Happy New Year from Georgina Redsell – Chair of the Junior PLA

January can be a dark time - both literally and metaphorically. It is a time for trying to curb that sugar habit that you acquired over Christmas and fighting your way through the newcomers to make it to the squat rack at the gym. However, it is also a time for reflecting on the past year and making plans and getting excited about the year ahead. So I thought that I would do exactly that in this first blog post!

The past year has been a busy one for the JPLA, especially in the regions. Outgoing Chair Mark Reading headed up the JPLA for several years and was nicknamed “action man” by Martin Edwards for good reason. He has set the bar high for leading the JPLA and will be a hard act to follow. Luckily our paths will cross in 2018 as he continues his work at the PLA on the Website and Marketing Committee.

Some of the highlights from 2017 included:

Caroline Shea acted as chair and Judge whilst Mark Warwick QC steadfastly cross-examined Iain Feasey of Malcolm Hollis over his expert report in a dilapidations context. One of our most lively debates followed about expert witnesses and cross-examination generally.
In the autumn we jointly hosted a darts tournament at Flight Club with the Property Bar Association. The event ended in a show down between what can only be described as some of junior property’s finest dart players. The result was victory for the surveyors!
The committee was also hard at work creating checklists to assist our junior members.

As for 2018, there is not only a royal wedding, the winter Olympics and a world cup to look forward to! Your JPLA committee are already busy organising events for our junior members. Some things to look forward to include:

The regions continue to grow and be an active part of the JPLA. Our South West colleagues are first to the post with their training event due to take place on Monday 22 January at Bond Dickinson’s offices. We also hope to have an inaugural JPLA Scotland event planned in the not too distant future.
Brush up on your general knowledge and sharpen your pencils! There will be a pub quiz with our surveyor friends at Matrics in February at the Yorkshire Grey in London. 

We will be co-hosting an event with the Junior Property Bar Association about arbitration and expert determination in the spring. An event on the new Electronic Communications Code will follow later in the summer.
As is tradition there will also be a social event happening in autumn and we are currently investigating venues. Any ideas are welcome!
More content will become available on the website for our junior members. For example, checklists will start becoming available for use and we will be uploading written materials from future training sessions.

Keep an eye out for email updates and further details on the website. If you have any feedback or suggestions, please do drop me or another committee member an e-mail. We would be delighted to hear from you.

In the meantime, Happy New Year and I hope that your 2018 gets off to a flying start!

Georgina Redsell, Chair of the JPLA