The PLA Annual Conference: blog by Rebecca Campbell

The countdown is almost over and we are only a matter of days away from the hottest date in the property litigation calendar. The Education & Training Committee is looking forward to welcoming delegates to this year’s PLA Annual Conference at Keble College Oxford on 21 and 22 March. We only have a small number of places still available. If you are yet to make your booking please do so now, and a full list of delegates attending can be found here.

The E&T Committee has worked hard to design a fantastic programme that offers both legal excellence and industry expertise. This year we have another stellar line-up of speakers, including five leading property silks, and we are grateful to them all for their support.

I would also like to thank each of the E&T Committee members for volunteering their time and effort in preparing the programme and taking such pride in seeking to improve the Conference year after year (Kate Andrews, Verity Bonney, Richard Flenley, Scott Goldstein, Ben Hatton, Jonathan Hibberts, Simone Ketchell, Nick Lloyd, Lara Nyman and Rob Shaw). A special thanks to Tim Power for his sterling organisational skills and ensuring the Conference runs smoothly.

As well as providing the highest quality education for our members, a key PLA objective is to seek to develop a public voice and media profile for property litigation practitioners. With that in mind, we encourage delegates to embrace social media at the Conference using the hashtag #PLAConf to share your perspective of the event. This year there will be prizes for the best use of social media on LinkedIn and Twitter, and also for the best photo(s) from the Conference. The winners will be announced in the April edition of PLA Post – our new monthly news bulletins for members.

Looking ahead to future PLA events, it is my pleasure to announce the date for our Northern Training Day on Thursday 13 June 2019.   Last year’s inaugural NTD held in Leeds was a huge success. This year the afternoon format followed by networking drinks will remain the same, but we will be crossing the Pennines to Manchester and the historic Midland Hotel will be the venue. The 2019 NTD programme will seek to build on last year’s fantastic line-up which featured four silks and two High Court Judges. Richard Cressall (Chair PLA North), Rob Shaw (E&T) and the Northern Region Committee are busy working to ensure this year’s event is bigger and better. Save the date and booking details will be announced shortly.

A key part of the E&T Committee’s work is to review the feedback we receive to ensure that we are meeting members’ needs.  If you have any feedback or suggestions for training events, please do drop me or another committee member an e-mail. We would be delighted to hear from you.

For those members attending #PLAConf, I hope you enjoy the event and I look forward to seeing you in Oxford.

Best wishes

Rebecca Campbell

Chair, PLA Education & Training Committee