Don’t miss the opportunity to attend our most exclusive event of the year. Bookings are now open for the WS Annual Dinner, on Friday 10 November. You can either reserve individual tickets or book a table of 10.
Price is £125 plus vat per person. This includes a champagne reception, three-course dinner, accompanied by fine wines.
We will announce the name of the guest speaker closer to the date.
We are looking forward to June where we will welcome 25 new members of different categories joining the Society, and their families and friends celebrating this special occasion at the Signet Library.
Affiliate members can benefit from the newly established LexAlba Masterclass at no extra cost. LexAlba Masterclass is currently available in four practice areas; Commercial Dispute Resolution, Employment, Private Client and Immigration. LexAlba qualifies as CPD and TCPD under the Law Society of Scotland’s regime. For more information on LexAlba please visit our website.
Student members will be invited to exclusive events throughout the year, including Speed Networking and Adventures in Law. The events are aimed at providing face-to-face meetings with Writers to the Signet and lawyers from a cross section of roles who will share their career synopses and tips with the students.
The WS Society has two Diet of Admissions throughout the year, in June and November. The next Diet of Admission is scheduled for Tuesday 6 June at the Signet Library. We are still welcoming new applications for the June Diet and if you know anyone who would be interested in becoming a member, please contact our membership team at membership@wssociety.co.uk with any enquiry.
Aiming to create opportunities for student members to network with practitioners, our 2023 Student Series launched with an evening of Speed Networking.
Samantha Sloan (first year Trainee Solicitor at the WS Society) explains: ‘Our Speed Networking event returned to the Signet Library for the first time since 2019 following a few years of online events. We were delighted to welcome 13 students and 10 practitioners on the night. This event is always popular with students as it provides an informal setting to network with members of the profession and hear about the wide range of careers available to law graduates. Our thanks go to the professionals who have helped support the next generation of lawyers as they progress through their legal education and to abrdn for sponsoring the event’.
‘[T]he quality of the people we met was very high and they were genuinely excited about their futures in the legal profession. Great hope for the future.’ - Malcolm Mackay WS
The series will continue with Adventures in Law in September.
If you are a WS member who would like to get involved in the Student Series or a student who would like to learn more about upcoming events, please reach out to Samantha Sloan at ssloan@wssociety.co.uk.
Sixty delegates have already registered for the WS Personal Injury Law Conference on 4 May. The conference is a dedicated legal and technical update for Scottish PI practitioners. Sheriff Robert Fife will make the keynote address, sharing his views on the future of PI actions in ASPIC. The comprehensive programme covers a wide variety of topics from developments in QOCS from both the Pursuer and Defender perspectives to PI trusts, case management and Robert Milligan KC’s popular review of quantum case law. We are also pleased to welcome Dr Caroline Whymark, NHS Consultant in Anaesthesia and Pain Management, to review developments in this area of medicine for a legal audience. The conference will be chaired by Matt Leckie WS (Digby Brown).
Thanks for sponsors Compass Chambers, JS Parker Ltd and 123 Medical Services.
All welcome to attend. More details and online booking here.
The charity services team has been appointed to provide support to the directors of the UK wide Institute of Regulation. The Institute was established in 2021, as a non-profit organisation, to foster and accelerate professionalism in the discipline of regulation. With a strong first year completed, the Institute now has 30 corporate members and over 200 individual regulation professionals subscribed. Activities centre on building a community around best practice in regulation, education and training, special interest groups and opportunities to contribute to regulatory policy. The Institute is chaired by Marcial Boo, Chief Executive of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission. Marcial’s fellow directors are an accomplished group of leading UK regulatory professionals. The Institute’s overriding objective is to contribute to social and economic prosperity through appropriate and well managed regulation. Learn more about the Institute’s work here .
Join us for a special screening of the award-winning documentary Through Our Eyes, at the Signet Library on 18 May 2023, followed by a conversation with the film’s BAFTA and IDFA winning director Samir Mehanović.
In sequences filmed over four years, Samir gives a personal insight into the human catastrophe of the Syrian conflict. A Muslim refugee himself, Samir fled Bosnia in the 1990s and settled in the UK. Drawing on his own experience of claiming asylum, he travels to meet Syrian refugees in camps, on trains and in their new countries of exile, to understand the lives of families fleeing their homes. Featuring original music by renowned British composer, Nigel Osborne MBE, Through Our Eyes is a vivid examination of the consequences of war and displacement, which western media often fail to convey. Samir’s documentary has renewed applicability to the dangers and adversity now facing the people of Ukraine.
Following the screening, Samir with be in conversation with Joyce McMillan. Joyce is theatre critic of The Scotsman, and also writes a political and social commentary column for the paper. Joyce has been involved in many campaigns for democracy and human rights, both in Scotland and internationally.
This event is open to all and coincides with the WS Society’s Immigration and Asylum Symposium on the same date – more information and booking for the Symposium here.
Film tickets: £10.00