June 2017


Dear Members,

The news just keeps coming...so here's a quick bulletin from us to keep you up to date! It's also another good opportunity to mention our Champagne Party.  Did you hear...tickets are now on sale! Don't forget to get yours sorted, so that you too can sip champagne in the surrounds of the The Lawn in (hopefully) evening sunshine.

Events

Our main event of the year - the Champagne Party tickets!  Tickets are now on sale!  7th July 2017, 6.30-8.30pm at The Lawn.  Sponsored by Rickard Luckin.  Contact Anne-Marie Rainsford at Jefferies for tickets. They are priced individually at £25 (trainees/their partners or spouses), £35 (members/their partners or spouses), £45 (non-members/their partner or spouses).

SEJLD - Masquerade boat party is being held on 19th August 2017. Welcome drinks rom 5.30pm and the boat party will finish at 11pm.  RSVP by 31st July.  Tickets are £30 each. Contact the SEJLD at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for tickets and more information.

Local Solicitor Update


Ivor Lee has passed away.  Ivor was a partner first at Lee Flint in the High Street Southend then amalgamated with David Elman to become Elman Flint. Ivor was also a partner for many years with the enlarged firm of Jefferies. The funeral has already taken place.


Terence Hair of Hair & Son estate agents has also recently passed away.  There will be a private cremation followed by a Service of Thanksgiving for Terence which will be at St Saviours Church (on the corner of Kings Road and Chadwick Road Westcliff ) at 11.30am on Friday 9th June.  All local Solicitors are invited to this service and the reception afterwards at The Lawn.

Criminal

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) recently published revised operational guidance on the presence of an interviewee’s legal adviser at a section 2 interview (section 2 Criminal Justice Act 1987), addressed to interviewees and their lawyers.

Probate

 

The increase in probate fees is to be abandoned by the government. Law Society President Robert Bourns said: "This proposal would have affected 42% of estates and would have put pressure on families when they have just suffered a bereavement, so we are glad it is no longer going forward."

 

General

Simon Davis (Clifford Chance) has won the Law Society of England and Wales 2017 presidential election.  Simon takes office as Deputy Vice President in July - becoming Vice President in 2018 and President in 2019.

With the surprise calling of a General Election (8 June) we explore what it means for the legal sector.  When Parliament is dissolved on 3 May, many of the Bills currently going through will not make it through the full legislative programme in time. Specifically, the Prisons and Courts Bill.  The Queen’s Speech was also to take place in May, however this will now be postponed until after the election when the new Government will set out its legislative priorities.  Plans for the Lord Chancellor to lay a post-legislative memorandum on the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO) to the Justice Select Committee are also likely to be stalled as the civil service goes into ‘purdah’.  We may see other parties commit to a review of the LASPO in their manifestoes and Labour may fast-track some of the conclusions emerging from Lord Bach’s Access to Justice Commission.
The SOSDLS Bulletin will also be found on our website:    www.sosdls.org

We do try and get everything right in this bulletin - but it is meant as an update only and we urge every member to make their own enquiries rather than rely definitively on something we've written. If you do require clarification, then feel free to email us and we'll be happy to try and help.

Committee Members
President – Andrew Hurrell; Vice-President – William Todman; Secretary - Liz Connolly; Treasurer - Aidan O'Donoghue; Immediate Past President: Jeffrey Conway; Conveyancing - Eddie Lee; Civil Litigation - Jerry Nathan; Criminal Litigation – vacant; Press& Public Relations – Mark Rothman; Parliamentary Liaison - Andrew Hurrell; Young Solicitors Representative – Anne-Marie Rainsford; Entertainment – Anne-Marie Rainsford; Education and Training – vacant; Regional Representative – Jack Dunkley; Law Society Council Member - Tony Fisher; Ordinary Members: Paul Fenton, Greg Hunter, George Kloosman, Keith Simpson.

To contact any member of the Committee, please contact the Secretary in the first instance (by replying to this email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.