SIGNETCPD PROGRAMME

Dates announced

Dates have been fixed for the Society’s 2024 CPD conference programme — see the ‘departure board’ below.

Announcing the programme, the Society’s Principal Solictior, Sophie Mills, said:

‘We’re looking forward to another year of first class events in the splendour of the Signet Library. We’ve re-branded as SignetCPD with an airport departures theme. We are also making changes to promote networking and sustainability. We will be launching paperless conference packs, relying on digital materials which will improve accessibility and reduce the Society’s carbon footprint. We’ll advertise conferences by email and by Signet Post when bookings open for each ‘departure’. Meantime, those looking to attend should save the date. A highlight this year is a repeat of the Immigration & Asylum Symposium which we introduced last year’.

 

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TREFOIL SEEKING A NEW TRUSTEE

Grant making charity looks to recruit trustee in 2024

The Board of Trustees of Trefoil House (Scottish Charity No SC013744) is looking to recruit a new trustee in early 2024. Trefoil is a grant-making charity which supports children and young people in Scotland under 25 years old who have additional support needs.  

 

Trefoil provides three types of grants: personal development grants, organisational grants and holiday grants. Trefoil’s trustees consider applications for these grants four times per year at meetings held in the Signet Library. The annual budget for Trefoil is £150,000. Read more about Trefoil here.  

 

Trefoil has a long association with the WS Society. The Society’s Governance and Charities team provide administration services; and several Writers to the Signet have served as trustees. If you are interested in becoming a trustee of Trefoil, or would like more information on the role, please email Sophie Mills (smills@wssociety.co.uk).  

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WS CHARITIES CONFERENCE

Bookings now open 

The WS Society’s legal education programme begins on 14 March 2024 with the popular Charities Conference.  The event brings together charity lawyers, charity trustees and charity professionals to explore the latest themes in charity law, governance and policy.  We will be joined by expert speakers from across the UK to explore topics including the motivational drive to legacy through charity and the implications of source of wealth on charity governance, as well as a roundup of legislative and practice matters.  

Speakers: 

  • Gavin McEwan WS, Partner, Turcan Connell (Conference Chair) 

  • Simon Steeden, Partner, Bates Wells 

  • Katherine Crawford, Chief Executive, Age Scotland 

  • Jenny Ebbage, Trustee, Halifax Foundation for Northern Ireland 

  • Kelly Adams, Head of Non-Profit Team, RSM 

  • Dr John Picton, Reader in Law, University of Manchester 

  • Julie Hutchison WS, Charities Specialist, LGT Wealth Management 

 

For conference rates and booking details, please visit here.  

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A NEW PROJECT – AND A NEW DISCOVERY

Mapping the WS Society’s early history 

This week saw the beginning of a new project to catalogue the seventeenth and eighteenth century unbound paper archive of the WS Society and Signet Library, with this material being added to the existing online catalogue of bound WS Society and Signet Library archive records created during the COVID years.  

Interesting things are already emerging: bar bills from early Georgian WS Society events; maintenance records giving light onto the still largely unknown first home of the WS Society in Writers Court;  and evidence of early Signet Library donations and acquisitions.  

But perhaps the most exciting is a pair of receipts concerned with the acquisition of the WS Society’s portrait of the writer and donor of the Signet Library’s first book, George Dallas WS of St Martins (1636-1701). For centuries it has been believed that the painting is a copy in oils of an original by the Flemish artist Sir John Medina, who settled in Scotland with his family in 1694. The receipts throw up new information about the picture’s provenance – and raise new questions as to the origins of the original painting. 

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2024 CPD - CHARITIES CONFERENCE

Next year’s legal education programme begins with the annual Charities Conference on 14 March 2024. 

The event brings together charity lawyers, charity trustees and charity professionals to explore the latest themes in charity law, governance and policy. Speakers at the conference include Dr John Picton (Charity Law Unit, University of Manchester), Jenny Ebbage (Charity Consultant and Trustee, Halifax Foundation) and Julie Hutchison WS (Charities Specialist, LGT Wealth Management). The conference will be chaired by Gavin McEwan WS (Head of Charities, Turcan Connell). The programme will explore topics such as the motivational drive to legacy through charity and the implications of source of wealth on charity governance, as well as a roundup of legislative and practice matters. 

Save the date and join us for this engaging and popular event. With thanks to conference sponsors, LGT Wealth Management.

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WORK WITH US

We are recruiting for an early-career Legal Executive/Solicitor to join our team providing governance, administration and accountancy services to charities and other organisations delivering public benefit.

More information is available here: www.wssociety.co.uk/work-with-us.

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MORE WS FELLOW NEWS

The WS Society partnered with Borders Scotland on the in augural Scottish Global Dialogues event featuring Secretary John Kerry. A video montage of the event is now available, featuring interviews and comment, including Anna Bennett WS’s vote of thanks on stage surrounded by the choir of St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh

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ADMISSIONS

At the November Diet of Admission, the WS Society welcomed 25 new members in all categories, Writers to the Signet, Affiliates and Students. New members came from as far afield as Campbletown and Washington DC. New Keeper of the Signet Lady Elish Angiolini LT presided at the ceremony and mingled with the new members and their guest at the drinks reception afterwards.

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CELEBRATING STUDENT SUCCESS

The WS Society was pleased to once again support the excellent work of the School Mock Court Project SCIO (SC043342). On 27 November, we welcomed 150 school students, their teachers and families to the Signet Library for this year’s awards ceremony.   The Mock Court Project is a Scottish charity providing equal learning opportunities to approximately 3,000 students every year, working in all areas of Scotland.  Their core mock court programmes provide students the chance to work with legal professionals, visit Scottish Courts and compete in mock trials, presided by current members of the Judiciary.  Congratulations to the 2023 finalists Dunfermline High School and the Edinburgh Academy, and to other schools winning well deserved awards including St Kentigerns, Fernhill School and Royal Irvine Academy.  The competition is an engaging and inspiring first taste of a career in law for children and young people from all backgrounds.  We look forward to continuing this collaboration and support next year.

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