07th January 2020 | January 2020

Happy new year to you all!   I have certainly had a very festive few months.   The Taunton Dinner was a great success. Can I say a big thank you to all who attended. We raised an excellent £858.12 with gift aid, for my chosen charity of ‘Step One’. Our guest speaker Chris Robinson brought the history of the south west to life with his after dinner talk.   It was a great pleasure to welcome the Law Society CEO Paul Tennant to the south west when he visited Exeter on the 13 November.   After Paul attended our committee meeting in the morning it was good to participate in the Law Society Gazette Roundtable ‘South West Discussion’ in Exeter. A cross section of local firms sent members of staff to take part in debating various topics that were relevant to our lawyers and their firms’ development. The hour and half flew by. The debate flowed well and it was clear at the end that everyone felt they had their say and were given an opportunity to express their views. Thank you to Paul Tennant for organising this with Eduardo Reyes the Commissioning and Features Editor of The Law Society Gazette chairing the event.   Can I thank those of you who have entered the 2020 DASLS Legal Awards to celebrate and raise the profile of the solicitors’ profession in our area. I must also thank Grow Marketing Group for all their help to enable us to put together an incredible night in celebration of the legal profession and to showcase the achievements and successes within it. Please do not forget to put the DASLS Annual Dinner 2020 at Exeter Cathedral in your diary. The event will take place on the 30th April when we will celebrate and recognise the achievements of those in the legal profession. Don't miss this dazzling occasion.   With that in mind I may I wish you all a happy and prosperous 2020.  I look forward to seeing you in the New Year.   With very best wishes   Nigel Lyons DASLS President 2019-2020...

07th January 2020 | January 2020

What made you want to serve on The Law Society Family Law Committee?    I was impressed by The Law Society’s campaigning over Legal Aid and felt this was an area in which they really stood up for lawyers such as me, working in a strongly Legal Aid practice. I looked at the kind of work done by the Family Law Committee and saw that it was very interesting; I thought it would be stimulating, and it is. What are the key concerns you have at the moment for the legal profession in the South West? They are the same concerns as I have about the national picture: people not having access to justice because of the assault on Legal Aid; chaos in the court system; the unknown impact of Brexit. I know for many firms in the South West there will be a direct impact from Brexit; but for all of us, the threat of recession and increased poverty accompanied by its familiar problems is alarming.   What is your dream job?   If I had not been a lawyer, I’d have enjoyed being a psychiatrist or a private detective – I’m very curious (or nosy) about people. If I was embarking on a new career now, I’d be a gardener or a chef. Which sort of work gives you the most job satisfaction?   I’m motivated by fairness. My job gives me the opportunity to try to achieve a bit more of it.   What gets you up in the morning?   Optimism. What do you do in your spare time?   Gardening, food, reading, films, travel, learning Italian, swimming, my family. I’m very interested in language, generally.   What book are you reading at the moment? Naomi Klein – This Changes Everything Before that, Elmore Leonard – Gold Coast Next, I will be reading Margaret Atwood’s sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, The Testaments.   What is the most recent film you have seen?   Amazing Grace – a documentary about Aretha Franklin In the Loop – (again; it never gets stale)   What are your favourite food / restaurant?   I honestly love food and am happy to go anywhere at all. The Hourglass is a great pub in Exeter; I also like the Dinosaur Cafe Where is your favourite holiday destination?   Italy New York...

