Resolution National Conference 17 and 18 April 2015
I was very privileged to be asked by Resolution, the principal UK organisation supporting over 6000 family lawyers and other family professionals, to Chair their 27th National Conference which took place on 17 and 18 April 2015 in Brighton.
This was the best attended Resolution conference yet, with around 500 delegates visiting the Hilton Metropole, Brighton and proved to be a most enjoyable and successful event.
I opened the conference welcoming the delegates to an interesting and eclectic Brighton and illustrated my talk with a slide show which included interesting views of the city. I then handed over to Resolution’s Chair Jo Edwards who explained the organisation’s achievements during the past year, the challenges facing family lawyers and Resolution’s plans for next year. There followed the conference’s keynote speech from Mr Justice Hayden which was extremely lively and entertaining. Justice Hayden could not provide me with a title of his address but said just introduce it as “a jumble of thoughts”. It certainly lived up to that and delegates were delighted with his wit and sense of humour throughout his address.
Next we were treated to a presentation by Shysta Manzoor and Clare Evans, two young ladies from the Family Justice Young People’s Board. They spoke about the importance of children being heard during proceedings and how this should be achieved in the future.
During Friday the Conference provided those attending, who included Legal Executives, Solicitors, Barristers, High Court Judges, Circuit Judges and District Judges from around the UK, with very useful legal updates. There was a seminar on developments in Child law from Samantha Little and Elspeth Thomson and after lunch a Financial update presented by Grant Howell and Martin Loxley.
Friday evening saw the extremely enthusiastic launch of YRes as a national group which has been led by Lucy Loizou and supported by 6 young lawyers, who are trying to promote the benefits of Resolution to their peers as well as ensuring their members have a voice in the running and direction of Resolution itself. It is essential our newly qualified lawyers feel part of Resolution as they are after all, the future leaders of the organisation and the profession’s future senior partners!
The launch was followed by the annual dinner and dance during which the 3rd John Cornwell Award was presented to Roger Bamber and Felicity Shedden for their outstanding contributions to the legal profession. I was also honoured to be asked to sit on the judging panel for this award earlier this year.
Saturday morning saw the plenary debate which was chaired by Joshua Rozenberg. Members of the panel were our local designated Family Judge HHJ Jenkins, D.J. Hess, Angela Lake-Caroll, Liz Trinder and Lucy Reid.
The whole event was very popular on Twitter and if you search #ResConf15 you can see all of the related Tweets.
I believe that Resolution practitioners give something extra to their clients and I am proud to be a member of such a forward thinking organisation who strive tirelessly on behalf of both lawyers and our clients, towards a non-confrontational approach to family problems.