LLG are delighted to announce that the LLG Spring Conference 2024 will be held at The Met Hotel in the center of Leeds on Friday 7 June for Day 1. Day 1 can also be joined remotely. Day 2 will be a remote conference on Friday 14 June.
Packages for the conference start at £150.00 + VAT for junior lawyers. Please click the 'Book Now' tab to find full pricing information. Please note, you are required to select number of delegates on a package before a price appears.
This conference may be eligible for funding from The Local Government Legal Society Trust. All enquiries to be emailed to Nwalkerlgls@gmail.com Details about the Trust and an application form is available to download.
Mark your calendars for Friday 7 June 2024 and join us for a two-day hybrid event at the prestigious Met Hotel in the center of Leeds. This is your chance to hear from a line-up of expert speakers and network with like-minded professionals in a legal setting. Please note that the second day of the conference will run as an remote only event on Friday 14 June 2024.
Our conference programme is designed to provide you with an opportunity to engage with local government leaders and legal experts. More importantly, it allows you to join in the discussion and knowledge sharing with colleagues from all areas of local government law. You will learn from industry experts, explore new opportunities, and network in a vibrant setting.
The annual LLG Spring Conference offers the best of both worlds! Day one, taking place on 7 June, is open to both in-person and remote attendance. This full-day conference programme is packed with informative plenary sessions, giving you the opportunity to learn from industry experts and engage with colleagues from all areas of local government law. In-person attendees will also have the chance to book a place on one or more of the breakout programme sessions and explore the LLG’s corporate partners exhibition stands and network with fellow professionals. Plus, you won't want to miss the informal dinner taking place at The Met Hotel.
Day two, taking place on Friday 14 June 2024, will be fully remote via the Zoom conference platform. Although plenary sessions only will be offered on this day, you'll still have the chance to connect with other attendees and gain valuable insights into the issues surrounding governance and ways to improve governance in practice.
Don't miss out on this unique opportunity to expand your knowledge, network with other professionals, and take your career to the next level.
A pestle is better than the sharpest knife, the fastest blender, or the most vicious food processor. It speedily extracts flavour and essential oils, resulting in brighter colours and bigger flavours. There is method in this madness – if you quickly break down something into its component parts, you will capture the essence and get better outcomes.
A PESTLE analysis is a management tool that breaks down the external factors that influence organisations into its component parts. These may be POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, TECHNOLOGICAL, LEGAL, and of course ENVIRONMENTAL. Listen to experts break down these big issues so that you get the flavour, see the colours, and understand the essential elements. Why? Because it’ll make you a better lawyer
Aneeka Muneer, LLG President and special guests
The Code of Practice on Good Governance developed jointly by LLG, SOLACE & CIPFA for Statutory Officers represents a huge step forwards in defining the roles and responsibilities of those working within the golden triangle. The session offers an overview of the best practice principles for positive working arrangements within your local authority, with commentary from the professional bodies.
Chair: Helen Bradley, Director of Legal & Democratic Services and Monitoring Officer, Durham County Council
Speakers:
Philip McCourt, Bevan Brittan
Andrew Burns, CIPFA
Graeme McDonald, SOLACE
Chair: Deborah Evans, LLG CEO
Top tips for tackling service redesign – restructuring services to deliver at less cost:
Speakers:
Claire Ward, Anthony Collins
Debbie Carter-Hughes, Birmingham City Council
Julia Lynch, Birmingham City Council
How building a shared service model can make better use of resources and save money
Speaker: Estelle Culligan, Wilkin Chapman
Generating income from debt recovery
Speakers:
Paul Bowden, Wilkin Chapman
Jonathan Woodward, Head of Revenues, Birmingham City Council
Set your council up for success: Learn how to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the new Procurement Act. Our speakers will guide you how to do things differently and better, sharing a roadmap to assist you and your council in your preparations and prioritisation.
Chair: John Purvis, LLG Director
Speakers:
Rachel Rees, Trowers & Hamlins
Julie Lorraine, Deputy Chief Executive and Section 151 Officer, London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Becky Walsh brings you into her comedy kitchen to cook up some vibrant life force. Explaining how you can create spoonfuls of energy, avoid the stress juice cocktail and to know when the spinning plates need smashing.
