junior lawyers
Over 40 JLD members and non-members made use of the exclusive Garden Den area at Lost Gardens in Bournemouth on Friday 22 April. All attendees enjoyed the drinks vouchers that were included in their ticket prices and the 2-4-1 offer on cocktails. There may have been a few sore heads on Saturday...! On Thursday 19 May, we enjoyed a very interesting presentation from Anne from LawCare on the topic of “The Offi ce: Life/Work Balance”. This was a very informative and helpful talk which looked at balancing our lives to beat stress, working smarter through time management, effective use of email, how to be a good manager in a 21st century law form and spotting the warning signs of stress and how/where to seek help. Thank you to Lester Aldridge for the use of their facilities. We are extremely pleased and proud of our JLD football team who came 2nd in the BDLS Football Tournament on 22 May! The Team, made up of Dan Gardner, Shaun Guppy, Jono Sherman, Wesley Gifford, Gareth Hale and Lee Taylor,
LOST GARDENS: Laura Stone, Lucy Benjafield, Hayley Collis and Rebecca Buxton
JLD Football Team
was in with a shot of the title up until they met eventual winners Ellis Jones and took a bit of a beating. Nonetheless they rallied to fi nish a deserved second. We’ll aim for the title next year! The Foodbank collection is continuing to work its way around the fi rms. We are very grateful for the support the individual fi rms and their staff have provided to date. Huge amounts of food have been collected for the Poole and Bournemouth branches so far from Ellis Jones, Morris Scott & Co, Turners and Coles Miller. The boxes are now in the hands of Dutton Gregory for the month of June. Don’t forget to take pictures of your collections and spread the word on social media. Marie Rowe-Cousins, Golf Secretary
Danielle Slater from Turners Solicitors
L-R Sally Durow of Intergage, Darren Francis of Coles Miller & Roan Fair of Intergage
SBA THE SOLICITORS’ CHARITY TO INCREASE CHARITABLE SPENDING BY NEARLY 50% SBA The Solicitors’ Charity has adopted the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s “Minimum Income Standard” (MIS) as its threshold for assessing applications. This pivotal decision for the charity will signifi cantly increase its charitable spending on grants and interest-free loans to solicitors and former solicitors facing personal financial hardship. It also means that SBA’s criteria for establishing personal financial need are visible for the first time in its 158-year history. MIS figures are produced by the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University and form the basis for the UK’s Living Wage (not to be confused with the government’s “national living wage”). Underpinning research looks in detail at what households need in order to have a minimum acceptable standard of living. This includes a reasonable level of participation in society as well as life’s necessities. SBA now invites all potential applicants to use the MIS on-line calculator, where it is possible to specify up to 107 variations in household size and composition. These can be further sub-divided by type of locality (such as village, rural town, urban area, London). The resulting calculation indicates net income needed per week. By using this free, anonymous tool, potential applicants can check for themselves if they are likely to be eligible for SBA’s fi nancial assistance before they apply. For solicitors unable to support themselves financially due to illness, disability or because they are over State retirement age, MIS levels will not only determine eligibility for SBA’s help. They now also form the basis for considering the level at which an SBA award might be made.
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Though SBA retains full discretion to augment, limit or curtail any award it makes, the overall effect of changing over to MIS means that SBA’s annual charitable spend is set to rise from £864,860 in 2015 to over £1.25M in 2016. It also means that most existing beneficiaries will receive higher awards. For those whose principal need is to find work, SBA’s assistance will continue to focus primarily on referring eligible candidates for short-term help with career transition. Tim Martin, SBA’s Chief Executive, welcomes the changeover to MIS. He said, “Drawing on this much admired research means that SBA The Solicitors’ Charity can demonstrate transparency in how we target resources to solicitors and former solicitors in personal financial need. Times are tough, especially for colleagues in Sole Practice, Small Firms, Personal Injury and Criminal Justice. As the profession’s own dedicated charity, we want to do all we can to help support them.” To find out more, visit www.sba.org.uk or telephone in confidence on 020 8675 6440.