Sophie Mills
VOLUNTEER TRUSTEE WANTED

The Auchindrain Trust (SC015528)

STUDENT SERIES

Aiming to create opportunities for student members to network with practitioners, our 2023 Student Series launched with an evening of Speed Networking. 

Samantha Sloan (first year Trainee Solicitor at the WS Society) explains: ‘Our Speed Networking event returned to the Signet Library for the first time since 2019 following a few years of online events. We were delighted to welcome 13 students and 10 practitioners on the night. This event is always popular with students as it provides an informal setting to network with members of the profession and hear about the wide range of careers available to law graduates. Our thanks go to the professionals who have helped support the next generation of lawyers as they progress through their legal education and to abrdn for sponsoring the event’.

‘[T]he quality of the people we met was very high and they were genuinely excited about their futures in the legal profession. Great hope for the future.’ - Malcolm Mackay WS

The series will continue with Adventures in Law in September.

If you are a WS member who would like to get involved in the Student Series or a student who would like to learn more about upcoming events, please reach out to Samantha Sloan at ssloan@wssociety.co.uk.

 
 

CPD FOR LITIGATORS

Sixty delegates have already registered for the WS Personal Injury Law Conference on 4 May. The conference is a dedicated legal and technical update for Scottish PI practitioners. Sheriff Robert Fife will make the keynote address, sharing his views on the future of PI actions in ASPIC. The comprehensive programme covers a wide variety of topics from developments in QOCS from both the Pursuer and Defender perspectives to PI trusts, case management and Robert Milligan KC’s popular review of quantum case law. We are also pleased to welcome Dr Caroline Whymark, NHS Consultant in Anaesthesia and Pain Management, to review developments in this area of medicine for a legal audience. The conference will be chaired by Matt Leckie WS (Digby Brown).

Thanks for sponsors Compass Chambers, JS Parker Ltd and 123 Medical Services.

All welcome to attend. More details and online booking here.

 
 

INSTITUTE OF REGULATION

The charity services team has been appointed to provide support to the directors of the UK wide Institute of Regulation. The Institute was established in 2021, as a non-profit organisation, to foster and accelerate professionalism in the discipline of regulation. With a strong first year completed, the Institute now has 30 corporate members and over 200 individual regulation professionals subscribed. Activities centre on building a community around best practice in regulation, education and training, special interest groups and opportunities to contribute to regulatory policy. The Institute is chaired by Marcial Boo, Chief Executive of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission. Marcial’s fellow directors are an accomplished group of leading UK regulatory professionals. The Institute’s overriding objective is to contribute to social and economic prosperity through appropriate and well managed regulation. Learn more about the Institute’s work here . 

 
 
 
 

SIGNET LIBRARY CINEMA

Join us for a special screening of the award-winning documentary Through Our Eyes, at the Signet Library on 18 May 2023, followed by a conversation with the film’s BAFTA and IDFA winning director Samir Mehanović.

In sequences filmed over four years, Samir gives a personal insight into the human catastrophe of the Syrian conflict. A Muslim refugee himself, Samir fled Bosnia in the 1990s and settled in the UK. Drawing on his own experience of claiming asylum, he travels to meet Syrian refugees in camps, on trains and in their new countries of exile, to understand the lives of families fleeing their homes. Featuring original music by renowned British composer, Nigel Osborne MBE, Through Our Eyes is a vivid examination of the consequences of war and displacement, which western media often fail to convey. Samir’s documentary has renewed applicability to the dangers and adversity now facing the people of Ukraine.

Following the screening, Samir with be in conversation with Joyce McMillan. Joyce is theatre critic of The Scotsman, and also writes a political and social commentary column for the paper. Joyce has been involved in many campaigns for democracy and human rights, both in Scotland and internationally.

This event is open to all and coincides with the WS Society’s Immigration and Asylum Symposium on the same date – more information and booking for the Symposium here.

Film tickets: £10.00

 
 

LEXALBA MASTERCLASS

Last month The WS Society launched an exciting new programme for its affiliate members.

LexAlba Masterclass is designed as a practical, enjoyable and sociable network of practice area groups, where WS affiliates can develop their careers in a specialist practice area, meeting, sharing experience and learning under the guidance of recognised leaders in each field.

At launch, the groups are:

  • Commercial Dispute Resolution

  • Employment

  • Private Client

  • Immigration

Sessions will be hybrid and accessible to Trainee Solicitors and Solicitors across Scotland.

Employment group leader, Jennifer Skeoch WS says ‘This is a wonderful opportunity for those with specialist interests to hone their skills and network with other dynamic and engaging professionals. We can’t wait!’