Burn-out is a humorous and insightful exploration of the topic of burnout and the challenges of balancing a busy lifestyle. Becky Walsh engages the audience with witty anecdotes and relatable experiences. With engaging storytelling and relatable observations make the audience reflect on their own lives and consider strategies for maintaining balance and avoiding burnout.
Chair: Rachel McKoy, LLG Past President
Speaker: Becky Walsh, Comedian and Communications Specialist
Would you like to hear more about how AI can assist the delivery of legal services? Do you understand the opportunity presented by Microsoft Co-Pilot, or know the risks with ChatGPT? Do you want to know more about how legal knowledge platforms will embrace AI to improve your experience?
Speakers:
Ben Wickerson, Norfolk Council
Fiona Anthony, Norfolk Council
Thomson Reuters
As Climate Change initiatives gather pace, what does your authority need to know? Where should your focus be? Biodiversity net gain and decarbonisation are key themes where lawyers can make a meaningful contribution.
Delivering biodiversity net gain: What local authorities need to do
We will explore the challenges and opportunities of BNG from a local authority perspective.
Decarbonisation join ventures: Helping to deliver public sector net gain
We will explore how joint ventures can be utilised by local authorities to deliver their net zero goals including models available and procurement routes.
Chair: Anita Bradley, LLG Director
Speakers: Kelly Dawson, North Yorkshire Council and Helen Robinson, WBD and Andrew Hirst, WBD
With the date set for the General Election what could the various manifestos mean for local authorities nationally, and what could be the likely impact to you and your authority
Chair: Helen McGrath, LLG Executive Director of Policy & Governance
Speaker: Justin Griggs, Head of Policy and Communications, NALC
17.20 Close of plenary conference programme day one
Aneeka Muneer, LLG's President
Aneeka Muneer, LLG President and special guests
In this day and age ‘balance’ seems to be a myth and burn-out a career ambition badge of honour.
We often hit times of overwhelm, burnout or become exhausted from caring for too long. Our energetic life force can get zapped by a number of people and situations not just work.
In this workshop, Becky gives you ways you individually burn your energy, to
spot emotional exhaustion before your inner frog becomes ‘boiled’. Giving you
ways you can embrace self-care with more than a few candles and a bath.
Chair: Jordan Hulse, LLG Director
Speaker: Becky Walsh, Comedian and Communications Specialist
Gatenbysanderson will be delivering a session for those aspiring to become a Monitoring Officer/Chief Legal Officer, or for those who might be seeking their next career move. We will consider what local authorities are looking for in their senior legal officers and what it might mean to be an MO in a modern local authority.
We will cover the recruitment process, including the engagement of executive search agencies in the appointment process, interacting with ‘headhunters’, the application, interview and appointment process. What do you need to do to make your application count? How to build your networks, how to give yourself the best chance at interview, taking feedback and dealing with bad news/rejection, and the use of psychometrics in recruitment processes. This will be an interactive session so do come along with any questions you may have.
Chair: Helen Bradley, LLG Director
Speakers: Phil Emms and Gary Evans, GatenbySanderson
This relaxed, discursive session looks at the employee lifecycle for trainees, apprentices, paralegals, and interns: covering recruitment, onboarding, development and retention. It stresses the importance of understanding and accommodating difference in young people at the start of their career – covering neurodiversity, anxiety, and mental health in employment.
This session will also sensitively explore the impact of lockdown and how young people may be less 'work ready' due to the significant gap in their socialisation, less confident, and less likely to speak up. Come listen, grow your understanding, and be more inclusive.
Chair: Manisha Patel
Speaker: Fiona Anthony
This session will discuss the benefits and opportunities of working in the public sector and how to ensure you maximise these to enhance your career development:
Chairs: Jordan Hulse, LLG Junior Director LLG and Jess Lishman, LLG National Lead for Juniors
Speakers: Sara Robinson and Natalie Atherall of Sellick Partnership
and Rita Bange, Trowers & Hamlins
Ian Morris from SLCC explores how an empathetic approach to achieving better understanding of the role of monitoring officer and the role of parish clerk can improve communications and working arrangements. What support can be offered? What cannot be resourced and why? What does good look like?
