Newcastle Upon Tyne Law Society

News from our President, Nigel Emmerson After a very successful Annual Dinner in October, November has been very busy and we have a number of events planned for the New Year. On 11 November I gave a talk to Newcastle College's law students with Pete Black, the Chair of the Newcastle & North East JLD. We spoke about our respective careers in the Law and fielded a number of interesting and challenging questions form the audience. It was a very enjoyable session with some very engaged students. One piece of feedback was that it is becoming increasingly difficult for students to obtain work experience with law firms in the region. If you would like to help in this area please contact the course leader, Laura Beth at laura.mitchell@ncl-coll.ac.uk. The following Wednesday we were privileged to host a webinar with Elizabeth Rimmer, the CEO of LawCare - the mental health charity for the legal sector. Elizabeth explained about LawCare and how it can help those in the profession who need its services. Later that day we visited the Land Registry in Durham. A group of us had an excellent session which included a presentation from Land Registry, tour of the building including the Land Charges scanning department and an excellent Q&A. On the 15th I hosted a Professional Services roundtable at the WBD office in Newcastle. Our aim to have a bigger and better legal services sector in the region includes us promoting the professional services sector as a whole. Amiqus is one of our sponsors and on the 21st Gregor Angus hosted an AML Compliance and Client Experience webinar. The session focused not just on the provision of client identification but also improving the client experience of that process. If you would like further details of the Amiqus product please contact us. Finally in November I attended the The Sunderland Law Society's Annual Dinner at the Stadium of Light. It was an excellent evening, many thanks to Sunderland Law Society for the invitation. It was fantastic to see the event so well attended and enjoyed by all present. We have a number of online events in December and our monthly Standing Committee meeting. You will find details of our events planned for January and February elsewhere in this Newsletter. I encourage you to take part in as many as you are able. I want to highlight our LegalTech initiative. This is being led by our Vice President, Paul Brown. We have fantastic law firms and tech companies in the region. We want to bring them together to allow us to be a leader in LegalTech and create opportunities. A working group is being formed to coordinate our approach. If you would like to be involved please let us know. Finally, I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We have achieved a great deal this year and are eagerly looking forward to 2025. Thank you to you all for your help and assistance, it is greatly appreciated.

Newcastle News Magazine One of the aims for Newcastle upon Tyne Law Society in 2024 is to raise the level of engagement and participation with our valued members and to enhance the benefits of being a member of the Society. It is always a pleasure to circulate our digital bi-monthly magazine - Newcastle News produced by Baskerville e-media Digital Publications in which we feature reports from our President Nigel Emmerson and the Chair of the JLD Pete Black. The Newcastle News magazine allows us to keep our members informed of all the Society’s news, we share photos and review past events and highlight all the forthcoming events. We publish local news from our member firms, collaborations and advertorials for our sponsors, important information from The Law Society and support our charity LawCare - the mental health charity for the legal sector. We are happy to share with the wider audience our latest magazine which showcases our activities in October and November. https://lnkd.in/eKZUhU4Q If you would like to become a member of Newcastle Law Society please follow this link https://lnkd.in/eyg8rFv5

A very successful visit to HM Land Registry @Durham, thanks Lesley Fairclough for the review!

Thank you Laura Beth for inviting Newcastle Law Society to engage with your Law Students at Newcastle College. We are glad the presentations were well received and we are happy to support you moving forward

The County Societies Group - Private Client Perspectives 2024: Navigating Legal Horizons Conference from 1:30 - 5:15pm, Thursday 14 November 2024 We’re pleased to announce that following the recent Budget, the content for our sessions on Navigating the Post-Budget Landscape for Private Clients is now fully confirmed. Led by experts Helen Forster and Edward Emblem, these sessions will cover the latest developments impacting private client practices, including frozen NRB and RNRB thresholds, changes to Agricultural and Business Reliefs, adjustments affecting family businesses, pension reforms, and HMRC’s new compliance measures. We will also take a deep dive into the rules affecting Non-Domiciled individuals with a focused review of the FIG regime, Overseas Workday Relief (OWR), Trust Registration Framework (TRF), and relevant schedules affecting trusts and rebasing, as well as exploring Capital Gains Tax (CGT) developments and Anti-Avoidance Measures. With a comprehensive analysis tailored to private client practitioners, these sessions promise insights and actionable strategies to navigate the updated tax landscape. In addition to this timely update, the conference will also feature sessions on Mastering Will Drafting: Navigating Pitfalls and Minimising Risk with Professor Lesley King, offering guidance on creating robust wills that avoid common errors, and Ensuring Precision: Assessing Mental Capacity in Private Client Practice with Victoria Cook of TSF Assessments, focusing on the vital aspects of capacity assessments. This essential content is available for members of the law societies of Cheshire & North Wales Law Society Devon & Somerset Law Society Kent Law Society Leicestershire Law Society Page and Surrey Law Society at just £80 plus VAT. Don't miss this opportunity to deepen your expertise with insights from top experts in the field! Further information can be found on our website https://lnkd.in/dVCR6b9a Tickets can be booked here https://lnkd.in/eWxB4c_X  

Newcastle Law Society have organised an event for Property Lawyers in Durham and the wider region to visit HM Land Registry in Durham.   The Durham office of HMLR have prepared a programme for Newcastle Law Society members to present an overview of the Local Land Charges Programme and a tour of their scanning and digitalisation department on Wednesday 13th of November from 1530-1800. Please follow the link to our website https://lnkd.in/dUqZdSiV where you can access further information about the visit. If you would like to attend, please email us to register your attendance mail@newcastlelawsociety.co.uk

