On the road

The In-house Lawyers Group (ILG) committee took to the road earlier this year to meet its members as part of a wider review of the services the Society offers them.

The series of informal discussion forums in Newtown St Boswells, Dundee, Aberdeen, Motherwell, Inverness and Glasgow were well attended and gave members from across the country the opportunity to air their views on the committee’s work, raise concerns and make suggestions on how to meet the ongoing and future needs of in-house lawyers in Scotland.

The committee has pledged to increase the number of information and training seminars the ILG offers, and last year introduced videoconferencing to help those working outwith the central belt with their CPD requirements. It has already developed its own section of the Society’s website and produced a well-received Guide for In-house Lawyers (available on the site).

Enthusiastic response

Janet Hood, chairman of the ILG, said: “This has been a highly successful initiative. There was real enthusiasm from those who came along and the feedback has been invaluable – and will help inform the work of the committee in the coming months.

“There were common areas of interest, and one of the main themes to emanate from the discussions was that of communication and ensuring that the group is kept informed not only in terms of legal updates and CPD, but to ensure that as in-house lawyers, we are fully aware of developments within the wider profession – such as the introduction of the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission – and how these may impact on our working lives.

“How we communicate as a group is key – from hosting events like these to writing articles in the Journal, using the Society website and developing videoconferencing and podcasts.”

Feedback from the roadshows about the annual seminar programme suggests that the choice of topics and speakers has been a big success, with many enjoying the mix, which members felt maintained their interest across all aspects of the law and encouraged the view that a solicitor is a “man – or woman – of business”. Longer and more interactive seminar sessions, and varying the time slots to include breakfast sessions as well as day or evening seminars, have been suggested, in addition to increasing the range of topics to meet the needs of those with differing specialisms. Details of the 2007-08 seminars are available online.

Remote connections

Videoconferencing has also been highly successful as it has provided not only excellent speakers and papers, but good networking opportunities. However, nothing beats a live event and the committee hopes to ensure that speakers for videoconferencing events present from a variety of locations around the country.

While the committee’s pilot podcast was pronounced very good, most members felt that further podcasts would not be cost effective. CPD DVDs produced by Update at the Society were viewed as the most viable alternative, with many of those attending the events requesting DVDs produced specifically for in-house solicitors.

Suggestions on using the ILG pages on the website more effectively included the creation of a message board to encourage online debate, and posting papers from seminars on the web to help members.

Better interchange

Members in Inverness and the Borders, echoing solicitors in private practice, cited recruitment and retention of solicitors as a major issue, and one idea currently being investigated is the formation of a “people exchange”, which would help facilitate closer co-operation between members of ILG, as well as help meet one of the group’s objectives which is to encourage and develop the better training of its members.

While debate on the best way to do this continues, there is broad agreement that more in-house traineeships should be encouraged and appropriate information circulated to potential employers as well as those seeking a traineeship. The committee intends to take this forward in conjunction with the Society’s New Lawyers’ Co-ordinator and look at the merits of ideas such as “growing your own assistant” (see Journal, January 2007, 28).

Janet Hood said: “It’s clear that our members are looking for greater contact with the committee as well as with their peers around the country. The discussion forums have been highly illuminating and I know that the committee found them extremely rewarding and motivating. We now have a clearer understanding of those we represent and what they would like from us.”

    The ILG committee meets later in May and will be working out an action plan for the future based on these discussions. Further comments, on the issues raised at the roadshows or otherwise, are welcome and should be sent to Tricia Sim (e: [email protected]).

Watch out for further updates or log on to the ILG section of the Society’s website – www.lawscot.org.uk/Members_Information/inhouse.