Herts Law Society prizewinners 2012 - Insite Law Magazine

Council ListingsEditorialCouncil Members 2012 (until 31 December 2012)PresidentAmanda ThurstonCurwens(Hoddesdon)FamilyVice PresidentDennis SheridanD R Sheridan LLP(Bushey)FamilyHon Secretary &TreasurerClaire SharpDebenhams Ottaway(St Albans)Private ClientImmediate Past PresidentCharles DuchenneHRJ Law LLP(Hitchin)LitigationMembersRichard AtkinsTaylor Walton(Harpenden)PropertyRobert BedfordMachins Solicitors LLP(Luton)EmploymentNicholas BelcherNockolds LLP(Bishop’s Stortford)Agricultural and Liquor &Gaming LicensingDavid BirdCrane & Staples(Welwyn Garden City)Private Client & TrustsJeremy Chandler-SmithJCS Solicitors(Hitchin)Sole PractitionerFrom the EditorFirstly, thank youto all members ofthe Society for thebottles I was given atthe Annual Dinner inJune. I have alwaysthought attendingthat prestigious eventwas pleasure enough,but it is nice to receive a public gestureof appreciation. (See the article on page13.) This year’s main sponsors wereConcateno Trichotech. Do reciprocatetheir support whenever you can.Another pleasureAnother pleasure of being the Society’sAdministrator is the opportunity to meetdistinguished guests at the EARLLSmeetings. Too late for a full report this time,the speaker in September was Law SocietyVice President, Nick Fluck. A member of atwo partner firm in Lincolnshire, his downto earth approach and intimate knowledgeof the realities of High Street practice willbe very valuable for us all, while he is oneof the office holders of our representativebody. Look out for a report of the meetingin the next edition.Kathryn EvansTees Solicitors(Bishop’s Stortford)FamilyJudith GowerHertfordshire CountyCouncil(Hertford)Local Government andCriminalAileen HartnettTaylor Walton LLP(Harpenden)FamilyKlearchos KyriakidesUniversity ofHertfordshire(Hatfield)Academic and PropertyLaura MathewDebenhams Ottaway(St Albans)Private Client & TrustsOn other pagesAs well as features about this year’sdinner and lunches past, this edition alsocontains a preview of the new season’sCPD programme and Charles Duchenne’s“Maunderings of a Past President”, whichwill surely resonate with most readers ofall ages.Committees and GroupsThis feature has, unfortunately, hadto be held over, but matters of note forvarious specialists appear in the reportof the EARLLS June meeting. Membersof the Society who wish to be abreast ofdevelopments are always welcome tojoin one of the committees. As a quickreminder, these are Civil Litigation,Probate & Trust, Family, and Property &Commercial, as well as a group for solepractitioners. I will be happy to put anyenquirers in touch with the appropriateorganiser.AGMMay I also draw your attention to theformal notice of the Society’s AGM onTuesday 20th November, which is alsomentioned in the President’s Report.Mohammed MirMohammed Mir(New Denham)Family and LitigationGary SmithNockolds LLP(Bishop’s Stortford)CommercialNational CouncilMemberPaul DaviesHamilton Davies(Stevenage)Employment, Family andLitigationLaw Society EasternRegional ManagerSamantha GallagherParliamentary LiaisonOfficerGraham Spittle(Berkhamsted)Administrator &Membership SecretaryGraham Spittle,85/87, High Street,Berkhamsted,Herts.HP4 2DFTel: (01442) 871344(9.30-1.00 and 2.00-5.00Mons.-Fris.)FAX: (01442) 381528 (byarrangement)Email: admin@hertslawsoc.org.ukThis is another date to put in yourdiaries. Nominations are invited forCouncil members to serve from January2013. If you would like to nominate afull member of the Society (includingyourself) as a Council member, pleasecontact me for the nomination form tocomplete.RetirementI have announced to the Society’sCouncil that I plan to retire from someof the things I do (including providingadministration services to the Societyand others) on 5th April 2014. This isa long way ahead, but if anyone wouldlike to plan to take over from me, I willbe happy to talk about what is involved.Hourly fees are paid and disbursementsreimbursed. Although I am a retiredsolicitor, the post might suit a part-timerwith spare capacity. Some of the taskslike magazine editor, dinner organiserand membership secretary might alsosplit up conveniently.Graham Spittle(01442) 871344admin@hertslawsoc.org.ukView from the car park…Amanda Thurston,PresidentIwould like to start with some thanks – toall of you who supported the annual dinnerwe held back on 21st June at Hanbury Manor.Over 100 of us enjoyed an evening of fine food,good company, and gambling. We were luckyenough to have the continued support of KainKnight to sponsor the VIP reception, and I wasvery pleased to welcome Concateno TrichoTechas our new main sponsor.Our national President, John Wotton, carriedout one of his last official engagements byspeaking at the dinner. Without any priorarrangement, he managed to concentrate on many of the main themesin my own speech, particularly the importance of the Junior LawyersDivision. Luckily, he didn’t also steal any of my jokes.More thanksSpecial thanks are due to the council members helping out on thenight, including our past past president, Katherine Chase, plus ouradministrator, Graham Spittle, and his wife, Helen, who ensuredthe evening went without a hitch, and there should be photographicevidence of it all. [See page 10. Ed.]This is probably a gross misuse of my column, but I would also liketo give some extra thanks to my own firm, Curwens. Not only didthey provide one of the piano playing entertainers from amongst theirclients, and manage not to heckle me throughout my speech, but theysucceeded in causing me huge amounts of embarrassment right fromthe off by sneaking in an announcement that I had been made up topartner the week before. I forgave them, almost, when they later (muchmore quietly) presented me with a huge bouquet of flowers. I was mosttouched by their support..SAALS MeetingI have to