TREFOIL CELEBRATION

Client Trefoil House surpasses £1,000,000 in grants. 

We are thrilled that since the WS Governance and Charities team took over the administration of Trefoil House (Scottish charity number SC013744) in 2016, the charity has surpassed £1,000,000 in grants! Trefoil’s mission is to support the development of children and young people with additional needs in Scotland, to enable them to maximise their capabilities and achieve as much independence as possible.

Read more about Trefoil’s impact here: https://www.trefoil.org.uk/our-impact.

For more information on Trefoil, please visit www.trefoil.org.uk or contact Sophie Mills, smills@wssociety.co.uk.  

ANNUAL DINNER 2024

Bookings now open.

Booking is now open for the highlight of the legal year, the Society’s Annual Dinner on Friday 8 November in the splendour of the Signet Library. The ticket price is £ 130 (plus VAT), £1,300 (plus VAT) for a table of 10. You can book here or email Sarah Leask on sleask@wssociety.co.uk

If you have already requested tickets or tables, we have your booking and no further action is required.

The guest speaker for the dinner will be announced soon.

DIET OF ADMISSION

Join us in welcoming 23 new members.

We are looking forward to our July Diet of Admission where we will welcome 23 new members of different categories, and their families and friends.

Lady Eilish will preside over the ceremony and provide inspiring remarks on our member’s place is history. This is a wonderful opportunity to meet Lady Eilish and new members of the Society. We welcome all members who wish to attend.  

The Diet of Admission will take place on Wednesday 3 July at the Signet Library. The evening starts at 5.30 pm with the swearing in ceremony followed by a drinks reception.

We are still welcoming new applications for the Diet and if you know anyone who would be interested in becoming a member, please contact our membership team at membership@wssociety.co.uk with any enquiry. We will host a second Diet of Admission in November (date TBC).

LIBRARY SERVICES

Work and meeting space available to members.

Writers to the Signet and members of WS firms are warmly invited to visit and work in the modern accommodation of the Upper West Library, a pleasant atmosphere for working which offers natural light, flexible desk space with access to Westlaw, wifi, coffee and meeting facilities.

Most of our services can be accessed from the convenience of your own desk or office. We will deliver case reports, legislation and extracts from legal authorities directly to your desktop via email, and send books and other materials via DX or post. Most requests can be fulfilled on the same day. Our PSL research and consultancy service, providing precedents, briefing notes and reports, can also be accessed remotely – just telephone 0131 220 3249 or email library@wssociety.co.uk to discuss your requirements.

With the long history of Writers to the Signet contributing to the rich tradition of historical writing in Edinburgh and Scotland we would also mention that the Library subscribes to a wide range of historical journals and publications including many of Scotland’s historical and archaeological societies and those issued by the Scottish Record Society, the Scottish Historical Society, the Stair Society and the Society of Antiquaries. The Society’s own rich archives and collections of books, manuscripts and papers are all available for members to draw on for their own work.

VISIT OF EUROPEAN LAW STUDENTS ASSOCIATION [AUSTRIA]

Display of Justinian’s Novellae.

We were privileged to welcome a visiting group from the European Law Students Association in Austria for a tour of the Library and a discussion on the modern legal scene in Europe. To mark the occasion some of the Signet Library’s extensive collections of European law were on display. These included the 1540 first printing of the Hexabiblon, which formed the basis of the Greek legal code after 1828, the Scottish Enlightenment scholar Thomas Ruddiman’s own copy of Justinian’s Novellae (the Geneva edition of 1558 edited by the Scottish intellectual Henry Scrimgeour) and a 1523 commentary on Justinian’s Institutes by one of the last of the great pre-Reformation legal scholars Giasone del Maino.

REMEMBERING PROFESSOR ARTHUR BURNS

Celebration of life.

This month, on 28 May, the Society’s Chief Executive Dr Robert Pirrie WS attended a Symposium and Choral Evensong at King’s College London to remember Arthur Burns, Professor of Modern History at KCL and Academic Director of the Georgian Papers Programme. Professor Burns was a speaker at one of the Society’s 2022 events to mark 200 years of the Signet Library. He was a supervisor for Robert Pirrie’s PhD at KCL.