Please encourage any junior lawyers in your network to consider applying. Application for Affiliate membership and for LexAlba can be submitted at the same time.

For more information, please visit our website or contact Sophie Mills (smills@wssociety.co.uk) with any enquiries.

 
 

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CONFERENCE

On Thursday 27 April the WS Society’s annual IP Conference returns to provide a varied and lively technical update in IP law, policy and regulation.

Topics include issues and developments in media law, updates on technology licensing and the rise of AI and ChatGPT. The top 3 IP decisions of 2022/23 will also be presented.

This year’s keynote address will be given by Commercial Court Judge, Lord Braid who will provide his view from the Bench.

Other speakers include:

  • The Hon Lord Braid

  • David Woods (Partner, Pinsent Masons)

  • Fiona McAllister (Senior Lawyer, Channel 4)

  • Joanna Boag-Thomson (Partner, Shepherd + Wedderburn)

  • Usman Tariq (Advocate, Ampersand Advocates)

  • JJ Shaw (Partner, Lewis Silkin)

  • Noëlle Pearson (Trade Mark Attorney, Marks & Clerk LLP)

For conference rates and booking details, please visit here

 
 

PAINTED WOLVES: A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE

The WS Society and the Trustees of the Painted Wolf Foundation invite you to join us for an evening at the Signet Library, to learn about the incredible painted wolves, made famous in David Attenborough’s BBC series, Dynasties.

Award winning wildlife photographer and author, Nicholas Dyer will discuss his experiences with these remarkable creatures, his acclaimed book and report, and projects the Painted Wolf Foundation is currently supporting to conserve and protect the future of this critically endangered species.

The painted wolf is a unique and remarkable creature, led by alpha females. Yet, for the last 10 years the species has endured an outrageous onslaught which has seen their population decrease to only 6,500, making them Africa’s second most endangered carnivore.

Nick has spent the last seven years following packs of painted wolves on foot, in Mana Pools, Zimbabwe and will showcase a collection of photographs he captured of the packs at the event. Each photograph has a story which brings to life the captivating and mysterious world of the painted wolves and the lives of those around them.

This event is run in aid of the Painted Wolf Foundation (UK charity 1176674).

 
 

ALMANAC COLLECTION

We're nearing completion of the cataloguing, conservation and reshelving of the Almanac Collection of The WS Society.

These tiny books rarely survive, being literal ephemera, they were printed and updated annually and tended to be discarded. Almanacs have been used for hundreds of years, originally as a calendar with significant religious days, solar/lunar and astronomical calculations.

Astrology was a natural progression, and Almanacs became very popular for their ‘prognostications’, folklore, and home remedies for illnesses.

By the C18, Scottish Almanacs were removed of all predictions, folk remedies and suchlike, and included a wealth of local information, who’s who in Scotland, fold out maps, topical illustrations.

They were particularly popular with Scottish landowners, farmers, smallholders etc, having an accurate calendar with which to plan their years activities.

This was the height of the Scottish Agricultural Revolution, the ‘Improvers’, many of whom were part of the legal profession and forms the background to the most interesting volumes in the Collection.

At the time, Almanacs were published with many blank pages intended for handwritten notes and many of our C18 volumes have extensive legal, personal and agricultural notes in tiny handwriting. We’ve been able to identify several of the owners, revealing the social and professional connections between the families as they were passed down over the last two centuries.

An upcoming online exhibition will feature some of the most unusual and fascinating examples in the collection.

 
 

IMMIGRATION & ASYLUM SYMPOSIUM

A new addition to the Society’s legal education programme, the inaugural WS Immigration and Asylum Symposium launches at the Signet Library on 18 May 2023. Coinciding with the UNHCR’s recent announcement that 1 in every 30 people in the world is a migrant, and the evolution in Scottish immigration policy over recent months, the symposium will cover developments in law and policy for practioners in this area. The keynote address will be given by the Honourable Lord Richardson. Lord Richardson will be joined by conference chair Grace McGill WS (Burness Paull) and five further expert speakers. The symposium’s programme will move across topics from effective humanitarian protection to the business and educational benefits of successful immigration systems. The programme will also include the unique lived experience input of Ukrainian lawyers in Scotland.

The event will conclude with a cultural element in the early evening, with the screening of the award-winning documentary ‘Through Our Eyes’, followed by live Q&A with the documentary’s director, Samir Mehanović. Samir is a Bosnian and British BAFTA and IDFA winning director, who came to Edinburgh as an immigrant from the war in the Balkans in 1995. His moving documentary shares experiences of current refugees. Samir will be in conversation with Joyce McMillan, social and political columnist with The Scotsman. With thanks to sponsors, Burness Paull LLP.