Take time out to use your hours lunchbreak in a meaningful way in November as Newcastle Law Society are supporting two free Webinars which are not to be missed! Consider your mental health with LawCare - the mental health charity for the legal sector Take an hour’s lunchbreak from 12.30pm on the 13th of November to join a discussion with Elizabeth Rimmer, Chief Executive of Lawcare  who will be exploring the ongoing challenges post pandemic of meeting the evolving expectations of people, clients and regulators about mental health and workplace culture. She will give you practical tips for supporting your mental health, an overview of LawCare’s support and resources together with strategies for managers on fostering a working environment that priortises mental health and mitigates workplace risks to mental health. You can register directly with LawCare https://lnkd.in/eyAJK-Md and further information can be found on our website https://lnkd.in/eKTW5s5j   Also join us from 12.30pm on the 21st November for an insightful free Webinar by Gregor Angus from Amiqus who will be discussing Anti-Money Laundering Compliance and Client Experience. Knowing your Customer Processes are crucial for law firms to maintain compliance, but how do you balance these with providing a seamless client experience? This session will offer you practical solutions and best practices. Please register for this webinar following this registration link here: https://lnkd.in/dVAejX5K Further information can also be found on our website https://lnkd.in/egdg8dBy

North East Cyber Crime Seminar Last night Newcastle Law Society held their first Cyber Crime Seminar, hosted by our Vice President, Paul Brown. Thank you to all those that attended, it was good to see so many firms represented, who were keen to gather information about how to protect their firms from being victims of cyber crime. We were delighted to introduce David Tennant, the Cyber Protect & Prepare Officer from Northumbria Police and his colleague Wayne Imrie. Their presentation heightened our awareness of the types of cyber attacks that law firms are falling victim to and why legal professionals are prime targets for cyber criminals. Topics raised were - have you taken steps to defend against ransomware and malware attacks, business email comprise – what is your recovery and business continuity plan in the event of one of these attacks, how do you protect your reputation? How well do you protect your data, systems and services and educate your staff to detect phishing, smishing and quishing attacks and what procedure do you have for password protection to avoid compromise? 29% of reported Cyber Crime cases on legal firms this year were via supply chain attacks. Thank you, Dave, for delivering such an excellent presentation, there were so many take away messages such as the importance of investing in staff training and awareness to improve the security culture in your organisation. The Cyber Protect and Prepare team at Northumbria Police offer free Cyber training, Cyber Exercising and Police Cyber Alarm services. Adam Jackson, Associate Professor of Law and Deputy Head of Northumbria University Law School discussed EncroChat (dubbed “The Crime Chat Network”) and gave us a glimpse into the future of complex criminal investigations. The infiltration of the EncroChat network and the outcomes of “Operation Venetic” described by the National Crime Agency as the “biggest most significant operation of its kind”. He briefly discussed the key challenges: interception during transmission or storage and the Criminal Practice Directions 2023 – what lessons can be learned and challenges that lie ahead. Thank you, Adam, for presenting such an interesting overview of your research paper. Lastly a big thank you to Gregor Angus from Amiqus who reinforced the importance of knowing your client and having strong staff vetting policies and procedures. The products and services Amiqus provides covers everything to keep your law firm compliant, that includes:- right to work, credit check, ID verification, watchlist, monitoring, employment history and automated referencing. The summary of the presentation was to vet your people, streamline your processes and invest in your platforms. Please join us for the Amiqus lunchtime Webinar on 21st November where Gregor will be discussing AML Compliance and Client Experience. https://lnkd.in/egdg8dBy

Anti-Money Laundering and Know Your Customer processes are crucial for law firms to maintain compliance, but how do you balance these with providing a seamless client experience? Join us on the 21st of November between 12.30pm - 1.30pm for this insightful AML Compliance & Client Experience Webinar presented by Gregor Angus from Amiqus. This is a free event, sign up by reserving your spot below or follow this link https://lnkd.in/dVAejX5K

Newcastle Law Society has the pleasure in hosting a Webinar for this year’s charity - LawCare - the mental health charity for the legal sector on the 13th of November 2024, commencing at 12.30pm. Elizabeth Rimmer, Chief Executive of LawCare will be discussing ‘Mental Health in the legal profession, where are we at and where do we need to go?’ This session will explore the ongoing challenges post pandemic of meeting the evolving expectations of people, clients and regulators about mental health and workplace culture. Practical tips for supporting your mental health, an overview of LawCare’s support and resources together with strategies for managers on fostering a working environment that priortises mental health and mitigates workplace risks to mental health, will be shared.  Elizabeth has been managing and developing charities in the mental health sector for over 20 years. She joined LawCare in 2014 from the Institute of Group Analysis, a membership and training organisation for group psychotherapists. Before that she headed up Alzheimer’s Disease International, a worldwide federation of Alzheimer Associations. Elizabeth started her working life as a solicitor specialising in clinical negligence, practicing at Leigh Day. Elizabeth is Co Chair of the Helplines Partnership (national body for support and advice helplines) and a member of the International Bar Association’s Professional Wellbeing Commission and chairs the Commission’s regulatory and ethics workstream group. The webinar on the 13th of November will commence at 12.30pm, the presentation will last 40 minutes followed by some interactive sessions and 15 minutes of Q&A. This is a free event. You can register directly with LawCare https://lnkd.in/eyAJK-Md Alternatively, please register for this event by emailing mail@newcastlelawsociety.co.uk and we will sent you a link to join.