LEXALBA MASTERCLASS

Last month The WS Society launched an exciting new programme for its affiliate members.

LexAlba Masterclass is designed as a practical, enjoyable and sociable network of practice area groups, where WS affiliates can develop their careers in a specialist practice area, meeting, sharing experience and learning under the guidance of recognised leaders in each field.

At launch, the groups are:

• Commercial Dispute Resolution

• Employment

• Private Client

• Immigration

Sessions will be hybrid and accessible to Trainee Solicitors and Solicitors across Scotland.

Employment group leader, Jennifer Skeoch WS says ‘This is a wonderful opportunity for those with specialist interests to hone their skills and network with other dynamic and engaging professionals. We can’t wait!’

Please encourage any junior lawyers in your network to consider applying. Application for Affiliate membership and for LexAlba can be submitted at the same time.

For more information, please visit our website or contact Sophie Mills (smills@wssociety.co.uk) with any enquiries.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CONFERENCE

On Thursday 27 April the WS Society’s annual IP Conference returns to provide a varied and lively technical update in IP law, policy and regulation.

Topics include issues and developments in media law, updates on technology licensing and the rise of AI and ChatGPT. The top 3 IP decisions of 2022/23 will also be presented.

This year’s keynote address will be given by Commercial Court Judge, Lord Braid who will provide his view from the Bench.

Other speakers include:

• The Hon Lord Braid

• David Woods (Partner, Pinsent Masons)

• Fiona McAllister (Senior Lawyer, Channel 4)

• Joanna Boag-Thomson (Partner, Shepherd + Wedderburn)

• Usman Tariq (Advocate, Ampersand Advocates)

• JJ Shaw (Partner, Lewis Silkin)

• Noëlle Pearson (Trade Mark Attorney, Marks & Clerk LLP)

For conference rates and booking details, please visit here

PAINTED WOLVES: A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE

The WS Society and the Trustees of the Painted Wolf Foundation invite you to join us for an evening at the Signet Library, to learn about the incredible painted wolves, made famous in David Attenborough’s BBC series, Dynasties.

Award winning wildlife photographer and author, Nicholas Dyer will discuss his experiences with these remarkable creatures, his acclaimed book and report, and projects the Painted Wolf Foundation is currently supporting to conserve and protect the future of this critically endangered species.

The painted wolf is a unique and remarkable creature, led by alpha females. Yet, for the last 10 years the species has endured an outrageous onslaught which has seen their population decrease to only 6,500, making them Africa’s second most endangered carnivore.

Nick has spent the last seven years following packs of painted wolves on foot, in Mana Pools, Zimbabwe and will showcase a collection of photographs he captured of the packs at the event. Each photograph has a story which brings to life the captivating and mysterious world of the painted wolves and the lives of those around them.

This event is run in aid of the Painted Wolf Foundation (UK charity 1176674).

ALMANAC COLLECTION

We're nearing completion of the cataloguing, conservation and reshelving of the Almanac Collection of The WS Society.

These tiny books rarely survive, being literal ephemera, they were printed and updated annually and tended to be discarded. Almanacs have been used for hundreds of years, originally as a calendar with significant religious days, solar/lunar and astronomical calculations.

Astrology was a natural progression, and Almanacs became very popular for their ‘prognostications’, folklore, and home remedies for illnesses.

By the C18, Scottish Almanacs were removed of all predictions, folk remedies and suchlike, and included a wealth of local information, who’s who in Scotland, fold out maps, topical illustrations.

They were particularly popular with Scottish landowners, farmers, smallholders etc, having an accurate calendar with which to plan their years activities.

This was the height of the Scottish Agricultural Revolution, the ‘Improvers’, many of whom were part of the legal profession and forms the background to the most interesting volumes in the Collection.

At the time, Almanacs were published with many blank pages intended for handwritten notes and many of our C18 volumes have extensive legal, personal and agricultural notes in tiny handwriting. We’ve been able to identify several of the owners, revealing the social and professional connections between the families as they were passed down over the last two centuries.

An upcoming online exhibition will feature some of the most unusual and fascinating examples in the collection.

IMMIGRATION & ASYLUM SYMPOSIUM

A new addition to the Society’s legal education programme, the inaugural WS Immigration and Asylum Symposium launches at the Signet Library on 18 May 2023. Coinciding with the UNHCR’s recent announcement that 1 in every 30 people in the world is a migrant, and the evolution in Scottish immigration policy over recent months, the symposium will cover developments in law and policy for practioners in this area. The keynote address will be given by the Honourable Lord Richardson. Lord Richardson will be joined by conference chair Grace McGill WS (Burness Paull) and five further expert speakers. The symposium’s programme will move across topics from effective humanitarian protection to the business and educational benefits of successful immigration systems. The programme will also include the unique lived experience input of Ukrainian lawyers in Scotland.

The event will conclude with a cultural element in the early evening, with the screening of the award-winning documentary ‘Through Our Eyes’, followed by live Q&A with the documentary’s director, Samir Mehanović. Samir is a Bosnian and British BAFTA and IDFA winning director, who came to Edinburgh as an immigrant from the war in the Balkans in 1995. His moving documentary shares experiences of current refugees. Samir will be in conversation with Joyce McMillan, social and political columnist with The Scotsman. With thanks to sponsors, Burness Paull LLP.

Register your interest for the symposium here.

Book tickets for the film screening here.

WS SUMMER SCHOLARS

Applications for the Society's Summer Law Scholarship programme 2023 are now open.

Designed for law students to enhance their professional and personal development, this is a unique opportunity for participants to spend two weeks as a WS Summer Scholar with the resources of the Signet Library at their fingertips.

Now a well-established programme empowering participants to raise their profile and sharpen their research and presentation skills in preparation for the world of legal work.

Participants will join a team-based research project on a contemporary legal issue, working towards a digital presentation to external delegates and written report for publication.

The programme is open to 3rd and 4th year students from the four year LLB undergraduate degree, 2nd year students from the accelerated LLB Degree and Diploma students.

For further information and how to apply please see here.