Chair: Aneeka Muneer, LLG President
Speaker: Ian Morris, Spennymoor Town Council and elected Director and Fellow of SLCC
VWV have worked with the public sector, Central Government, Local Government including Fire and Rescue Services for over 30 years. Come and listen to sector experts who are actively engaged in working with the Fire and Rescue Service on the issues it faces in 2024 - a year when the service is
consistently hitting the headlines. A handful of examples include;
"Bosses tolerated sexual harassment, report says"
"Fire and Rescue Service deemed 'inadequate', report finds"
"Fire service bosses talked about wanting to 'kill' and harm female colleagues"
"Fire services are institutionally misogynistic, racist and homophobic, MPs told"
VWV are both providing legal advice on the consequences of poor culture but also how the Authority is part of the answer in improving culture, behaviours and Governance in the Fire Service and how they are two sides of the same coin. Even if you don’t work with Fire and Rescue colleagues this is an
interesting session looking at culture and governance that can be applied to any area of practice.
Chair: Patricia Narebor, LLG Direcotor
Speakers: Alison Cook, VWV and Lisa Kirkman, VWV
If your question is not answered below, and you have questions regarding the conference, please do not hesitate to email bookings@llg.org.uk and a member of our team will be in touch as soon as possible.
Dates:
There are a number of available packages:
All virtual delegates will have access to the following features:
Full instructions on how to join the conference via Zoom will be emailed to all delegates in advance of the conference.
On the Thursday evening before the conference there will be a pre conference buffet at The Met Hotel. To book your place for this evening follow the book now link and select Thursday evening buffet dinner and select the number of places you would like to book.
Some ticket packages include the Friday evening post conference dinner, which will take place at The Met Hotel from 7pm on the evening of the conference, Friday 7 June. This will include attendance at the LLG Awards Ceremony. Dietary requirements and further information will be collected/released closer to the time of the conference.
Located in the heart of Leeds, the hotel is easily accessible via most major transport links.
Leeds central train station is a 3 minute walk to The Met Hotel.
There is no parking at the hotel however there are several car parks a short walk from the hotel. The nearest motorway junctions are M621 junction 2A (0.9 miles) or M621 junction 3 (0.9 miles).
The nearest airport is the Leeds Bradford airport, 13 km or 8.1 miles.
Overnight accommodation is not included in the conference package price and if looking to stay overnight, you will need to book this separately.
There are a number of hotel options within walking distance of the conference venue. The below link to an independent booking site lists the hotels in the area showing overnight prices, distance to the conference venue and details of any meals included in the price.
On the day of the conference, catering will be provided during lunch. Refreshments will be available during breaks. All delegates are asked to inform LLG of any dietary requirements at the time of booking. A number of in-person tickets also include dinner on Friday evening. If looking to stay overnight you will need to book accommodation separately.
Delegates attending in-person at The Met Hotel will have the opportunity to visit the company exhibition throughout Friday.
Meet LLGs Corporate Partners at the exhibition:
Iken, Capsticks, Weightmans, Sharpe Pritchard, Browne Jacobson, VWV, Trowers & Hamlins, Wilkin Chapman, Thomson Reuters, WBD, Anthony Collins, Bevan Brittan
Also exhibiting will be:
Sellick Partnership, Civica, The Venn Group, 39 Essex Chambers, LexisNexis
Aneeka Sarwar is currently the President of the LLG and also delivers LLG training on regulatory prosecutions.
Aneeka has worked in local government since 2006, qualifying in criminal and civil litigation teams. She has been a magistrates court advocate for local government for over 15 years and continues to undertake regulatory prosecutions and advisory work in the area of enforcement for regulatory environmental work.
Aneeka is also the regional lead for prosecutions for LLG SAA, Yorkshire and Humberside.
