness across the legal community about what pro bono initiatives are underway in the city and how lawyers can get further involved.

The evening included some truly inspiring guest speakers: Councillor Sharon Thompson, Birmingham City Council Cabinet Member for Homes and Neighbourhoods; Michael Luckman, Partner and Ayo AkinOteniya, Trainee Solicitor, both of Gowling WLG, along with their client from the Kids In Need of Defense (KIND) project. Our speakers were introduced by Mark Taylor, Chair of the Committee and Partner at Eversheds Sutherland.

Councillor Thompson spoke with passion and enthusiasm about the contribution

that the legal community can make in Birmingham. She offered her viewpoint from acting as the intermediary between people or organisations in need and businesses who may be able to assist them. She drove home the importance of finding ways to make charities independent and sustainable; to put the basic foundation in place to help them get on with what they need to do. This may mean looking at the way we offer pro bono in another way, perhaps moving away from on the day advice pop ups to thinking of ways in which we can support charities by using legal skills to help them set up, operate and grow independently, longer term.

There was an inspiring talk and Q&A from the KIND speakers, Michael Luckman, Ayo Akin-Oteniya and their client Aji. KIND UK helps children access pro bono legal representation so that they can enjoy their entitlement to citizenship or start their journey to permanent status. Gowling WLG has been working on this project in partnership with Katie Fennell of the Central England Law Centre. Aji delivered her own touching story concerning her and her daughter, which thanks to KIND UK has finally come to a positive conclusion.

Michael and Ayo talked about their own experience working with KIND UK and on Aji’s case, and in a Q&A with Mark Taylor, the group discussed the real picture when it comes to getting involved with pro bono, from the perspective of the law firm, the partner, the trainee, the project and the

As a Trainee at Gowling WLG, Ayo explained how Michael’s support had been so important for her to feel confident enough to join him on the case, which was significant to her as she felt she could relate to the client on so many levels. This personal element drove her to give it her all. Both Michael and Ayo agreed that the fear of failure was real for them, the case being so critical for Aji, but again that this should not be a barrier and that the human element in many pro bono cases is what makes the work so fulfilling.

Councillor Thompson concluded that every occasion will have the opportunity to provide an ‘ask and offer’. There is such demand for help in Birmingham, and it appears there could be an equal amount of help to be supplied, but something is missing to bridge the gap between those who want to aid and those in need of it.

This is what the Birmingham Law Society Pro Bono Committee is constantly seeking to address; how best to match the needs in our community with the lawyers who have the specialist legal skills to provide the help needed.

If you are a law firm, chambers or individual lawyer who would like to know more about involvement in pro bono, or is seeking to start or join a pro bono initiative, please do get in touch with the Committee: probono@ birminghamlawsociety.co.uk. For further information on local advice agencies: https:// birminghamlawsociety.co.uk/local-adviceagencies/ A huge thank you to Gowling WLG for their excellent hospitality and ongoing support for the Birmingham Law Society Pro Bono Committee.

Lucy Burrows, Supervising Solicitor BPP University and Ifeoma Ofuani, BPP Student Director (Streetlaw)

www.birminghamlawsociety.co.uk 13

REGULATION REPORT

COMPLIANCE TOP 10 FOR 2020 What does 2020 have in store for us?

With so much to choose from, here are ten of the significant compliance issues for the New Year writes Jayne Willetts, Solicitor Advocate, Jayne Willetts & Co Solicitors.

1. ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING PROCEDURES With the announcement in October 2019 that the SRA will be checking 7000 law firms’ compliance with anti-money laundering regulations, this must be the number one issue for 2020. An earlier SRA thematic review of firms’ risk assessments found that these were mainly based upon templates of “the copy and paste” variety without addressing the specific risks of the firm concerned. It also identified that firms did not understand their responsibilities when dealing with politically exposed persons (PEPs). Firms need to ensure that they have bespoke risk assessment policies in place and that these are monitored effectively. Centralised client onboarding procedures to avoid fee earner omissions can be useful as well as electronic checks.

Increased emphasis on staff training and then monitoring their performance is just as important.

2. SRA TRANSPARENCY RULES Yet another area where the SRA is proposing to check up on firms’ compliance in 2020.

Introduced in December 2018, compliance with these Rules has been patchy, with only a quarter of firms being identified as fully compliant in a random sweep by the SRA during 2019. Firms should have published price information on their websites but that is only the start. Keeping the information up to date with changes in hourly rates, fee earners and scope of work are all essential for compliance purposes but add to the daily challenge. All SRA regulated firms should not forget the requirement under these Rules to publish their complaints procedures regardless of whether they provide any of the services listed as requiring price information.

The SRA digital badge is also mandatory from 25 November 2019 for the websites of all regulated firms.