Register your interest for the symposium here.

Book tickets for the film screening here.

 
 

WS SUMMER SCHOLARS

Applications for the Society's Summer Law Scholarship programme 2023 are now open.

Designed for law students to enhance their professional and personal development, this is a unique opportunity for participants to spend two weeks as a WS Summer Scholar with the resources of the Signet Library at their fingertips.

Now a well-established programme empowering participants to raise their profile and sharpen their research and presentation skills in preparation for the world of legal work.

Participants will join a team-based research project on a contemporary legal issue, working towards a digital presentation to external delegates and written report for publication.

The programme is open to 3rd and 4th year students from the four year LLB undergraduate degree, 2nd year students from the accelerated LLB Degree and Diploma students.

For further information and how to apply please see here.

 
 

WORLD FIRST RESURFACES

In the daily life of the Signet Library, rare discoveries are still being made. In October 2022, a rare and unrecorded work by the pioneering mid-nineteenth-century Edinburgh photography studio of Hill and Adamson was found among the shelves of the upper library. A Series of Calotype Views of St Andrews of 1846 was the world’s first photographic work devoted to the architecture of a single place. After careful conservation work, the album will be the centrepiece of an event to be held at the Signet Library in March 2023 as part of the post—Covid returning Edinburgh Rare Books Festival.

Only seven complete copies of Calotype Views are known to survive worldwide, and the Signet Library’s volume is the only one to be found in Edinburgh. It is in superb condition and contains some of the best surviving examples of Hill and Adamson’s work, a wonderful primary source not only in the history of early photography but of immense value to social and architectural historians. At the March event, there will be a talk surveying scholarship around the making of this album, placing it in the wider context of Hill and Adamson’s photographic partnership and the social world of artistic Edinburgh and Scotland in the 1840s. Accompanying the talk, there will be a display featuring a selection from the Signet Library’s collection of historic photography.

STAIRCASE GLOW-UP 2

Internationally acclaimed photographer-artists Alicia Bruce and David Eustace recently visited to view their work on the staircase of the Signet Library.

Alicia’s portrait of Caroline Docherty OBE WS was taken in the Commissioners’ Room, where Caroline was so accustomed to chairing meetings throughout her ten years as Deputy Keeper of the Signet. Alicia has published and exhibited widely and her work won the Royal Scottish Academy Morton Award.

David Eustace has worked worldwide. His photographic works are included in several public and private collections, notably the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Glasgow Museum of Modern Art, Deutsche Bank Collection and City of Edinburgh Art Collection. David’s portraits of Andrew Stewart WS, Lord Ericht, and Peter Braid WS, Lord Braid, also now appear on the main staircase. These prints are taken from David’s portfolio portraying 24 individual Senators of the College of Justice in homage to the portraiture of Sir Henry Raeburn (1756-1823). Entitled ‘Thirty-Two York Place’, the photographs were taken by David at that Edinburgh address, where Raeburn once had his studio. Lord Braid’s portrait was acquired with the support of law firm Morton Fraser, where Lord Braid was a partner from 1985 to 2005.

Blending modernity and heritage is at the heart of everything the WS Society does. These wonderful photographs exemplify that approach and are more than worthy companions of the older oil portraiture at the Signet Library.

 
 

SPRING CPD

A trio of exceptional events

Our programme will open with Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Shona Robison MSP, and OSCR Chair, Marieke Dwarshuis, providing their insight on parliamentary progress with the new Scottish Charities Bill at the Charities Conference on 16 March, chaired by Gavin McEwan WS.

A Writer to the Signet for over 30 years (and now with his portrait on display at the Signet Library) Commercial Court Judge, the Hon Lord Braid, will give the keynote address at the Intellectual Property Conference on 27 April. With speakers from across the UK commenting on topics from media law to ChatGPT, this conference will be an engaging morning for both contentious and non-contentious IP lawyers.

On 4 May, Sheriff Fife will open the Personal Injury Law Conference with his views on ASPIC, as chair of the Personal Injury User Group. Sheriff Fife will be joined by key practitioners and a leading medical expert to explore the latest developments in PI litigation in the Scottish courts.

