The City of London Solicitors' Company

Looking forward to this event - inspiring practical.

Lucky Girls 2 Book here: https://bit.ly/4csRHox By popular demand, we are running another event for women lawyers who are in the earlier stages of their career (though all are welcome). This event is aimed at supporting attendees in their professional and personal development. When we held our first Lucky Girls event, in May 2024, one of the things attendees told us (loud and clear) is that we could help with networking – how to do it, to do it well, and to enjoy (as opposed to dread) it. So naturally we turned to award-winning author and personal impact expert Esther Stanhope - The Impact Guru for help. Esther has kindly devised a very practical and inter-active two hour masterclass for us, during which she will reveal the science behind working a room. It’s easy, she tells us, to be brilliant at networking if you know the unwritten rules and secret tricks. The session will be held at Weil, Gotshal & Manges’ offices at 110 Fetter Lane, EC4A 1AY, between 4 and 6 pm and will be followed by (you’ve guessed it) networking drinks. Book here: https://bit.ly/4csRHox There will be a small charge of £20 pp to attend. Thanks to the huge generosity of both Esther and Weil, all proceeds will go to our Charitable Fund. Places are limited due to the interactive nature of the session. Members of the Company will be given priority, but we are also opening attendance to anyone who works in a CLLS member firm. And remember, no one who attends these events is there as a “Lucky Girl” - everyone who joins us is an already successful professional operating at the top of their game! We do hope to see you in October, at what promises to be an impactful afternoon. #legal #networking #LuckyGirls

Attention all members of the City of London Solicitors Company who are passionate about social media, are collaborative and have a flair for creativity!   We are seeking enthusiastic solicitors to apply to join the CLSC Communications Committee. If you are a CLSC member, have a knack for engaging with audiences on platforms like LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, and would like to volunteer to support the Committee, we want to hear from you!   Not only are we looking for social media savvy individuals, but we also welcome those with a talent for photography, and also newsletter contributors. Your skills will play a crucial role in showcasing the outstanding work, initiatives, and events that support solicitors in the City of London and Canary Wharf, as well as the charitable endeavours of our Company.   Joining the CLSC Communications Committee is a unique opportunity to be at the forefront of our communications strategy, helping to highlight the impactful work we do and the difference we make in the legal community. Your contribution will not only enhance our presence in the digital world but also support our mission to serve the legal profession.   If you're ready to make a difference and have some fun along the way, please apply to join the CLSC Communications Committee. We can't wait to see the fresh perspectives and innovative ideas you'll bring to the table! For more information on this volunteering opportunity for CLSC members and to express your interest, please contact us.   #CLSC #CommunicationsCommittee #SocialMedia #LegalProfession #CityOfLondonSolicitorsCompany

In creating the gardens at Highgrove Gardens, over a forty year period, His Majesty King Charles III's aim has always been to "please the eye, warm the heart and feed the soul". City Solicitors experienced all these things during Sarah de Gay's "Master's Away Day" on Friday 14 June. Our group loved visiting the spectacular gardens, preceded by a wonderful afternoon tea. And, by special arrangement, we were able to see the Snowdon School of Furniture and Chanel Embroidery Atelier now based at Highgrove too - helping to train the next generation of young UK furniture designers and embroiderers to excel in their creative fields. We know that His Majesty hopes that each visitor to Highgrove will "find some part of it that is special to them" and every member of our group certainly did that! We were looked after by a remarkable team - huge thanks to The King's Foundation for making our outing such a memorable one. For (hopefully obvious) security and privacy-related reasons, it is not possible to take photographs of the garden or the talented and dedicated people who work, study and volunteer there. But we can share this snap of our afternoon experience, a couple of the Coronation chairs made by students of the Snowdon School and a tambour beading mood board. We hope these inspire you to do your own garden tour and experience the joy of the Royal Gardens at Highgrove for yourself.

Many of our members have been asking when this paper by Steven Vaughan would be available. And here it is! Recommended reading for those of you who attended, or wanted to attend, Steven’s excellent lecture on Monday, as well as solicitors and other regulated professionals too!