At the Symposium, senior academics and writers in history from around the UK and US gathered to share memories of Professor Burns and his work. His wife, Sarah Stockwell, Professor of Imperial and Commonwealth History at KCL, and three sons were among those attending. Professor Burns was universally admired and respected, not only for the rigour of his historical scholarship, but for his qualities of kindness, goodness, and generosity of spirit. He was on the academic staff at KCL for 30 years, having studied and obtained his PhD at Balliol College, Oxford. Professor Burns made an immense contribution at KCL and to the many other historical societies of which he was a member and in some cases a co-founder. He co-founded the Boydell and Brewer series Studies in Modern British Religious History, which has now published more than 35 volumes on this theme. He was a pioneer of digital humanities, a field in which KCL is now a global leader. Professor Burns will be forever in the memory of those who knew him as one of the very best.  

SWEARING IN OF FIRST MINISTER

Historic ceremony.

On Wednesday 8 May, 2024, Scotland’s new First Minister John Swinney was sworn into office by the Lord President in the Court of Session. The WS Society as part of Scotland’s College of Justice (founded in 1532) was represented in court by CEO Robert Pirrie WS, Principal Solicitor Sophie Mills and Chris Nicholson WS (Legal Directorate, Scottish Government).

SLAVERY AND THE SCOTTISH ENLIGHTENMENT – JOHN D O FULTON WS BOOK LAUNCH

Join John D O Fulton WS and Edinburgh World Heritage at the Signet Library on Thursday 13 June. 

The new ideas and values that emerged from Scotland between the mid-eighteenth and mid-nineteenth century were shaped by the moral dilemmas of the day. As such, the story of the Scottish Enlightenment is intertwined with that of slavery and the slave trade. 

John D O Fulton WS in his new book explores this nuanced and conflicting relationship via the compelling life stories of an extraordinary cast of characters—from Jamaican plantation owners to America’s original private eye, Glaswegian merchants to London revolutionaries, escaped American slaves to indomitable female crusaders fighting for America’s soul. They lived in a period of seismic historical events, legal reforms and moral shifts, with slavery at the centre. From a Scottish perspective, Slavery and the Scottish Enlightenment gives a rich, diverse and dramatic account of this momentous period, while examining its relevance to our society today. 

John will be presenting his book and expanding on his research. Robert Pirrie WS, Chief Executive will host a Q&A after the presentation.  

Doors open from 17.30, the event will start at 18.00. 

Tickets are £12. WS members can use discount code WSEWH. All funds raised will be donated to Edinburgh World Heritage (Scottish registered charity SC037183). 

TEXAS A&M COMES TO THE SIGNET

Visit from law students at Texas A&M. 

In May, The WS Society hosted law students from Texas A&M University during their field trip to the UK, led by WS Associate member Randy Gordon, partner of Duane Morris, Dallas, TX. 
 
The students enjoyed two days at the Signet Library. They spent time with Dr Robert Pirrie WS, our Chief Executive and James Hamilton, Research Principle gave them a tour and put on an exhibition for them in the Upper West Library. They also met with The WS Society members Rob Wilson WS and David Hardie WS to hear about energy law arbitrations and their experience with energy regulators. 
 
A wonderful time was had by all. 

THE WS SOCIETY ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Follow us on social media to stay updated on all things WS.

The Society is active on LinkedIn, Instagram (@thewssocietyeh1) and X (@thewssociety) and history and heritage on X (@signetlibrary).  Please do follow us, like and share our updates.  To date, we have been sharing upcoming CPD news and Member updates on LinkedIn, images of the beautiful Signet Library on Instagram and legal news updates on X.   

We encourage members to share their news with us, be this career related or personal achievements relevant to legal.  We are keen to feature this information across our social media. Please send relevant news to Sarah Leask, Director, Engagement and Membership 

VISIT FROM THE ASSOCIATION OF BRITISH THEOLOGICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL LIBRARIES

Last week we were delighted to welcome delegates from the annual conference of the Association of British Theological and Philosophical Libraries for a tour of the Signet Library and a viewing of a selection from the Signet Library’s collections. These included a vast 1843 facsimile of the Act of Separation and Deed of Demission that was the climax of the Disruption of the Kirk, a climactic event in Scottish social and religious history. Amongst the items on display were a 1534 edition of the works of Richard of St. Victor (d.1173), the only Scot to be in Dante’s Paradiso, John Duns Scotus (1265-1308)’s commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard in a Venetian edition from 1597 and John Viccars’ extraordinary 10-language edition of the Psalms in the 1655 London edition. We would like to thank Dr. Sarah Mann of the Open University for arranging this visit.