Thanks to sponsors abrdn, Marks & Clerk, Compass Chambers and JS Parker for their support with these education events. Places at all events can be booked online here: www.wssociety.co.uk/events

 
 

LEXALBA MASTERCLASS LAUNCHES

Launching today an exciting new programme for affiliate members. LexAlba Masterclass is a practical, enjoyable and sociable network of practice area groups, where WS affiliates can develop their careers in a specialist practice area, meeting, sharing experience and learning in an independent forum under the guidance of recognised leaders in the field.

In-house solicitor Sophie Mills of the WS Society explains: ‘Each practice area group will run for two years, meeting three times in each year. A new group will form every two years. There is scope of inter-practice area sessions in some areas, such as law firm finance. There will also be a continuing involvement, with alumni getting together for an annual social event’.

Joining a LexAlba Masterclass is open to all affiliates members of the WS Society and included with the annual subscription. There is no additional cost. Numbers in each group will be limited to a maximum of 15 so early application is recommended.

View the slideshow for more...

LexAlba launches in three practice groups:

  • Commercial Dispute Resolution

  • Private Client

  • Employment

  • Immigration.

Whether you are already an affiliate or want to become one, visit our website to apply or contact Sophie Mills (smills@wssociety.co.uk). Affiliate membership is open to trainee solicitors and solicitors for just £12.50 per month.

WILDLIFE CONSERVATION

Africa’s Painted Wolves join our panel of charity administration appointments

The Society has recently been appointed to provide governance and administration services to three further registered charities, Painted Wolf Foundation (UK registered 1176674), Craigcrook Mortification (SC001648) and the James and Grace Anderson Trust (SC004172).

The Society now administers twelve independent charities, across a range of charitable objectives and activities.

Our service centres on efficient and cost-effective management, allowing Trustees to focus on delivering charitable purposes. In each appointment we seek to enhance public benefit, add value and save costs.

If you are aware of any charities who are evaluating their support arrangements and costs, we would be delighted to provide more information

Painted Wolves Foundation joins the roster of charities the Society administers.

CPD 2023

2023 will be a blockbuster, best in class

Legal education begins with the popular Charities Conference on 16 March 2023, chaired by Gavin McEwan WS and dedicated to our friend and colleague, Alastair Keatinge WS (below).

Events continue with conferences and symposium throughout the practice year on Intellectual Property, Personal Injury, Professional Negligence, Employment, Immigration, Abuse and the Law, CDR, Sports Law, and Private Client, amongst other topics.

Full details to be released soon: www.wssociety.co.uk/events.

Alastair Keatinge WS (1957-2022)

Alastair Keatinge WS (1957-2022)

CHRISTMAS MAGIC

St Mary’s Choir at the Signet Library

Concluding the bicentenary celebration of the Signet Library, the Society welcomed the internationally renowned Choir of St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral for a very special Christmas concert. This unique event brought together two of Scotland’s oldest charitable institutions in a wonderful chemistry of music, architecture and Christmas tradition.

STAIRCASE GLOW-UP

CONTEMPORARY PORTRAITURE ADDED

To celebrate the bicentenary of the Signet Library, the Society has redecorated the main staircase, rehanging the portraits and adding contemporary photography of the Keeper, Lord Mackay of Clashfern KT and the Society’s Fellows, by photographer Albie Clark. Also now gracing the main staircase is a new portrait of former Deputy Keeper of the Signet, Caroline Docherty OBE WS by Alicia Bruce. Completing the collection are photographic portraits by David Eustace of two Senators of the College of Justice, Lord Ericht and Lord Braid, both of whom are Writers to the Signet

Do come in for a look.

DINNER REDUX

Triumphant return of the Annual Dinner, highlight of the legal year

Deputy Keeper Mandy Laurie WS welcomed guests to the return of the Society’s Annual Dinner on 11 November. A sell out event, guest speaker Baroness Helena Kennedy of The Shaws (below at the dinner) spoke in passionate defence of the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary. She also paid tribute to Lord Mackay of Clashfern on his retirement from the House of Lords. Lord Mackay closed the evening by announcing his retirement as Keeper of the Signet after fifteen years in office. Lord Mackay lauded opening the Signet Library to greater public access and the Society becoming a charity.

NEW TRUSTEES

Lynn McMahon WS and Jennifer Skeoch WS appointed trustees

Two new trustees have joined our board of trustees. Jennifer Skeoch WS (below left) is a partner at Burness Paull LLP and a leading employment lawyer. Lynn McMahon WS is a commercial litigation lawyer with specialist practice Halliday Campbell WS. Lynn is Signet Accredited in Commercial Litigation. Rachel Wood WS has retired as a trustee with profound thanks for her contribution over her ten year term.