3. SUPERVISION There was a time when if a rogue employee was reported to the SRA, the SRA was satisfied with sight of the firm’s file supervision and audit policy and accepted an argument that however thorough the internal systems this was misconduct that could not have been prevented. That is no longer the case. The SRA now expects to see evidence of the supervision policy in practice – for example the SRA will seek disclosure of the file reviews. If failures have been identified on earlier file reviews, firms need to show that action has been taken to correct the lapses and also to implement appropriate action such as further bespoke training or employee warnings or even dismissal. So, any repeat offenders identified by the firm need to be dealt with robustly and the action taken needs to be documented.

14 www.birminghamlawsociety.co.uk

4. REPORTING CONCERNS TO THE SRA There is an obligation upon regulated individuals and upon firms to report concerns to the SRA. In addition, COLPs and COFAs have a specific responsibility to report on behalf of their firms. The reporting duties require an analysis of whether the potential breach is a serious one and whether the evidence is capable of amounting to a serious breach. The new Standards and Regulations and the SRA Enforcement Strategy are recommended reading. COLPs and COFAs need to appreciate that an SRA investigation is not for the faint-hearted whether they are reporting their own firm or an individual fee earner. They must record their decision-making processes in case of later challenge. Seeking professional advice and support also pays dividends.

5. SEXUAL MISCONDUCT The SRA continues its crusade against personal relations between staff working together at the same firm. The fact that these investigations should be left to the good offices of Employment Tribunals and/ or the criminal courts has escaped the attention of the SRA but not the profession.

Whatever the outcome of these “sexual misconduct” cases before the SDT, the key point is that firms need to listen carefully to the complainant’s allegations and then investigate thoroughly. The use of an external investigator can sometimes assist to maintain a degree of independence. A thorough and fair process by a firm will go a long way to persuading the SRA that further action is not required.

6. PRIVATE LIVES In a similar vein to the sexual misconduct cases, the SRA now insists upon extending its jurisdiction even further and regulating the private lives of the profession. The recent SRA sanction against a solicitor after a finding of discrimination in the Employment Tribunal in relation to a pregnant nanny was met with gasps of disbelief. The SRA now routinely takes action against solicitors for a single drink drive conviction. In the past the regulator would not stir unless there were two drink drive convictions.

From a compliance view-point firms need to increase awareness amongst staff of personal misconduct that is likely to attract the attention of the SRA and make sure it is avoided or if not reported to the SRA. 7. StaRS Nothing to do with the night sky but StaRS is the SRA acronym for the new Standards & Regulations 2019 in force from 25 November 2019. Firms will already be aware that the Principles are reduced in number from ten to seven and that we are now specifically required to act honestly – new Principle 4.

Firms need to be aware that the SRA is already using the existing Principles very widely in framing allegations of misconduct and this is likely to increase when further significant detail is removed from the rules.

Difficult ethical decisions should always be made with proper regard for the Principles – possibly with a written note to show how they were applied.

In addition, there will be two Codes– one for the individual solicitor which focuses on behavioural standards, and one for the firm, which looks more at business controls. In both Codes, outcomes are to be replaced by

standards and indicative behaviours are to be discarded. The Codes are more high level as the SRA strips detail to try and give firms greater flexibility for service delivery. With greater flexibility brings greater uncertainty so firms would do well not to dispose of the earlier versions of the Handbook in case of any differences of opinion with the SRA. There are also simplified Accounts Rules coming into force which do not require significant changes to their procedures but COFAs need to digest where the discretion lies. Prescriptive timetables, for example, to make certain transfers within 2 or 14 days, are replaced by requirements to do so within a reasonable time.

8. NEW MODELS OF PRACTICE Freelance solicitors and solicitors working in-house for unregulated organisations delivering non-reserved work are permitted from 25 November. Firms need to make sure that they know who is acting on the other side of a matter in order to protect their clients’ interests. A best practice tip is to “Know your opposite number” in the same way that you are required to know your client – ask for documentary evidence of authorisation to practise in case of doubt.

You may need to advise your client of any risks to the transaction of dealing with a freelancer or a solicitor working for an unregulated organisation. Because of the myriad of practising models there will be uncertainty. With uncertainty there may be unauthorised practitioners, and therefore a greater risk of fraud.

9. OTHER REGULATORS Firms should investigate whether it is feasible to be regulated by a different regulator. Other regulators have been found to be more helpful, cheaper and less interventionist than the SRA. A conveyancer might consider the Council for Licensed Conveyancers. Criminal advocates might look to the Bar Standards Board. In professional regulation there is not a level playing field – for example, in October 2019, the Bar Standards Board imposed a suspension of 28 days for a criminal conviction for assault. The same barrister had previously been fined by the BSB for a conviction for possession of cocaine. A second criminal conviction which damaged the reputation of the profession would have attracted a much more serious sanction at the hands of the SRA and the SDT. 10. BREXIT And last but not least Brexit. The saga continues with particular uncertainty for Registered European Lawyers, law firms that employ RELs and anyone providing legal services across the UK/EU border. The Law Society has recently published guidance on practice rights in the EU including the Irish practising certificates and membership of the Brussels Bar as well as changes to the data protection rules if the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement. Firms will need to keep a close eye on developments as they unfold after the December General Election.