Paul is the Director of Legal and Assurance and Monitoring Officer at Essex County Council. He has spent the last 30 years working for all types of councils from Northumberland and Greater Manchester to the Eastern region (Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire); from a district with a population of 31,000 to Essex which has a population of 1.5m. He has been a monitoring officer or deputy since 2001. Paul has been a Chairman of the LLG Eastern Branch for three years and now holds the new Regional Director Position for Eastern. Of his work at Branch level, Paul says “It’s been interesting and fun, and I’ve met so many people who are passionate about making a difference”.
Helen trained as a solicitor in Local Government and has nearly 20 years’ experience in working at both district and unitary level. Helen initially specialised in civil and criminal litigation, obtaining Higher Rights of audience in the criminal courts. Since becoming a Deputy Monitoring Officer and subsequently a Monitoring Officer, Helen has specialised in all aspects of local authority governance but has a particular interest in the Standards Regime.
Helen is currently Head of Legal & Democratic Services and Monitoring Officer, Durham County Council.
Rachel is a commercial law specialist, with extensive experience acquired within local and central government. She is passionate about both championing the voices of our members and showcasing the breadth of complexity local government law offers through the work of LLG, as reflected by her former role as Chief Projects Assessor for the Diploma in Local Government Law and Practice (2016-19).
Rachel is currently Director of Law & Governance & Monitoring Officer, London Borough of Hounslow.
Andrew is the head of Womble Bond Dickinson's heat network practice. He advises the public and private sector on all aspects of decarbonisation and heat / energy networks projects including project structures and procurement strategies, bulk heat offtake arrangements, connection and supply agreements and investment / funding.
Becky Walsh is a multifaceted comedian who effortlessly infuses her humour into the realms of personal development and mental health.
Becky is a sought-after speaker for her stage presence, comedy and profound insights. She has been a featured presenter both on stage, TV and in broadcasting having had her own show on LBC Radio. She served as a senior curator, coach, and script editor for TEDx Bristol.
Becky has made significant contributions as a trainer for The Society of Local Council Clerks, sharing her knowledge and expertise for the past five years. Her educational background includes a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. Becky Walsh the author of five published books including 'You do know - Learning to act on intuition instantly' published by Hay House.
Claire is a partner at Anthony Collins, supporting local authorities nationwide and acting as an important sounding board for council monitoring officers, chief executives and other senior officers on governance issues.
She has extensive local government expertise having been a monitoring officer and director of governance and legal services at Herefordshire Council, where she also served as acting deputy chief executive. Prior to this, she worked for Cumbria County Council.
Debbie is the Assistant Director - Corporate Law and Deputy Monitoring Officer at Birmingham City Council. Debbie joined Birmingham at the start of 2024, shortly after the government engaged Commissioners and requirements for an Improvement and Recovery Plan were set out.
Debbie has held many roles in the local government legal world since 2006 and has been involved in legal transformation projects, shared service arrangements and advising clients on saving arrangements.”
Des has held various strategy, leadership and product development roles at Thomson Reuters, with commercial and leadership responsibilities for content and tools used by a variety of legal segments including local government, central government and the Bar. In his present role, he focuses on the information and content needs of tax lawyers and related professional roles. He has been heavily involved in bringing to market new technologies including federated search, APIs, AI and most recently, generative AI across all of Thomson Reuters’ legal and tax products.
Estelle qualified as a solicitor in 2001. She was a family solicitor before working in local government for 18 years. She has been head or director of law and monitoring officer for several local authorities.
Estelle moved to Wilkin Chapman in 2022 as a Regulatory Partner. She advises on a wide range of issues including constitutional matters, councillors’ conduct, decision making and powers, planning, housing and all aspects of local authority governance.
Estelle brings her personal experience and a pragmatic approach to the challenges that councillors and officers face in balancing their duties to the council and the public.
Fiona joined nplaw (a shared legal service hosted by Norfolk County Council) almost seven years ago as a Professional Support Lawyer with responsibility for training, research and business development.
