As your previous blog post authors quickly approach their qualification, leaving us ‘baby lawyers’ behind, the timely transfer of the Trainee Talk Blog baton has been passed to us, your dedicated first (soon-to-be second) year trainees – Nikita, Marina, Kerry and Hina.
As your previous blog post authors quickly approach their qualification, leaving us ‘baby lawyers’ behind, the timely transfer of the Trainee Talk Blog baton has been passed to us, your dedicated first (soon-to-be second) year trainees – Nikita, Marina, Kerry and Hina.
Hello!
Like your old authors we intend to keep this forum informal, informative and real. Being a trainee is no easy feat, but we hope to provide tips and insight to prepare you for the profession you aspire to enter (come to the dark side…we have deadlines).
Seeing as the first leg of the #traineechallenge2019 is quickly creeping up on us, we thought we would use this month’s blog to explain what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. Here we go…
Every year, each of Browne Jacobson’s five offices nominates a charity in their area to support. To bolster the firm’s 2019 fundraising efforts, our trainee group is taking part in a stamina-stretching physical challenge. Our overall goal is to raise £7,000 for our charity partners.
This year we took inspiration from the Fatboy Slim song “Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat” – but instead we have made our mantra "Ride, Trek, Sleep, Repeat."
As a group we will cover 1000 miles over the course of 3 events: a 50/125 mile cycle race around Nottinghamshire on 23 June, a 26 mile trek in the Peak District on 13 July and an open-air sleep-out in October (to coincide with National Homelessness Day).
Let’s hear from some of our group about their training for the big event(s)!
Jess Fellows-Moore, Nicola Hollick and Bethany Pickup
When faced with the options of a 26 mile trek, a 125 mile cycle or sleeping outside in October, the trek seemed the easiest option. How hard could it be? Well, hundreds of blisters, three pairs of very
achy legs and one encounter with a cow later, we have learnt just how naïve we were to the scale of this challenge.
We began our training regime back in January with ambitions of being professional mountaineers by the time the July challenge came around. This was a picturesque six mile walk from Edale to Hope, including several (unplanned) detours. Here are Jess and Bethany realising that Google maps alone will not get us across 26 miles of big hills. Lesson one: must learn how to read a map.
Realising the size of our task and serious need for training, we each dragged family/friends/whoever we could bribe with snacks on several more walks over the next few months for valuable practice.
We were soon in May when we were able to pack away our waterproofs and put our hard work to the test with a 17 mile Peak District trek.
This time Bethany came equipped with a walking pole which would obviously make all the difference.
We managed to finish in 7 hours, an improvement, but 26 miles will be a real test. At least this time we learnt how to move a cow! We are not sure how useful this skill will be in the day job though.
With one month to go, last minute preparations are underway for the main event. It is going to be far harder than any of us anticipated, particularly with the potential of it being a hot summer’s day (or let’s face it, it’s probably going to be torrential rain).
This time 12 months ago I hadn’t ridden a bike since I was about 12 years old (other than a Boris Bike around London and a really old bike along the Portuguese coastline).
Last year I really fancied getting a bike so I purchased a second hand one for £60, went on some casual Sunday bike rides along the cycle path and attempted to cycle a 3 mile commute to work every now and again. I really enjoyed being out on my bike, but at the end of Summer 2018 it went back in the shed and didn’t see sunlight again.
Suffice to say, I am not the type of cyclist who goes out for a casual 50 mile bike ride at the weekend, but on 23 June this year, that is what I am doing (minus the casual!) for the Ride portion of the #traineechallenge2019.
Unfortunately my £60 bike is not up to the job, so in April I invested in a very fancy road bike and purchased all the gear that goes with it: gloves, jerseys, bib tights, SPD pedals and clip in shoes to match.
So far, since April this year in preparation for the Ride I have covered 306 miles (according to my Strava). I’ve now moved house and cycle a 7 mile commute to work at least twice a week and try to get out for a 20 mile bike ride at the weekend. The maximum distance I’ve covered in one ride is 23.24 miles (the extra 0.24 of a mile is very important!) but my next challenge is to go out for at least 30 miles and, at some point, test out my clip-in shoes. As long as my training continues, I’m confident that on the day I will be able to cover 50 miles but if I do struggle I’ll just think of all the cake I can eat afterwards to get me through!