Jayne is also a director of Infolegal Ltd www.infolegal.co.uk which provides compliance services to law firms

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OPINION

SOLICITORS AND CHARTERED LEGAL EXECUTIVES CAN BECOME JUDGES TOO Armed with this knowledge, in 2018 I applied to become a fee paid (part time) Judge of the First Tier Tribunal and in 2019 I was appointed as a fee paid judge in the Social Entitlement Chamber.

I had no prior knowledge of the relevant law or procedure. The induction course was a steep learning curve, but I was in the same position as almost everyone else on that course.

It follows from this that those considering a possible toe in the water of a judicial appointment do not need to wait decades to gain sufficient knowledge in a specific area of law to apply. The criteria are set out on the JAC website. The minimum Post Qualification Experience is 5 – 7 years.

Notwithstanding all the internal help available to counsel, I know of barristers who have spent a fortune on outside agencies and consultants to get them through the various stages of the competitions as they are called.

One of the differences I have noticed between many solicitors and barristers that I know have applied, is that so many of those solicitors ‘give it a go’ and I include my early attempts in this bracket. Whereas, my experience of most barristers who I have known to apply is the seriousness with which they embark on this stage of their careers.

There is a lot at stake. For most of us the money is good and comes with pension contributions – a reason to begin earlier rather than later.

I have a secret to impart, but you will have to wait a bit before I tell it to you writes Steven Jonas.

I was jubilant when, in early 2017, I was appointed a Deputy District Judge (Magistrates’ Courts). I was also very pleased at the number of lawyers who congratulated me. Many commented that my appointment was all the more praiseworthy because I was a solicitor.

Many years ago, when I first walked into a solicitor’s office, to begin what is now called a training contract, although it was in an old, established practice, there were no photographs on the walls of past partners who had gone on to become judges. There was no history of any partners or staff taking on any judicial office.

I became a solicitor, intending (insofar as I thought about the future) to be a solicitor all my working life. I found that I enjoyed criminal law and helping those less able to help themselves and that is where I have practised, with no real thoughts beyond that work.

Contrast that with a new pupil barrister who enters chambers, looking at the photographs that adorn the walls, of former members who have gone on to various judicial offices; the chambers parties and get togethers, at which former members, now judges, attend.

Although many barristers never attain judicial office and many never want to, there is a career path to become a judge and there is lots of help available, from judges who were barristers at the same chambers. For many counsel, being a barrister is a step to some form of judicial office and many are very driven by that very soon after entering chambers for the first time.

Back to me! I practised for decades without a judicial thought in my head. However, there came a time when I thought that I could give more, in some judicial post in the area in which I had specialised for so long, namely criminal law. I applied more than once and, in 2017, I was lucky enough to be appointed.

All appointees to judicial office attend compulsory induction courses.

At mine, in 2017, I encountered a breed of person that had never crossed my radar screen: people who were part time judges in more than one jurisdiction, and now they had added this judicial post to their collection. Importantly, they usually had no previous experience in the areas of law they had become part time judges in.

Several (mostly barristers) at that induction course had no previous experience in criminal law or magistrates’ courts procedure. What the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) seemed to be particularly interested in was the ability to manage courts and people and get through the business in a professional and respectful way.

16 www.birminghamlawsociety.co.uk

These part time positions require a minimum commitment of 30 sitting days per year. Employee solicitors and Chartered Legal Executives will need to discuss this with their employees and partners with their partners.

If you think that you might be interested, there is a scheme (through the JAC website) of applying to sit in with a judge for the day. If you know anyone who is a judge (part time or full time) in any jurisdiction, it is worth making an informal approach. The next thing to do is register with the JAC, to be notified about future competitions and follow the links on that website to create an account there. You can amend your details when you come to actually apply for a position.

The JAC website (https://www.judicialappointments.gov.uk) also provides much information about the application process and how to prepare for it. This is important. It is too late, when completing an online application form, to be trying to remember relevant examples of when you satisfied this criteria or that one. You need to identify the criteria as early as possible and consider them at the end of every day. Did anything you did that day satisfy any of the criteria? If so, make a note and gradually build up a collection of examples. Not all of mine were from work.

Then approach two potential referees. If they are prepared to be such, give them the criteria that they will have to give examples of, in you. Ask them if they would mind bearing them in mind whenever they see you in action and to make their own notes whenever they see you satisfying any of the criteria. All examples, both from the referees and yourself, should normally be under two years old.

Then there is luck. I know people who failed in the competitions I was successful in who were vastly brighter and more able than I am.

And the secret? I cannot speak as to what it is like to be a Crown Court or County Court Recorder, or a First Tier Tribunal Judge of the Immigration Chamber or other chambers. Whenever I sit, I am very conscious of the privilege it is to be appointed and to the responsibilities involved. However, in those jurisdictions that I do sit, even with all the work involved, it is the most enormous fun! I may end a sitting day exhausted, but I cannot recall any that did not enjoy.

If anyone wants to speak to me about any aspects of what I have written here, please feel free to contact me.