07th January 2020 | January 2020

Having been appointed as Council Members in July 2019, the first two meetings have already flown by. Council met on the 3rd October 2019 and the 5th December 2019. We hope to bring you up to date with developments over the last few months.   Much of this time has been dominated by the word we shall not mention, beginning with “B” and the General Election. A lot of the usual Law Society work has therefore been on hold awaiting the outcome and strategising so as to be prepared for which Government would be in power.   We now know that we have a Conservative Majority Government and whilst many will be happy about that, this may well make some of the Law Society’s campaigning around Access to Justice and Legal Aid a little harder.   Time will tell…..   Prior to Purdah, the Law Society was continuing to support works on funding inquests for people who are unable to access legal aid. The Policy and Regulatory Affairs Committee had approved a plan designed for restructuring legal aid provision, into Law Society policy. The plan detailed the Society’s intention to reintroduce early legal advice in family law cases, to reintroduce legal aid in all finance cases, and to bring back legal aid for alleged perpetrators of abuse in domestic violence cases. There were 120 MPs lobbying for change to practice direction 12J (on child arrangements and contact orders involving domestic abuse and harm), for there to be legal representation provided to alleged perpetrators of domestic abuse. It was a major issue that more children were being killed in situations where there is unsafe contact. There have been ongoing discussions about the Flexible operating hours and the pilot. An update is expected on that.   The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) allocation includes a 4.9% increase in real terms to the department’s resource budget from 2019-20 to 2020-21, with £55 million bookmarked for use across the Criminal Justice System to “support the work of 20,000 additional police officers and additional funding to support the ongoing reform of the probation system, which will help reduce reoffending and improve the quality of post-custody supervision.”   The Law Society met with the Lord Chancellor and Justice Minister Wendy Morton MP to emphasise that the whole Criminal Justice System, including courts and defence fees, need to be funded for the Government to achieve their aims. We have also raised this with MoJ officials.   The Law Society sent a letter to Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Rishi Sunak MP, following the spending review and the proposed budget (which was then cancelled). With a three-year spending review expected next year and the new Government likely to hold a budget soon after the election, the Law Society will approach the Treasury ministerial team to discuss the funding of the justice system.   The Criminal Legal Aid review is still on-going. The work on the accelerated items is apparently continuing and we are told it will be completed according to the timetable. Any final proposal will need to be approved by the Treasury though. Work is continuing in respect of Criminal Legal Aid Solicitors which has also been affected quite dramatically by CPS recruitment drives.   In Wales, the published recommendations of the Commission on Justice reflect long held frustrations of the Welsh Government and wider civil society that Wales has been historically underfunded and hit harder than England by the deep cuts to justice funding by Westminster Governments over the last decade. Estimated expenditure by the UK government on the justice system in Wales has fallen by a third since 2009-10, although increased funding by the Welsh Government and Welsh local authorities has offset some of these cuts. The Commission on Justice recommendations are wide ranging, and the Wales office is in the process of canvassing members across Wales for their views and opinions on the published recommendations.   The Law Society h...

07th January 2020 | January 2020

A statistical number from the ‘campaign report’ in respect of the first 5 top links clicked by members looking at the November 2019 Newsletter sent via Mail Chimp. This was my article in between the President’s Letter (no.1 with 56 clicks and the article from PKF Francis Clark (no.3 with 47 clicks) – interesting but not sure what to make of this?    In terms of performance, Mail Chimp tells us “Well, this is exciting. You’re doing great!” with average campaign performance above 32% but when you look more closely …. monique@dasls.com comes up as ‘subscriber with most opens with 209 clicks… well I can assure you I certainly did not click on the Newsletter articles that many times …. but I did post them as drafts, updated them when corrections were needed, proof-read them again before publishing them and finally time to push the SEND button.   Then the perennial question – how do we engage / reach out to the other 70% of our members? What articles would they like to see in DASLS Newsletter and what would really be of interest to them?    2020 … New Year … New Resolution …. Your chance to let us know – we’d love to hear from you!   This brings me to the topic of our Twin / International Bars’ Meeting hosted by DASLS to be held from 5 to 7 June. The working sessions on the Friday will discuss Artificial Intelligence. This is a fascinating if somewhat scary subject and we are all affected by it. It covers so many aspects – algorithms, human rights, ethics etc.   The June 2020 Working Group is putting together the programme and hope to see as many members as possible participating in the AI debate on Friday 5 June. Put the date in your diary now and contact me if you would like to be kept updated as things progress and to receive a copy of the final programme including reserving tickets to take part in the procession at the Legal Service on Sunday 7 June.   There are other ways for you / your firm to be involved – sponsorship and/or offering home hospitality for the junior lawyers. As Lucy Ferrat says in her article in this January edition “Attending these conferences is an important part of my professional development – the skills acquired are good for business and good for international relations.”   Do get in touch - monique@dasls.com - 01392 366333....