Gary Evans joined GatenbySanderson in 2012 specialising in senior local government search and selection. His focus has been developing our search offering across Wales and the North of England and growing our presence in this area. He is a highly experienced recruitment professional who has worked on a wide range of senior appointments at Chief Executive, Director and Heads of Service level across the full range of local government services. Gary’s emphasis has been working with strategic leaders who are passionate about facilitating sustainable change; particularly attracting candidates from diverse backgrounds to support local government deliver high quality, value for money services.
Graeme McDonald is Managing Director of Solace and Solace in Business and is responsible for the overall strategic direction and management of the organisation.
Prior to joining Solace Graeme had spent over fifteen years working in local government. He has worked for London Borough, Metropolitan and District councils; his final role was as the Director of Policy and Performance at the London Borough of Ealing. He also has experience in roles within social care, housing and environmental services, as well as a range of corporate and change management roles.
Graeme focuses on leadership development; influencing policy across central government and ensuring the very best of the sector is shared and built upon. He is particularly keen to develop the sector's long term leadership capabilities and has developed a number of programmes aimed at firmly embedding high quality professional leadership in local public services.
Helen is a planning and infrastructure lawyer advising on highways law, public rights of way, town and village green, minerals & waste planning law, flooding & drainage, and major infrastructure projects. Helen advises local authorities and developers on residential and highway development schemes, including planning and highways agreements. She has considerable experience advising authorities on all aspects of development, including advising on CIL compliance, developer contributions, and officer reports.
Ian is currently the Chief Officer and Town Clerk for Spennymoor Town Council in County Durham. Like many other colleagues in similar roles in larger parish & town councils, Ian’s role combines the ‘golden triangle’ elements of head of paid service, s151/responsible financial officer, and governance lead for his council.
Ian is an elected Director and Fellow of the Society of Local Council Clerks where he has a portfolio lead role in law and governance.
He holds a MA (Distinction) in Public Leadership and has an ongoing academic interest in collaborative innovation, design leadership, and micro-devolution of public services.
Jess is a Planning Lawyer working for Leeds City Council in the planning and development section. In her day-to-day role she provides legal advice and support to the planning and highways departments as well as city development and regeneration teams.
After several years in frontline services for Leeds City Council Jess moved from working with young offenders in a secure unit and providing support for residents of social housing to legal services in 2015.
Having completed the fast track Cilex Diploma and portfolio throughout Covid Jess qualified in January 2023.
Jess is passionate about improving the experience of Junior lawyers working in Local Government and founded an internal Junior Lawyers network for Leeds to network and socialise.
She is also a member of Leeds Junior Lawyers Division and enjoys volunteering with Ahead Partnership, an organisation that connects professionals with local schools and young people.
Jonathan has worked in the debt industry for his entire career, graduating from Staffordshire University in 2001 before joining one of the ‘Big 4’ to embark on a career in corporate recovery and restructuring. After moving over into Personal Insolvency he managed a team administering bankruptcies and IVAs whilst also providing debt recovery advice to Local Authorities. Leaving KPMG in 2013 he joined Stoke-on-Trent City Council for a short stint as Revenues Manager before joining Birmingham City Council as Head of Revenues in 2017.
At Birmingham City Council he is primarily responsible for the billing and collection of approximately £1billion in Council Tax, Business rates and BID levies and is currently leading on a project to review the Council’s corporate debt portfolio. Jonathan also sits on the Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities’ Local Tax partnership forum and the Cabinet Office’s Digital Economy Act Debt and Fraud review board.
Julia has been in post since October 2023, joining the Council during a period of significant change and challenge. In her role, she has been active in supporting various service areas and the leadership team, providing critical advice on public consultations, equality impacts and the legal implications of proposed savings measures.
Additionally, Julia has been actively transforming the legal services department along with Debbie Carter-Hughes (Assistant Director- Commercial) to address financial challenges and service improvements, ensuring efficiency and resilience in operations.
Justin has been head of policy and communications at the National Association of Local Councils - the membership organisation representing the first tier of local government in England - since 2018 and has held several roles since joining in 2000. He has previously worked for a district council and a unitary council as well as in the private sector.
Justin has extensive experience in leading successful national campaigns, influencing Parliament and successive governments, and overseeing major programmes. He has played an instrumental role in NALC campaigns to change legislation to give councils more powers, reform business rates and create new councils, as well as securing government funding.