Steven Jonas is a partner at Jonas Roy Bloom, solicitors, Birmingham, former President of the Birmingham Law Society and former Chair of its Criminal Law Committee.

LEGALLY (DIS)ABLED: WHAT DOES DISABILITY IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION REALLY MEAN?

By Birmingham Law Society’s Disability Sub-Committee of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee It is increasingly difficult for deaf clients to access legal services; the profession is still poorly equipped to promote reasonable adjustments for both clients and employees and, within the profession, there is a reluctance to declare a disability. Through the work of the Disability Sub-Committee (DSC), we aim to continue creating further conversations on disability and encouraging progress.

Earlier this year, we invited our members to complete the ‘Legally Disabled?’ questionnaire, part of nationwide research by Cardiff University to explore the experiences of disabled people in the legal profession.

Disability is all-encompassing and can include physical and mental health illnesses.

According to Scope, there are now 14 million disabled people in the UK which means disabled people now make up more than 22% of the UK population – more than one in five.

However, Scope’s research shows there are many misconceptions, as 1 in 3 people see disabled people as being less productive than non-disabled people. We all need to take part in the conversation surrounding disability to remove misunderstandings and ensure that we are all on an equal footing.

In recent years, there has been an increase in the understanding of disability in the legal profession.

However, there is still much room for improvement.

The initial findings from this questionnaire found: • It is substantially more difficult for disabled people to work in the legal profession. Findings suggest reasonable adjustments and support can be the luck of the draw.

• The legal profession continues to promote traditional working patterns and career expectations which can be unrealistic for some disabled people.

• Supportive colleagues and the presence of mentors are important factors for enabling career progression for disabled people.

Taking this into account, the DSC supports the ‘Social Model of Disability’. This recognises that

disability is caused by the way society is organised.

It takes the view that society creates barriers that disable people from participating fully and on an equal basis with others. Barriers can be physical, like buildings not having ramps, or they can be caused by people’s attitudes. The DSC focuses on removing the barriers for disabled people to encourage active representation in the legal profession.

On Thursday 30 January 2020, the DSC is hosting their first panel event to explore disability related issues and what the legal profession can do to improve accessibility. It is taking place at Shoosmiths with registration from 5.30pm. We are exploring a wide range of topics, from caring for a disabled partner to Sickle Cell Disease. Tickets will be released soon, and we are inviting you to join in the conversation. Further details will be sent out to Birmingham Law Society members via email.

Later in 2020, the DSC is excited to partner with local charity BID to explore how we can promote access to work schemes, deaf-friendly organisations and British Sign Language workshops for our members.

We hope to promote an all-inclusive legal profession for our members and clients alike.

If you would like to join the Disability SubCommittee, please contact Sophie Henwood at Sophie.Henwood@IrwinMitchell.com

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OPINION BIRMINGHAM CITY UNIVERSITY LAW CLINIC LAUNCHES The Birmingham City University Law Clinic was officially opened by the Mayor of Birmingham Councillor Mohammed Azim and President of Birmingham Law Society Linden Thomas on Monday 11th November.

Staff and students at the University welcomed a wide range of visitors interested in seeing the new facility and learning about what it has to offer. Those in attendance included practitioners working in the city’s private firms as well as staff and volunteers from charities and pro bono organisations such as the Central England Law Centre (CELC), Citizens Advice and Support Through Court.

The Clinic is just one of a number of initiatives established at Birmingham City School of Law – along with placements, internships and project partnerships - which not only allow students to develop their professional skills in the real world but also enable the city’s legal firms and organisations to enhance their practice.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Philip Plowden, Head of the School of Law Luke Mason and Law students Asha Abbas and Amber Baycroft-Wilmott spoke about the work of the Law Clinic, as well as Elayne Hill from CELC. The Law Clinic gives all Law students an opportunity to work with local charities and legal practitioners. By getting involved in real cases, students gain a deeper understanding of the law in practice, as well as the need for people with limited financial means to have access to justice.

This year, Law students are working with CELC, providing advice and representation in welfare benefits law as part of an assessed module. Students also work with the CELC at their Tyseley office covering areas such as housing law and immigration. In addition, students support qualified professionals in providing family and employment advice at the Law Clinic office at the University`s Curzon Building.

Director of the BCU Law Clinic Samantha Gargaro said: “BCU has a long tradition of working with Citizens Advice services across the West Midlands. This year, the School 18 www.birminghamlawsociety.co.uk

of Law has been expanding its pro bono work by actively seeking opportunities for students to help other charities and get involved in the Birmingham legal community. At BCU we believe this is very much a ‘win/win’ for our students and the local community.”

Luke Mason commented: "Our incredible new Law Clinic allows us to continue our pioneering work in clinical legal education. It allows our students to turn their legal education into a set of tools for solving the problems of the local community. It underlines our commitment to the professional development of our students and our commitment to the city of Birmingham. At a time when access to justice is at risk, the Clinic will offer a vital service to people who need legal advice."