Had it not been for the trainee challenge I probably wouldn’t have taken up cycling in the way that I have done. I am so pleased it has now become an actual hobby and I’m even thinking of entering again next year - but in the 100 mile category! Perhaps I’ll see how 50 miles goes first…
We hope as many people will support us in our efforts and we are thankful in advance for everyone’s generous sponsorship in aid of our office charities:
Please donate here.
Law firm Browne Jacobson has collaborated with Wiltshire Council and Christ Church Business School on the launch event of The Council Company Best Practice and Innovation Network, a platform which brings together academic experts and senior local authority leaders, allowing them to share best practice in relation to council companies.
In the Autumn Statement delivered on 17 November, rises to the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage rates were announced, to take effect from 1 April 2023.
Announced in September but scrapped on 17 November the investment zone proposals were very short lived. The proposal has now morphed into the proposal for a smaller number of clustered zones earmarked for investment.
Settlement agreements are commonplace in an employment context and are ordinarily used to provide the parties to the agreement with certainty following the conclusion of an employment relationship.
On 2 November 2022, the Supreme Court handed down its judgment in the much awaiting case of Hillside Parks Ltd v Snowdonia National Park Authority [2022] UKSC 30. The Court’s judgment suggests that the long established practice of using drop-in applications is in fact much more restricted than previously thought. This judgment therefore has significant implications for both the developers and local planning authorities.
Across the UK, homelessness is an urgent crisis, and one that is set to grow amid the rising cost of living. Local authorities are at the forefront of responding to this crisis, but with a lack of properties that are suitable for social housing across the UK, vulnerable individuals and families are often housed in temporary accommodation.
Updates include UK Shared Prosperity Fund, contracts, Subsidy Control Bill, data controller liability, Government Covid-19 procurement and Highway Code revisions.
The complex and rather nebulous transitional subsidy control regime set out in the UK-EU Trade and Co-operation Agreement and the UK’s wider international commitments has made it difficult for public authorities and those working with them to proceed with certainty where subsidies are involved.
Investment zones have been introduced by the Conservative party to get the United Kingdom (UK) ‘working, building and growing’. They are to be designated sites which provide time-limited tax incentives, streamlined planning rules and wider support for local growth to encourage investment and accelerate the development of housing and infrastructure that the UK needs to drive economic growth. Processes and requirements that slow down development will be stripped back with the intention of attracting new investment.
Created at the end of the Brexit transition period, Retained EU Law is a category of domestic law that consists of EU-derived legislation retained in our domestic legal framework by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. This was never intended to be a permanent arrangement as parliament promised to deal with retained EU law through the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill (the “Bill”).
It is clear that the digital landscape, often termed cyberspace, is a man-made environment, in which human behaviour dominates and where technology both influences and aids our role in it — through the internet, telecoms and networked computer systems, which are often interdependent. The extent to which any organisation is potentially vulnerable to cyber-attack depends on how well these elements are aligned.
Three months on from the commencement of the new statutory Integrated Care Systems (ICS) Anja Beriro and Gerrard Hanratty reflect on the main themes and issues that have come from the new relationship between local government and health.
The majority of people do not feel the need to embellish their CV to get that coveted position and move on up the career ladder. Their worthiness and benefit to the hiring organisation are easily demonstrated through the recruitment process – application, psychometric testing, selection day or interview.
As a result of a recent Charity Commission legal action, the former trustee of a Welsh charity was ordered to pay over £117,000 to Wrexham charities which support cancer patients.
Universities and colleges are not immune from deception by unscrupulous bad actors. The extent to which educational institutions can manage and control risk not only depends on financial management and internal controls, but also the robustness of security and processes which can be exploited from outside the organisation.
The Procurement Bill (the Bill) has now been with us for about four months, during which time there have been a huge number of amendments proposed in the House of Lords (circa 320). Lately, there has been less mention of it — unsurprising, really, given everything else going on in politics recently — but here’s a summary of some of the key issues and themes so far.
Browne Jacobson has been named as a supplier on Crown Commercial Service’s (CCS) Public Sector Legal Services Framework on Lot 1a – full-service provision (England and Wales) and Lot 2a – general service provision (England and Wales).
Welcome to our September edition of Public Matters, our monthly round-up of legal updates, news and insights for the public sector.