Originally from south-east Kent, he attended Staffordshire University where he studied business and management at undergraduate and postgraduate level. He is a member of the Chartered Management Institute and the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.
Justin is a keen runner and member of Plumstead Runners in southeast London, has an eclectic taste in music including a passion for musicals, and lives in Kent with his partner and their three school-age children. He is one of two members of his family to feature in the Wisden cricketing almanack and retains his childhood ambition to play professional snooker!
Kelly is a senior planning and highways lawyer at North Yorkshire Council having worked in the public sector since qualification. Kelly advises on planning, environmental and highways matters for North Yorkshire Council
Lisa joined VWV after previously working at two ambitious Hampshire authorities. Having most recently been Strategic Director and Monitoring Officer at Winchester City Council she has a unique insight having led teams beyond the legal sphere in areas such as audit, finance, procurement and contract management, policy, emergency planning and business continuity, communications, democratic services, elections, IT and HR.
Lisa trained and qualified at Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, spending a further 17 years working her way up to Head of Law & Governance and Monitoring Officer before moving to Winchester City Council. She has been part of many election days and even more election counts as a Deputy Returning Officer.
Manisha Patel is an Inclusion and Culture Strategist, Non-Executive Director, Executive Coach, and Founder of the Female Executive Mentoring Programme.
Manisha is currently working with a range of high profile organisations as a strategic advisor on diversity, inclusion and culture. In her role as Non-Executive Director at LLG, Manisha advises and supports the Board on ensuring all strategic decisions embed equality, diversity and inclusion.
Paul is a partner within the recoveries department of Wilkin Chapman. Paul specialises in finding ways to assist local authorities in dealing with collections. He can advise on collections strategy, improving processes and finding solutions for a wide range of issues facing revenues teams which include maximising revenue, tackling static debt and collecting arrears.
Philip Emms has over 18 years executive recruitment experience and was worked in the local government team at GatenbySanderson since joining the business in 2010. He has an extensive knowledge of the local government recruitment market, with networks nationwide. Having spent many years in GatenbySanderson's Research Team where he was responsible for a team delivering candidate resourcing and research for challenging senior leadership. He is a skilled candidate networker, adept at identifying and encouraging the best talent in the sector, working on a number of talent development programmes, and is known for his honest and straight-forward advice.
Philip specialises in local authorities’ corporate law and decision making and has acted on governance, standards and monitoring officer issues for a wide range of local authorities, combined authorities and central government through both consultancy and direct employment.
Philip has led on a number of national projects on governance and standards, including:
Rebecca is a partner and Head of Public Procurement at the international law firm, Trowers & Hamlins. Rebecca is a leading national expert in public procurement law, consistently ranked as among the world's leading government contracts lawyers (Who's Who Legal and Chambers and Partners).
Rebecca has significant experience in advising local authorities on public procurement, social value and building safety strategy issues.
Rebecca is also a Visiting Fellow at the Centre of Construction Law and Dispute Resolution at Kings College London and is currently undertaking a PhD in public procurement, focusing on price evaluation models at the University of Nottingham.
Rebecca is ranked in Band 1 and named as a 'Top Ranked and Leader in the Field for Public Procurement (UK-wide)' by the Chambers and Partners' Guide to the Legal Profession 2022. She is also recognised as a Global Leader in the "Who's Who Legal Guide to Government Contracts 2024.
Rita is a well-established and high-profile local government governance and regeneration specialist. Having worked in-house within local government, Rita has a valuable insight and understanding of local government issues. She is able to provide solutions-oriented advice into areas of which are strategically important to the market. Rita was the national lead for housing and regeneration for Lawyers in Local Government (LLG) and was shortlisted for in-house solicitor of the year category at Law Society Awards. Rita is also a member of the Law Society Property Section Committee.
Day 1 Plenary and Breakout Programmes
DownloadThe Met Hotel, King Street, Leeds LS1 2HQ
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Local Government Legal Society Trust
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09:30 - 17:30
The Met Hotel, Leeds The Met Hotel, King Street, Leeds LS1 2HQ