Birmingham City School of Law is keen to engage with the local legal community to support legal services across the city and to develop our students into the legal professionals of the future. The School offers organisations a wide range of opportunities of benefit to them from continued professional development for their own staff to student support and expertise delivered through the Law Clinic, a year-long work placement or internship.

Whatever your needs, if your organisation is interested in enhancing its own practice, Birmingham City School of Law would like to hear from you. Please contact Samantha Gargaro at Samantha.Gargaro@bcu.ac.uk to find out more.

Anyone seeking employment, family law or welfare benefits advice should contact BCU Law Clinic via the designated email address BCUlawclinic@bcu.ac.uk or telephone 0121 202 4605.

Pictured (left to right): Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Head of Law School Luke Mason, Pro Vice-Chancellor and BLSS Executive Dean Keith Horton, Law Student Asha Abbas, Law student Amber Baycroft-Wilmott, Solicitor and Director of the BCU Law Clinic Samantha Gargaro, Solicitor at Central England Law Centre and Employment Tribunal Judge Elayne Hill and President of the Birmingham Law Society Linden Thomas.

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BROWNFIELD DEVELOPMENT: WHAT DO PROPERTY CONVEYANCERS NEED TO CONSIDER?

As the sustainability agenda becomes more deep-rooted in our political, regulatory, social and environmental consciousness, the development of brownfield land continues to take a far more prominent role in the UK’s overall redevelopment plans writes Tony Rollason of Landmark Information.

With the Housing Minister, Esther McVey, recently welcoming more brownfield land development as a way of meeting the Government’s housing pledge, the opportunity is huge if the estimates published by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) are taken into account.

It has been suggested that more than 1.8 million new homes are viable on approximately 35,000 hectares of brownfield land across England and Wales. Two-thirds of these homes are considered deliverable within five years.

Given the Government’s commitment to deliver 300,000 new homes per year, and the challenges identified in doing so raised by the Letwin Review of 2018, it appears that brownfield redevelopment is here to stay – this is of course good news for the nation’s greenbelt.

Only recently, West Midlands Combined Authority and Sandwell Council have announced the details of a significant joint venture, which will see one of the biggest brownfield housing sites in the region be redeveloped into a 750-home community. The site in Wednesbury, which was previously a sewerage works, will help to reduce pressure on green belt in the surrounding areas.

With all the positive associations around brownfield redevelopment, it is often however overlooked that there are inherent risks, which need careful and well considered management.

The regulatory and health risks associated with contaminated land are a critical consideration for any brownfield project of the future, and also for those existing residential properties that find themselves located on land associated with our vast industrial heritage.

Some of the largest and most recent brownfield redevelopment projects attest to the magnitude of these risks, with the Avenue Coking Works in Chesterfield providing a compelling example. This facility operated from the 1950s to the early 1990s, producing at its peak three million pounds of coke and 27 million cubic feet of gas per day. This benefited the economy, however the impact on the underlying ground was a legacy of contamination.

Remediation and clean up began in the late 1990s and is estimated to have cost Homes England £179m to complete the work. To look at this another way, that equates to around £366,000 per property for a 489-home scheme.

The current UK planning and regulatory regime underlying the redevelopment market ensures that, in most cases, these risks are captured, quantified and resolved on residential developments now and into the future. Parts of the existing UK housing stock could however be unknowingly subject to similar risks. For example, properties built before the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 or the introduction of Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 – which came into force in April 2000 in England, and September 2001 in Wales – wouldn’t have been subject to such stringent and comprehensive checks.

This is where legal due diligence comes into its own for anyone buying a new property. Homeowners are protected from risks associated with contaminated land as part of the legal process that supports property transactions.

Conveyancers are able to access a multitude of reports that provide the insights, guidance and analysis required on any potential risks related to land contamination, along with many other potential environmental hazards.

However for properties built prior to 1990, there is no guarantee that any residual or unknown risk won’t result in exposure to significant remediation costs, should the Local Authority decide to take regulatory action as part of its jurisdiction, under Part 2A. Such cases are complex and, while they are reducing in quantity, the risk always remains.

That is why Landmark has taken the step to increase remediation contributions in support of its entire suite of residential environmental reports. For example, the upgraded Contaminated Land remediation contributions for RiskView Residential reports have increased from £100,000 to £250,000.

In doing so, those who access the reports as part of the conveyancing process benefit from increased peace of mind that, in the event of a large remediation claim, a method of recourse is available.

For those embarking on the purchase of a new property, the last thing on their mind will be whether the location was once home to an industrial site or has a brownfield past, and any related-ramifications that could be an issue in the future.

For property lawyers and conveyancers, if we can therefore demonstrate that due diligence has taken place into such risks upfront – which is backed by a comprehensive insurance policy to provide additional peace of mind relating to future remediation claims - it can only be a good thing for all involved. www.landmark.co.uk

www.birminghamlawsociety.co.uk 19

OUR COMMUNITY

BIRMINGHAM LAW SO

Birmingham Law Society’s 201st Annual Dinner was held on Thursday 21 November 2019 at The Great Hall, University of Birmingham. Continuing in the spirit of last year’s successful Gala Dinner, the evening included a dinner dance in celebration of the Birmingham legal community and the contribution it makes to our city.

