Watch out, police about!

On 13th August 2009, the LJLD hosted a summer barbecue in aid of the AHS Foundation Charity at Time Bar, Leicester.

This event was held jointly with Leicestershire Law Society and famously featured 5 partners from local firms being "arrested" and locked in a police van. The LJLD Members in attendance that night donated to keep them locked up whilst the partners themselves raised all the money that they could to be "bailed out".

The partners in question were:

• Noel Walsh - Weightmans
• Jonathan Foster - Spearing Waite
• Julian Middleton - Freeth Cartwright
• Imogen Cox - Cartwright King
• Danka Neuborn - Wilson Browne

At around 8:00pm, Leicestershire Police entered the fray to arrest the 5 partners before the delighted crowd, and a photo of the suspects handcuffed appeared in the Leicester Mercury the following week.

In the end, the partners were locked up for a full two hours before they managed to bail themselves out, and over GBP3,000 was raised for the AHS Foundation. There was also an auction at the end of the night. Interestingly, the event was so widely acclaimed that the Lord Mayor of Leicester and his wife were amongst the 100 or so guests in attendance.

The AHS Foundation is a charity which operates from the UK, but was formed to assist the people of Pakistan who were affected by the devastating earthquake of 2005. The charity has built schools, and hospitals and provided access to clean drinking water and medical care. The LJLD Committee would like to thank all members who attended and wishes the AHS Foundation all the very best in their future projects.

The LJLD Committee also thanks their sponsors, Blusource Legal Recruitment and the Wesleyan Group.

National JLD Conference and Ball

Lewis, Katherine, Juliet and Akeela attended the National JLD conference and ball on 11 July at Birmingham City Football Club.

After some wise words from Bernard Shepherd, the Birmingham Law Society President and David Latham, President of Employment Tribunals, Peter Wright Senior Associate from Nabarros discussed potential career paths, including some handy hints and tips for those having trouble entering private practice on qualification. David Latham mentioned the judicial shadowing scheme, which would be useful for those considering a career on the other side of the bench (or just those wanting to beef up their CV) and also the JLD mentoring scheme.

The star attraction of the morning was Luke Cunliffe of Cunliffe Associates, in his spare time an extreme marathon runner (a marathon every day for 7 days in the desert, arctic or Amazon jungle, anyone?).

A few top tips from that session:

• Dont be afraid of aiming high, but dont expect to start there.
• Dont focus on disaster and expect bad things to happen to you.
• Employ visualisation techniques to help you go further than you have before.
• Ask yourself: if I could do any 3 things for my career today, what 3 things would have the most value and be most important?

The afternoon included two different break-out sessions and the announcement of the national JLD elections. Congratulations to Alan Mak, who is the new vice chair and therefore the chair for next year. Incidentally, Alan had some very complimentary words to say about Leicestershire and LJLD in particular, commenting that we are one of the most active groups in the country (and we would like to point out, one of the only ones without a membership fee!).

The evenings entertainment included dancing act Zero Tolerance (think Diversity from Britains got Talent) and music from a live quartet. After some good food, rather a lot of wine there was a DJ and dancing, and we will be vetting the photos carefully before passing them on!

LJLD dress to impress

On 30 April LJLD hosted a style workshop evening with Ann Skidmore, style consultant from national agency CMB, the recognised leaders in personal and corporate image consulting with over 250 studios throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland. Weightmans LLP kindly hosted this event.

Ann demonstrated the six main colour palletes that suit different people (which were demonstrated on six keen volunteers), talked about personal styles and finishing touches. Guys, there was stuff that would have interested you too, for example could you tell the difference between an English, an Italian and an American suit?

The evening finished with a brief introduction of how to best dress your body shape (the one you have and not the one you want!) and how this can improve the first impression we make upon others, making us more confident and giving us a better chance of succeeding in those all important job interviews!

If anyone would be interested in attending a more in-depth session with Ann, in a group of six where you would have a one- on-one assessment and receive your own colour booklet, please do let us know. The cost is likely to be in the region of GBP67 - but if you think about how much the average person wastes in a year on clothes they never wear.... that's not even one suit is it?!

Recession Roulette

By now we are all well aware that the UK is in a recession, and reading the papers can instil us with a sense of doom and gloom regarding the job market in the legal sector with high- profile firms making mass redundancies.

It was with this in mind that LJLD arranged a seminar in conjunction with Hays Legal, kindly hosted by Spearing Waite, whose employment law expert Amanda Badley was also on hand to discuss redundancy situations.

Thankfully, the news is not all bad, as while some practice areas are suffering, others are seeing an upsurge in business! Also, law firms have learnt from experiences in the 80s and recognise that once the situation improves, they need junior lawyers to enable their businesses to grow.

If anyone would like to contact Hays, please email Neelam by clicking here. Hays also have produced a NQ handbook which may be of interest for any one coming up to qualification this year.