Manchester Messenger June 2017

5
President’s Column
5
From the President
They say that a week is a
long time in politics and the
events since my last article
in the May Messenger has
certainly proved the point.
Who would have thought
that we would be heading
towards an election on 8
June? In the meantime, we
now know the identity of
the Mayor for Greater Manchester
– although the fact
that Andy Burnham won is
perhaps not too great a surprise.
The election of Mr Burnham
ties in with an event that we
are organising in conjunction
with other professional
groups in the Greater Manchester
area, including the
RICS and the Institute of
Chartered Accountants in
England & Wales.
We are inviting Mr Burnham
and other key players to join
us to set out their vision of
how they see the devolution
of power and the
Northern Powerhouse
agenda benefitting the professional
community. I believe
it is important that we
put the interests of our
members and the wider
professional community at
the heart of the debate
about what the shift of
power means and what it
can achieve, as it seems to
me that a great deal of focus
to date (understandably
perhaps) has been on transport,
science and innovation.
All very sensible and
laudable, but I have the
sense that sometimes the
professions are overlooked,
or certainly the smaller firms
within the legal community
have been to date. My hope
is that this event, and the
adoption of a more joined
up approach with the other
professional bodies, will
give us, as lawyers, a bigger
voice at the top table in
helping to develop the
strategy to make the Northern
Powerhouse something
more than a catchy strap
line.
The aim is for that event to
take place in October. Full
details will follow in due
course.
In early May I attended the
National Law Society's Presidents
and Secretaries conference
at Chancery Lane. It
was my first time at the
event. As always with these
things, one of the most useful
aspects is meeting colleagues
from across the
country, sharing experiences
and getting new
ideas about what works and
what doesn't work. We are
fortunate that as one of the
larger societies with a wonderful
support team, we
tend to have tried most
things and we have figured
out what works best in practice.
Indeed, Fran was one
of the speakers on a break
out session dealing with relationships
with the media.
However, there are of
course always new ideas we
can pick up at such events.
One talk which was of particular
interest to me focussed
on in-house counsel.
As you may know, the numbers
of in-house counsel has
grown considerably over
the last few years and no
doubt will continue to grow
in the future.
That said, the number of in
house lawyers who are
members of MLS is relatively
small. An in-house
lawyer at Aviva who spoke
at the conference made the
point that in-house lawyers
can feel isolated from the
local legal community and it
can be difficult to interact
directly with other firms due
to their employer's policies
on dealing with law firms.
Against that background, it
struck me that maybe we
need to do more to try and
engage with the in-house
community and to create a
programme specifically tailored
for the in-house community.
If anyone has any
thoughts on how we best
achieve this, I would be
grateful if you could contact
me or Fran so we can take
on board your ideas.
And what about Ladybridge
FC? The good news is that
we have avoided relegation.
However, I must confess, it's
only because the other two
teams who were likely candidates
for relegation have
folded! I was reminded this
week of the importance of
good communication when
working with our striker
who has had a difficult time
in front of net (he can't
score). I chose to work with
him and our wingers on
their own, away from the
other lads, with a view to
him scoring lots of goals
from crosses and hopefully
Jon Hainey
building up his confidence.
What I didn't do was tell him
why I had singled him out
and reassure him that I think
he's doing a great job and
that it is just a matter of
time before he starts scoring
again. Unfortunately
my plan to build up his confined
back fired and he was
very upset that he had been
singled out. As his dad
rightly pointed out in his
long text to me that
evening, his son is hardly
the only problem with the
team (we have a goal difference
of -50). It was a timely
reminder to me of the importance
of good communication.
Even if we set out
with the best intentions, our
plans can come unstuck if
we do not fully and clearly
explain what we're thinking.
Jon Hainey
President
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