We were delighted to have Dr Susan Atkins CB as our guest speaker. A qualified solicitor, Susan has had a distinguished career in academia and in the Civil Service. Throughout her career she has held a number of senior posts of national significance, including as Chief Executive of the Equal Opportunities Commission, founder and first Chief Executive of the Independent Police Complaints Commission and Service Complaints Commissioner for the Armed Forces.

Susan has led on the negotiation of multi-lateral and bilateral treaties on behalf of UK with countries around the globe, was the equivalent of a three star General Admiral Air Marshall in the Army and co-wrote the book ‘Women and the Law’ with Lady Hale, which was re-published in 2018.

We raised around £1800 via a charity diamond raffle for two highly worthy charities of the year: Citizens Advice Birmingham and Central England Law Centre.

Thank you to our events sponsors for their support for the evening: Headline sponsor: University of Birmingham, Event sponsors: Landmark, Jet Vehicle Finance, Lloyds, No5 Chambers and Oosha, Drinks reception sponsor: Bottega Birmingham, Photo booth sponsor: Insight Legal

20 www.birminghamlawsociety.co.uk

OCIETY ANNUAL DINNER

www.birminghamlawsociety.co.uk 21

OUT OF HOURS

THE BOY INTHE

One of the most hotly anticipated shows this winter must be The Boy in the Dress, a new musical for all the family based on David Walliams’ best-selling debut novel. Premiering at Stratford-upon-Avon’s Royal Shakespeare Theatre from 8 November, the show also boasts a score by the chart-topping songwriting team of Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers.

During rehearsals, David Walliams spoke to Terri Paddock about his inspiration for the book, and how the book came to be adapted by the Royal Shakespeare Company.

The Boy in the Dress was your first children’s novel.

Why did you want to write children’s books?

22 www.birminghamlawsociety.co.uk

I just had an idea for a story that involved a child. I thought, as a child is the central figure, maybe this would be a good story for children to read and it would be a good story about what it is to be different, which is something you feel a lot as a child.

Was there a particular message you were trying to convey with The Boy in the Dress?

It’s quite an adult theme – a boy dressing as a girl – but it’s dealt with in a simple way. I didn’t want to put any labels on Dennis, the boy in the dress. He doesn’t really understand everything that’s going on in the world or what anything means. He’s just Dennis. He wants to be different and to express himself and, in doing so, the world around him changes for the better.

E DRESS @THE RSC how to deal with that in a sensitive way.

Later I met Mark with Greg Doran (the show’s director) and they said, Oh, we’d like to do it as a musical and ask Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers to write the music. I know Robbie and Guy a bit and I thought, well, you can ask them, I’m not going to ask. When they said, Robbie and Guy are on board, then I thought, yeah, well, I’ll believe it when I hear the songs. Then, when I came to a workshop and I heard 18 incredible songs, I was like, oh, this is real now.

It’s quite a long process putting a musical together so I didn’t want to start crowing about it before it became a reality.

But now that the tickets are on sale, it really is going to happen.

What do Guy Chambers and Robbie Williams in particular bring to The Boy in the Dress?

They’re brilliant. What I was really impressed with when I first heard their songs for The Boy in the Dress was how immediate they were. There’s a directness and simplicity to them. Sometimes you can see a musical and you’re listening and you can think, what were they just saying? Because Guy and Robbie are used to writing pop songs, they’re very immediate and very gettable.

Also, while their songs are obviously based on things in The Boy in the Dress, they’re not slavish to it. They’ve found their own new language, but also they’ve somehow enlarged it.

They’ve made the whole thing grow and feel much bolder than it was before. Songs have that power, don’t they?

How did your collaboration with the RSC begin?

I certainly never thought, oh, one day The Boy in the Dress will be a musical with the RSC. About four years ago, Mark Ravenhill asked to adapt it. At that point, he didn’t say that it should be a musical. I thought it was going to be a play version. So I met Mark a few times. I liked him a lot, I liked his work a lot. I thought, well, he’s a proper playwright, it’s brilliant that he wants to do it.

I’d seen all of Mark’s plays – Shopping and F****** (like everyone else), Mother Clap’s Molly’s House, Some Explicit Polaroids, The Cane. You don’t think of his work as being child-friendly, especially not a play called Shopping and F****** But I knew that he’d know how to make the story theatrical, and there are issues in the book where I thought, where he’s coming from with his previous work, he’ll know

They’re all really catchy too and each song is unique to the character, that character’s voice and the emotion they’re expressing.

What would you like audiences to take away from the musical?

Although there are some serious themes in The Boy in the Dress, it’s a funny show. I hope people will have a really good time, have a laugh and sing along, but also take away something that’s a little bit surprising and a little bit challenging. Guy Chambers says it’s feelgood – it’s an overused word, I know, but it is, it’s a really feelgood piece.