say, at one point it was touch and go whether I would makeit to the dinner – although I didn’t let my VP, Dennis Sheridan, know thisat the time…but I am sure he could have put together a speech within acouple of hours if needed.The day before the dinner, I attended a SAALS (Southern AreaAssociation of Law Societies) meeting on the Isle of Wight. You mayrecall that this was one of those amazingly hot days we had back whenwe had a bit of summer. At 7.30am I was driving through the beautifulNew Forest countryside and catching the ferry across from Lymington.It was already warm and sunny and we have could have been crossingthe Mediterranean. The venue of the Yarmouth Yacht Club was inspiredon such a day, although it was difficult to drag us all in for business fromthe sunny terrace hanging over the sea. It was an interesting meetingbecause the SAALS chairman, Roger Rose, who has held the positionsince the inauguration of the group many years ago stepped down anda new President needed to be elected. Nick Gurney-Champion, who hasworked away for many years as the secretary won, and his now vacantposition was filled by April Ross Good luck to them both.We were also lucky enough to have Andrew Caplen with us, who hadjust been elected as the next National Deputy Vice President – so he willbecome National President in July 2014. He warned us that his dairy isno longer his own after this July, so book him while you can!WalkThe meeting ended in good time, but I had promised to go withan adventurous few on a country walk afterwards. What I had notexpected was a hair-raising bus ride up steep coastal slopes to theBattery, followed by a 3 hour hike over the highest point of the island.Yes, I had my walking boots and waterproofs, but I also had with me allthe other clothes and papers from the day…now on my back!Maybe it was the exhaustion, the heat, or the shock of such extremeexercise to my body, but I actually enjoyed the trek and ended up havingby Amanda Thurston, PresidentEmail: president@hertslawsoc.org.ukOr Amanda.thurston@curwens.co.uksome interesting conversations with my fellow walkers. Unique ideaswere mooted - such as setting up a national Law Society orchestra, oran association of legal bell-ringers. I thought we could release CDs tocreate better public awareness of us, and show us in a more humanelight. Volunteers to set up either group would be greatly appreciated.The pointThe point of this tale was to explain that I only just managed to catchthe 7pm ferry back to Lymington by the skin of my teeth, and then hadto drive back up to Cambridgeshire. I got to the office the next day withjust about with everything I needed to turn me human in time for thedinner that eveningI had to miss the Surrey annual dinner at Sandown race course at theend of June, unfortunately, but I understand from their President, TomStockton, that it went well.EARLLS and afterOn 28th June it was the EARLLS (East Anglian Region Local LawSocieties) meeting in Cambridge. This was informal as usual, butinteresting nonetheless. Samantha Gallagher was the guest speaker– who you may recall is our new Anna Donovan whilst Anna is onmaternity leave. Samantha worked for the SRA before joining ChanceryLane, so should be able to provide a useful insight into future discussionsbetween these two. She has also confirmed that she will continue toprovide a quarterly report for use at our council meetings.After chairing the July council meeting I got the summer off – not fromwork unfortunately, but from Law Society duties. I think this also spellsthe end of my whirlwind of black tie dinners – so the posh dresses can goback under their dust covers. Instead, I will hopefully be getting aroundthe county to meet some of you at the district suppers. Details will be sentout by the local council members in each district – but please supportthese events as it is a great chance to meet up with our fellow solicitorsand to put a face to the “other side” from all those telephone calls.AGMIt will be our AGM on 20th November 2012. [See notice on page 14.Ed.] We are looking to have Andrew Caplen as our guest speaker andwill hopefully be organizing refreshments, so put the date in your diary.You also get the chance to vote in next year’s President…I can’t quitebelieve my year will then almost be at an end.NewsTo some more business-like news. It is good to see that TLS, fresh frombeating the HSBC into submission over wider panel membership, havenow started work on Santander. Watch out for Lucy Scott-Moncrieff,our new national President. I have only met her a couple of times,but she is not one to shy away from the big issues, and is no shrinkingviolet. I understand we are also seeing an increase in ABS licences beingapproved…so watch this space to work out who our main competitorswill be in the future. Some may consider the danger comes from otherfronts – such as the continued threat from LeO to publish all complaintsthey deal with – which is worrying given that sometimes clients takeeven very minor or unfounded issues to the ombudsman.Lastly, just before closing off, I have seen the news from TLS that ourpracticing certificate fee will increase from 2013 – presumably they darenot try to increase it this year after last year’s debacle with the renewals– and the concern that this year the SRA are going to try and deal withthe renewals whilst moving offices halfway across the country! DesHudson (national Law Society Chief Executive) has been reportedas noting the PC fee is still very low compared to the recent past, andmaybe an increase of £16 does not sound very much. However, this is atime when all our overheads are increasing, and how many of us havedared to increase our hourly rates?As always, please feel free to share your thoughts andrecommendations with me▲ Hertfordshire Law Society Gazettehttp://www.hertslawsoc.org.uk/ ▲