Reflections on my year

What a whirlwind year it has been. It seems only yesterday that I was being introduced to the members as your new President. This is partly because of the extraordinary number of meetings and engagements to attend – around 100 over the year, sometimes three or four a week – which meant I had no track of time.

Then there are numerous papers to read and speeches to write. And, of course, there was my day job. None of this would have been possible if my employers did not back me and ILEX. What you will not know is that during my year I changed firms. This was much to the horror of fellow Council members. But your life and career options cannot stand still for your Presidential year. When it finishes, you are straight back in the real world – and one that is in recession. I hope it is a long time until another ILEX President has the difficult task of delivering upbeat messages to the membership in an hour of need.

When I became President, it was with the belief that, by the time I finished, doors previously shut would be open. When I spoke at the luncheon last month in front of so many distinguished guests, I could say that many of our goals had been met.

The judicial door is wedged open. The partnership door has been taken off its hinges. We have opened our own doors to encourage new members such as associate prosecutors and removed our transparent door to show the Legal Services Board how we at ILEX have addressed our few regulatory issues and gone a stage further by creating ILEX Professional Standards to meet the increasing regulatory demands placed upon us and separation from ILEX's representational role.

The future could be very different: members on the bench, members as partners making difficult decisions, and perhaps doing what is best for their own solely owned practice, assuming our litigation and probate rights applications succeed. To think that this could happen and they could also be allowed to engage with third-party interests under an alternative business structure is nothing short of mind-blowing.

More than ever it is vital that we stick together to see these and other opportunities through. Membership of ILEX has never been so important, because otherwise opportunities will be lost. ILEX does and needs to continue its work on creating these openings to parallel the entitlements of barristers and solicitors. So I urge you to support the organisation which has afforded you the openings you now have. ILEX's objectives need your support, as it is no easy task engaging politically to get things changed.

So that is the future, but what of the last year and my personal highlights? I started the year with my human rights trip to Colombia. This is a country sitting on huge wealth but which has a legal system in chaos. Indigenous people and communities are constantly threatened, attacked and murdered for their land. There are a few brave lawyers who try to get justice for them, who too are threatened, attacked and murdered. It brought home the fact that we are truly very privileged to be able to work in such a different environment. We are blessed to work in one of the best, if not the best, jurisdiction in the world.

Some of my domestic engagements were truly enlightening, both in a good and bad sense. Good when I attended the Judicial Appointments Commission's annual strategic review, where I presented what I considered it needed to do to encourage our members to apply for judicial posts. The commission is working hard to ensure ILEX has its first appointment.

Less good was the meeting I had with Lord Neuberger, who has been appointed by the government to report on the legal professions' approach to increasing diversity and to fair access. It was acknowledged that ILEX set the standard and we were (and I quote) 'teacher's pet'. It would almost have been a perfect meeting if Lord Neuberger had actually heard of ILEX. Clearly this is something we must all work on. We have all to raise our profile. The buck does not stop with ILEX but with each and every member to get out there and promote ILEX and themselves.

We have some important years ahead where there will be big decisions and changes in how the whole legal profession will operate. One of the contestants in 'The Apprentice' was accused of telling Sir Alan that she had 'a gift, a feel for what was right', but she only explained this when the task had been failed. ILEX and its members cannot afford to make the same mistake as there will be no second chances. So please, believe in yourselves and let's get out there and make it all happen. I will continue the fight and I know the Council, chief executive and all at Kempston Manor will too.

Being President has truly been a privilege. Do take up any opportunity to meet your new President, Judith Gordon-Nichols. Become a regular visitor of our revamped website and support the Journal, particularly after the team's hard work was rewarded with the best professional association journal award. If that means something, it must mean it is a must-read periodical. The website and Journal will keep you up-to-date with what is happening and allow you to have your say. The journey has only just begun and in many respects it is up to you to keep the momentum going.

Thank you all again for the honour of representing you and I hope to see some of you in the near future, albeit without the gong!