You should come out feeling more positive about the world.

The Boy in the Dress runs in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon until the 8 March 2020.

For tickets call 01789 331 111 or visit www.rsc.org.uk www.birminghamlawsociety.co.uk 23

OUT OF HOURS

YULE LOVE COV

M M M . . . M A C A R O N S !

Luxury French patisserie Ladurée has opened its first pop up outside London at Selfridges Birmingham's ground floor Food Hall. Ladurée’s iconic and decadent macarons will be on offer, along with chocolate gift boxes, jams, teas, candles, tote bags, keyrings and hampers.

The Ladurée pop up is now open and customers can indulge themselves in a sweet paradise at Selfridges Birmingham until the end of the year.

Indulgent flavours include Salted Caramel, Strawberry Candy, Pistachio, Orange Blossom and Matcha Moringa. Macarons can be taken away or enjoyed in store at a specially created cosy corner tea room.

WOOFERLY GOOD RECIPES FOR PUPS The Happy Dog Cookbook is packed nose to tail with nutritious treats that readers can bake at home for their dogs.

With 24 beautiful, easy to make recipes created by head vet Sean McCormack, and featuring Annabel Karmel, The Happy Dog Cookbook uses simple, healthy ingredients from the kitchen cupboard, and spans all four seasons throughout the year. The collection includes treats for Pancake Day, Halloween, Bonfire Night and Christmas, meaning that your dog doesn’t have to miss out on calendar date catering.

All profits from the book go to StreetVet, the UK charity who offer free vet care to the homeless and their pets. The Happy Dog Cookbook is published by White Fox and available to buy from Amazon, Waterstones.com, Foyles.com priced at £14.99.

With only days remaining before ‘The Big Day’, Coventry Business Improvement District (BID) is leading the way in announcing its festive season and the host of special Christmas activities set to hit the city.

‘Yule Love Music’: 6th-8th & 20th-22nd December.

With live performances and DJ sets organised by Sandra Godley, it’ll be the perfect opportunity to come into the city and soak up the festive atmosphere.

‘Yule Love Family Fun’: 14th & 15th December.

At Christmas, spending time with your loved ones is always at the top of the list, so this is a perfect opportunity to gather everyone together and head into the city to celebrate. The highlight of this weekend involves a lantern competition in which 10 local primary schools will take part. Finalists will be narrowed down on the Saturday, with the winners being announced on the Sunday and all the lantern designs are to be displayed in West Orchards Shopping Centre right through the festive period. It’s also a perfect excuse to enjoy spotting the 24 Christmas trees delivered by Coventry BID throughout the city centre.

Trish Willetts, Coventry BID Director, said: “There’s so much going on in our fantastic city across the festive season and we’re very much looking forward to welcoming visitors to celebrate with us. We start in spectacular fashion when the Christmas Lights event adds some extra sparkle to Coventry city centre and continue with our #YuleLoveCov events.”

INDULGE IN LUXURIOUS DINING AT HARVEY NICHOLS THIS CHRISTMAS Take your seat in the elegant Harvey Nichols Brasserie and enjoy a traditional turkey ballotine served with stuffing and pigs in blankets followed by a classic handmade Christmas pudding. Or dine on Head Chef Stewart Mackie’s festive creations including mandarin and sesame seed duck terrine with beetroot and black garlic purée; Spinach and ricotta ravioli, mushroom and onion crumb; and toffee apple sponge with cinnamon ice cream.

Priced at just £33 per person for three courses, the festive menu is available up to and including Christmas Eve. To book email reservations. birmingham@harveynichols.com or call the Brasserie on 0121 616 6028.

24 www.birminghamlawsociety.co.uk

NEW & EXCLUSIVE

Introducing Premier Lounge - the brand new, exclusive contemporary lounge bar with panoramic views across Arena Birmingham.

Your Premier Lounge Membership includes: Access to 1 seat at 20 performances of your choice at Arena Birmingham, such as: LIAM GALLAGHER CRAIG DAVID ELTON JOHN Private Balcony Seating to watch the performance A complimentary welcome drink at every performance

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LAST WORD

ADVERTORIAL FEATURES

LEGAL ACCOUNTS RULES: YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES AND HOW TO COMPLY BY JULIAN BRYAN, MANAGING DIRECTOR, QUILL can you go about this somewhat daunting task? The answer is surprisingly easy: select Quill!

You see, at Quill, we’re absolutely committed to accountability to you and accountability to regulators. This accountability promise is an integral part of our branding. Our entire portfolio of software and outsourced services is built to empower you to adhere to accounting rules, meet professional standards, gain accurate financial insights and tighten security.

Where duty of care is concerned, protection of client monies is one of the highest priorities for law firms. As well as financial security being an obvious responsibility, it’s a vital regulatory obligation too.

