WHLS 2022 Annual Dinner at the National Liberal Club

EVENTS

WHLS 2022 Annual Dinner at the National Liberal Club

On 10 November, the Society hosted its annual dinner in the grand surroundings of the National Liberal Club. We were grateful to the 110 guests who joined us for the evening, having battled through the inconvenience of an ill-timed Tube strike to make it. A champagne reception in the Victorian glory of the Club’s smoking room was followed by dinner in the David Lloyd George room – fittingly named after the UK’s only solicitor Prime Minister.

It was an excellent opportunity to meet up with our members, old and new, and particularly to catch up with our international guests who made the trip. Joanna Wsolek from the Krakow Bar Association, with which WHLS is twinned, joined us and I was pleased to present her with a gift from the Society in recognition of the inspiring work that she and her colleagues have done – and are continuing to do – to raise funds and provide humanitarian assistance for those suffering in Ukraine as the war drags on. On the night itself, we managed to raise over £1,000 in donations with more being raised by online contributions. We were also pleased to welcome back to London Calin Luga of the Cluj-Napoca Bar Association of Romania, who has also worked tirelessly to assist colleagues in Ukraine, and Michele Calantropo of the Palermo Bar Association, one of our most recently twinned bars.

As has become the hallmark of these events, we witnessed the full breadth of our Society’s members mingling merrily with each other, from law students to managing partners. An egalitarian reflection of some of the liberal virtues upon which our venue for the evening had been built.

A special thanks goes to the Club itself for kindly sponsoring the after dinner drinks. This allowed the conversations and networking to continue into the evening and was much appreciated by guests. The Club prides itself on its inclusivity and comprises 45 clubs, circles and forums and an impressive reciprocal listing of almost 400 clubs around the world. For those interested, more information about the Club can be found at https://nlc.org.uk/.

Current President, Nicola Rubbert, intends to host the Society’s 2023 annual dinner in its more traditional spring timing for the next instalment, so watch this space (and the Society’s social media) – and keep your fingers crossed that TfL cooperates with us!