06th March 2020 | March 2020

Dear All,   This year really is flying by. I have just had my birthday.   After updating you previously on the excellent catch up I had with the Law Society CEO Paul Tennant on his visit to the south west last November, I had not expected to be back in touch with him quite so soon.   Sadly, this time it was in less happy circumstances.   I was, like many of you, shocked and saddened in January to hear the news and see the pictures of the substantial fire at Chancery Lane in London. I have emailed Paul Tennant and James Shepherd, our Law Society Relationship Management Executive, to send our best wishes and we are hoping that the building will be back to full use very soon.   As I write this report, preparations are in full swing for the 2020 DASLS Legal Awards & Dinner. As you know the Annual Dinner is being held again this year at Exeter Cathedral.  The event is to take place on the 30th April 2020. After the success of last year, we are hoping that once again the event is sold out which would mean we will have around 480 people attending.  If you have not done so already, please contact Llew Nicholls and the team at our Awards partners ‘Grow Marketing’ who have worked very hard alongside our very own Tony and Monique to achieve full sponsorship of this event.   You can contact Llew to book the remaining places by emailing Llew directly at Llew@growmarketinguk.com. There have been more nominations than ever before with more entries making the short list. Please do not miss this dazzling occasion.   You will all have received DASLS latest 2020 training courses programme. Tony Steiner and the team have worked hard to arrange these events. You will see that as members you get preferential rates and if appropriate reduced rates for multiple attendees from your firms. Please take advantage of these services as a proportion of the monies do go to support our Society’s broad continuing education offering.   If I do not see you individually before I look forward to catching up with you at the 2020 DASLS Legal Awards and Annual Dinner in April.   With very best wishes   Nigel Lyons President 2019-2020...

06th March 2020 | March 2020

The first big social event of the year was the annual DASLS Quiz which is the grand finale of the Challenge Cup. It is an event I thoroughly enjoy and I make no apology for making it a bit challenging.   This year did not disappoint there being just ½ point between first and second place and resulting in joint winners of the Challenge Cup. Congratulations to Ashfords and Michelmores both of whom knew that the study of birds’ eggs is Oology. The next Challenge Cup kicks off with the usual Skittles match in Dawlish when the magnificent Skittles Cup will be contested.   The latest meeting of the County Societies Group took place in February when we were guests of the SRA in Birmingham. DASLS Deputy Vice-President Adrian Richards and I attended.  We were welcomed by their Chief Executive Paul Philip who set out some key messages around SRA activity emphasising their desire for light touch engagement with solicitors and good channels of communication. He said that the SRA was working well with The Law Society and was focused on creating an environment where solicitors could be innovative and use the latest in technology. AML is a key area of activity and following the appointment of the new Chair, Anna Bradley, they are working to provide better customer care. He also explained that until now the SRA had not taken any position on issues such as Access to Justice, Rule of Law and Advice Deserts. They were considering looking at, and taking a position on, one or two of these issues each year. There followed several presentations by senior staff at the SRA dealing with Enforcement Strategy and reporting concerns; Customer information – Transparency Rules and clickable logo.; the SQE  and Anti-Money Laundering. Comprehensive slides were produced to accompany each presentation which I will forward together with my notes to any member who wishes to see them. Just email me —tony@dasls.com.  There followed an interesting tour of the building. SRA have around 600 staff members with the majority based over three floors at the Cube. The next meeting of the County Societies Group will be in the summer and we also plan a Parliamentary Liaison event at Westminster later in the year.   I am pleased to announce that DASLS has two new Partners; Moneypenny who look after your telephone calls when you are not available and Dictate Now who offer Dictation Systems and outsourced document preparation. They join our current Partners: Alchemy; PKF Francis Clark; Landmark; Lockton; Unoccupied Direct; WebBoss and Wessex Searches. We are thankful for the support our partners give us and encourage you to use them where you can.   Depending when you read this our joint event with the Legal Sustainability Alliance on 5th March will be about to take place or will have passed. Regular readers will know that the Society has formed a small working party to encourage and identify how firms can improve their sustainability. The main Committee have suggested that this forms a Sub-Committee. We will arrange a meeting of the working party after the event on the 5th March with a view to progressing this. Anyone who is interested in this please let me know.   Tony Steiner,  Executive Director DASLS....