Depending on your specialisms and location, your legal practice will follow the SRA Accounts Rules, CLC Accounts Code or Scottish Accounts Rules. Whilst there are subtle variances between, one thing remains constant: the requirement to ensure your client’s money is clearly identifiable as theirs. Typically, this means holding funds in a separate, named client bank account.

In some circumstances, your regulator may allow client funds to be held in your office account or you can choose third-party managed accounts (TPMAs) as an option.

To complicate matters slightly, legal accounting regulations are never static; not least the new SRA Accounts Rules which came into effect on 25th November. Staying abreast of the changes and understanding the implications for your business is quite a challenge. Yet it’s essential. So, the revised SRA Accounts Rules will be our focus here.

But, before all that, let’s stop for a moment to consider the risks to client monies.

Economic crime takes many forms – money laundering, financial terrorism and misappropriation amongst them – and you’re both tempting prey and a potential weak link in the chain.

The former – tempting prey – is due to the vast sums of money being handled on clients’ behalf. The financial services sector, of which law firms form part, facilitates around £90 trillion changing hands every year.

The latter – weak link – refers to vulnerabilities arising from possible limitations in cyber defences. According to the National Crime Agency, the annual cost of fraud in the UK is £190 billion. Thankfully, the ‘weak link’ situation is changing as our industry becomes more fraud aware and technologically innovative.

It thus follows that you need to put sufficient safeguards in place to protect client money and avoid regulatory breaches. How exactly 26 www.birminghamlawsociety.co.uk

Our products deliver a whole host of other benefits including gaining performance intelligence to take control of your financial status, undertake cash flow forecasts and grow your business. Where cashiering’s concerned, our solutions ensure your client monies are in the right place at the right time.

Ahead of the SRA Accounts Rules deadline, we published a comprehensive list of audit tips for conducting an internal review and updating your office manual in readiness for go-live. This guidance covered important subjects such as how to operate a client account, apply the rule 2.2 exemption to only hold an office account, maintain a breaches register, outline your payment of interest policy, check residual and suspense balances, and make sure your legal accounts software caters for the rules. Take a look at www.quill.co.uk/audit-tips.

Another preparatory resource was our stepby-step SRA Accounts Rules user guide to our Interactive legal accounting system. This useful document was written to take users through each section of the rules in turn, explaining what they mean and who they apply to, with recommendations for putting them into practice and detailed instructions on related software functionality supported by screen shots.

Having undergone notable development these past few months, our Interactive application contains lots of new and enhanced features to assist compliance from warning notifications about transferring disbursements from client account upon receipt of client bills to expansive range of reports which keep your finances on track, for example ledger balances and SRA breaches. Download our user guide from the same www.quill.co.uk/audit-tips web page.

Our latest new software tool is called MoneyChain. We know that making sure money’s transferred to the correct client, opposition, counsel or supplier is fraught with risk so we’ve developed close integration from the e-chit created by your fee earner in Interactive to your online banking software. MoneyChain adds confidence and robustness to the chain of events surrounding the flow of funds through your practice because it: • Provides real-time alerts of money receipts in to your office or client account thereby saving your cashier from having to constantly log in to your online banking platform*;

• Carries out instant verification of every bank account number and sort code entered against the national database** as soon as a fee earner makes a payment request or payment details have been received;

• Aids the production and uploading of internet banking-ready payment files using these pre-verified account details to save any re-keying and reduce risk of errors when preparing third-party payments; • Can by operated by our Pinpoint team for outsourced cashiering service clients which means our cashiers prepare outbound payment requests for authorisation by your in-house staff in line with your firm’s mandate. Pinpoint and MoneyChain together bring even more time and money saving, and security strengthening advantages.

Read further information about MoneyChain at www.quill.co.uk/moneychain.

We’ve also launched an exclusive partnership with Shieldpay, one of the leading pioneers in TPMAs. Covered in part 3 of the rules and referenced at the beginning of this article, TPMAs are an alternative to handling client monies directly.

By using Interactive and Shieldpay in tandem, accounting transactions are recorded in the Shieldpay bank account just like any other bank and the corresponding transactions logged on each client’s ledger in Interactive. You’re given online access to your Shieldpay account to manage and view transactions pertaining to clients’ matters.

Find out more at www.quill.co.uk/shieldpay.

Finally, we offer a timely reminder that, if keeping up with ever-changing accounting rules and regulations is too onerous, there’s always the outsourcing route, as intimated earlier. Not only is our software compliant, our Pinpoint service is too. Our role is to stay up-to-date with sector developments, solicitors’ accounts rules included, to ensure our clients comply with regulators. For busy practitioners, it’s one less load on your mind.

Why not contact us to talk about accounting rules and regulatory compliance? Email info@quill.co.uk or call 0161 236 2910. We are the legal accounts experts after all.

Julian Bryan joined Quill as Managing Director in 2012 and was also the Chair of the Legal Software Suppliers Association from 2016 to 2019. Quill has been a leading provider of legal accounting and case management software, and the UK’s largest supplier of outsourced legal cashiering services to the legal profession for over 40 years. * Specified banks only ** Extended Industry Sorting Code Directory

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