Minutes of meeting held on 10th December 2008

Meeting held at : DLA Piper UK LLP, Victoria Square House, Birmingham

Attendees:

Jon Beaumont, Hilary Boucher, Louise Bowler, Matthew Cadden (Pinsent Masons), Adele Champken, Andrew Clarke, Caroline Covington, Hazel Hewison, Susanne Homer, Mandy Hulme, Caroline Janukowicz, Caroline Mosley, Alison Parker, Rachel Relves, Natasha Skeen (College of Law), Phil Uttley, Carol Wilson and Tricia Wyspianska

The Chair welcomed Nigel Fry, Rob Cornish and Tina Hartley from Wildy & Sons

Normal business

1. Apologies

Sally Hassell, Christine Lambert, Patricia Pritchard, Aileen Johnston, Beverley Preece, Joanne Dunn, Lisa Anderson, Christine Newlove, Erica Foster, Aine Astbury, Jasmin Hollingum, Sue Kendall, David Houston, Lee Houghton, Helen Dunn, Denise Watkins, Diane Harris, Jackie Sellars, James Furnival and Stephen Wheeler.

2. Charities

The Chair explained that our annual donation had been reviewed at the request of members and set at £50 this year. Three nominations had been received and voting forms were distributed at the meeting. A copy is available on the blog for those who have still to nominate their chosen charity

3. Treasurer’s Report

The treasurer presented her report for the year. She also asked those members who have yet to renew their ALLICE subscriptions to do so before Christmas (Cobbetts, No 5 Chambers, James Furnival, Lisa Anderson and Denise Watkins). It is expected that membership will fall to 40/42 for 2008/09. This will generate around £630. The EIA event, run in October, had cost a total of £1175. Attendance fees recouped £300, leaving net costs of £875.

4. AOB

Update on Birmingham Law Society (BLS) library – The Chair informed members that a BLS committee meeting recently established that the BLS library was now formally closed. The move of the stock to Aston University was complete and arrangements for BLS members to access it were now in place. BLS members will be invited to bid for the stock left at the Law Society. Confirmation of this has been received since the meeting and is available on the blog.

Anthony Collins job vacancy – Adele Champken informed members that she was leaving Anthony Collins in February. This would create a vacancy for a part-time librarian.

Happy events – Members were informed that both Aine Astbury and Jackie Hanes had given birth to baby girls recently – all are well

5. Wildy & Sons

Many thanks to Nigel Fry who gave a very interesting talk on the history of Wildys and its current structure and location