06th March 2020 | March 2020

You may know that DASLS is fortunate to be twinned with Bilbao, Erlangen, Gdańsk, Leuven, Rennes and Verona. Such twinning arrangements underpin a sense that we belong to one community of values on the basis that these relationships are based on reciprocity. Each year, we meet to discuss and debate important legal issues of the day, whilst discovering the cultures and languages of our partners. 2020 is DASLS turn to host such an event, which will be rounded off with the Sunday Legal Service at Exeter Cathedral on 7 June 2020 and to which DASLS members are cordially invited!   The subject of our conference (on 5 June at County Hall in Exeter) will be around the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) in the sphere of human rights. Rather than understanding AI in terms of a terrifying post-apocalyptic vision of a world controlled by robots, AI features in our everyday lives from Alexa and smart home devices to controversial facial recognition technologies and even Uber! AI is built by lines of code called algorithms. Put simply, an algorithm is a step by step method of solving a problem and is commonly used for data processing and calculation. However, the use of automated data processing techniques in public and private sectors, especially by internet platforms and its impact on the exercise of human rights is somewhat of a hot topic.   When it comes to AI, there is a focus on the usage of huge datasets. AI bias means when an algorithm produces results that may be prejudiced due to erroneous assumptions in the machine learning process and the data used to train the algorithm by data scientists. Bias runs deep in humans and it can be unconscious in nature. AI systems are created by individuals who have their own unique experiences and blind spots all of which can lead to fundamentally biased systems. This issue is compounded by the fact that those responsible for AI (including its deployment and training) may not be representative of society. Accordingly, unfair treatment of a group can result from the use of an algorithm to support decision making whether that decision relates to criminal sentencing, loan applications or self-driving cars. The language of AI is undoubtedly complex, but it is drastically changing the way we live. Understanding AI and its implications in the context of its growth is important so that we are all better placed to push companies to develop new technologies both ethically and responsibly.   If you would like to receive more information once the June 2020 programme is finalised, please contact Monique Bertoni at DASLS office – monique@dasls.com .   Emma Mitcham Chair, International Relations Sub-Committee...

06th March 2020 | March 2020

New AML Regulations and the pursuit of the beneficial owner.   Introduction   The new Money Laundering & Terrorist Finance (Amendment) Regulations 2019 which came into force on 10 January have modified a number of aspects of the 2017 AML Regulations, with which we have been complying for some time. However, many firms’ procedures hark back to the earlier days of the 2007 Regulations and have not been modified or updated much over recent years.   This article seeks to set out what the new Regulations in fact require, and the steps we should be taking in relevant cases.   The Policy   It has been true for some time that the ultimate aim of all the regulatory rules is transparency – it has always been the case that the use of artificial structures such as trusts, companies, bearer shares, foundations and charities – whilst perfectly legal – have to some extent also benefitted from the extra anonymity they offer to the true owner and recipient of the funds and services we provide.   If we offer services to these types of entity, the Regulations require us to go some way to identifying the individuals who are actually benefitting from our services, and this entails uncovering the true ownership of the organisation.   Whilst this would be difficult in many instances – Cayman Island companies with bearer shares, for example – we must nevertheless attempt to get some assurances from the creators of the companies, accountants or registrars as to the ownership of the shares, and have some way of being notified of any change in ownership.   We also need to be aware of the PEP and Sanctions status of these individuals.   Further, for UK companies, the PSC Regulations 2016 impose an exactly similar obligation on the companies themselves to identify their beneficial owners and notify Companies House of any shareholder with 25% or more of the shares or exercising control over management of the business.   The Regulations   The Regulations provide that we must, as part of our CDD procedures Identify the client – this means coming to know who they are, by name and some other characteristic, e.g. address, date of birth, date of incorporation Verify that identity – by means of reliable and independent data and documentation Identify the beneficial owner (if the client is an entity) – though not necessarily verifying that identity Identify and verify the identity of the person actually instructing us (if not already done). What this means for us   When acting for a COMPANY (that is not a listed company) the Regulations require us to obtain Details of the company as registered (which must be proven by a copy of the register entries available from Companies House or equivalent registry) – name, number, registered office address, principal place of business the law to which it is subject details of its governing documentation (its memorandum) names of the directors. Names of any beneficial owners, and the identity of any individual owners of legal entities which own the client Names and verification of the persons instructing us on behalf of the company, and their authority to do so. Note that we cannot rely on the information provided by the company under the PSC Regulations but we must undertake our own research in order to fulfil our CDD duties.   Further, if as part of that research, we discover that the Companies House data on PSC’s is incorrect, then we are now under a further obligation to notify the Registrar of Companies of this fact.   We also need to establish that PEPs and Sanctions checks are also undertaken. If genuinely positive entries are revealed in response we should undertake enhanced CDD steps or cease to act, accordingly.   Electronic searches are a permissible avenue to use provided the search provider can offer us the necessary assurances that the person actually claiming an identity is IN FACT that person. Check also whether ...