“Integrity” lies at the heart of what it means to be a solicitor, so we were delighted that Professor Steven Vaughan agreed to explore its meaning last night when he delivered our annual Master’s Lecture for Sarah de Gay. It was an especially relevant topic given that “Integrity” is also one of the Company’s three values, the others being “Collegiality” and “Charity”. Steven explored what price we, as professionals, can and indeed should pay for our integrity with a room packed full of lawyers of all kinds (barristers and judges as well as solicitors), other professionals and Masters of other livery companies. Indeed, all three of our values were on very full display last night - the conversation around this challenging topic continued amicably after the lecture, over drinks, and attendees kindly took the opportunity to donate to our Charitable Fund too. A detailed academic paper will follow. But for now, we’d like to say a huge thank you to Steven for his excellent lecture, and to Slaughter and May for so generously hosting us. #integrity #collegiality #charity

If you wanted to attend our recent event on the career progression of women lawyers but were unable to do so, this note is for you! It shares some reflections on what women need to succeed in City law firms.  We have already sent it to anyone who attended “Lucky Girls” on 21 May 2024 – and to be clear no one who attended that event was there as a “Lucky Girl”. Everyone was there as an already successful professional operating at the top of their game. So why “Lucky”? Read the note to find out more…

Yesterday the Company held, for the first time, an event focused on the career development of younger female lawyers, and what they feel they need to succeed. The session's name, "Lucky Girls", was a reference, tongue in cheek, to the TikTok sensation of the same name which suggests it is possible to make one’s own luck simply by putting a wish out to the universe. (The idea goes like this – you want a convertible BMW, you make that known, and next thing is a convertible BMW appears in your driveway. It happens simply because you articulate your desire for it.) Whilst our Master Sarah de Gay and attendees agreed it’s not possible to manifest a promotion, one of the things they explored was the role which having a plan and pursuing it with the fullest of confidence can play when it comes to advancing in the law. Our very rich discussions took place under the Chatham House Rule but a note of the principal themes which emerged will be shared with participants and feature, later in the year, in CitySolicitor magazine too. Huge thanks to Slaughter and May for hosting, to Jane Edwarde for leading a fascinating panel discussion with three of the Company's outstanding members (Alexandra Marks CBE, Clare Murray and Sophia Bell) and to all our table rapporteurs for facilitating, so professionally and enthusiastically, our illuminating table discussions.  

What a night! Our Master Sarah de Gay, Immediate Past Master Tony King and many of our City solicitors members (including Professor Sara Chandler KC (Hon) pictured here with Sir Robin Knowles) were delighted attend yesterday's Pro Bono Reception held at the Royal Courts of Justice. And, more importantly, we were delighted to partner with Commercial Litigators' Forum (CLF) on the event in order to support the important work of the The National Pro Bono Centre. As the livery company which seeks to promote understanding of, and respect for, the Rule of Law, we support a variety of access to justice-related initiatives. We congratulate the companies signing the In House Pro Bono Pledge, and hope that our members will find opportunities to volunteer alongside them on pro bono projects

Moral Remainders - What is the Price of Professional Integrity?   Each year our Master invites a speaker to give "their" lecture. This year, Steven Vaughan of UCL Faculty of Laws has kindly agreed to speak for Sarah de Gay on this fascinating integrity-based topic. The talk will take place at the offices of Slaughter and May on Monday 3 June at 6.30 pm, and will be followed by conversation over drinks. In 1995, the Harvard law professor David B Wilkins asked: should a Black lawyer represent the Ku Klux Klan? At the heart of his inquiry lie deep-rooted and challenging questions about legal ethics and role morality; the idea that professionals might be willing or feel obliged to do things in their professional lives that they might find morally repugnant or otherwise challenging in their personal lives; and that some see lawyers as simply amoral vehicles or neutral technicians for effecting their clients’ wishes.   In this talk, Professor Steven Vaughan will interrogate the idea of professional integrity, asking what work the concept does in regulatory terms (as part of Legal Services Act 2007 and the professional codes of various frontline regulators) and how integrity has been interpreted by the courts. He will argue that integrity seems to occupy a complex place in legal services regulation and thinking, being something that speaks to:   ·        the sort of people the profession is willing to admit; ·        what is (maybe, sometimes) expected of those who become lawyers away from their lawyering; as well as ·        the (fuzzy) standards we expect of lawyers as lawyers.   In so doing, Steven will talk about character tests, the personal lives of professional lawyers, conscientious objection, and the thorny issue of whether there is anything special at all about the ethics we expect of those granted certain professional titles like ‘solicitor’ or ‘barrister’.   There is no charge for attending the event, but we are inviting attendees to donate £20 pp to our Charitable Fund. You can do this by contacting the Company’s Clerk, [email protected], for the relevant bank details, or make a donation at the event using the QR code which will be available. We hope you agree that this is a great way to support a range of smaller charities, many of which have a link to our justice system, or to learning, social mobility and widening access to the profession. If you are a member of the Company or a lawyer working at a member firm of City of London Law Society (CLLS) and wish to join us on 3 June, please contact our Clerk for details of how to register.