There were 115 attendees from a mixture of local firms; Belinda Smith & Co, Buckles Solicitors LLP, Fenners Chambers, Greenwoods Solicitors LLP, Hegarty LLP, Hunt & Coombs, Jeremy Roberts & Co, Metcalfe Copeman & Pettefar, Regency Chambers, Roythornes LLP, Serjeant & Son, Sloan Plumb Wood, Taylor Rose Law and Terrells.
We would specifically like to thank our Distinguished Guests for attending the evening: such guests included a number of District and Honour Judges, the Deputy Mayor of Peterborough, John Bridge OBE, the High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire, Chief Executive Officer of Vivacity and a few representatives from neighbouring law societies.
We would also like to thank our sponsors: Annecto Legal, Fenners Chambers, Geodesys, Law Select, LawStaff, Maserati, MBL (Seminars) Limited, the Peterborough Chartered Insurance Institute and Wesleyan.
The evening began with a short drinks reception in the 1852 bar where guests enjoyed music by the Dave Johnson jazz duo before we were seated in the Ballroom. Sarah Adlam (Metcalfe Copeman and Pettefar and PADLS’ President) briefly welcomed our guests and provided a summary of the previous year then Kirstie Sowter (Greenwoods Solicitors LLP and PADLS’ Vice-President) gave an exciting demonstration of our new website. Guests then enjoyed a delightful three course meal followed by cheese and biscuits. As it was April Fool’s Day, we were entertained by magician and mind-reader, Edward Crawford, who spoke to us about the changing law and ethics for magicians and fooled us with some fascinating psychological illusion.
Two awards were then presented by Belinda Smith (Belinda Smith & Co) who had kindly, along with Sarah Adlam and John Chrisp (Serjeant & Son), judged the nominations for Trainee Lawyer of the Year and Young Lawyer of the Year. Congratulations to Jake Parker-Bishop (Sloan Plumb Wood) for winning Trainee Lawyer of the Year which was kindly sponsored by MBL (Seminars) Limited. Further congratulations go to Kashif Khan (Hunt and Coombs) for winning Young Lawyer of the Year which was kindly sponsored by Fenners Chambers.
Congratulations to everyone who won one of our raffle prizes. We raised a fantastic £488. All proceeds from the raffle will go towards Martin Herson’s (PADLS’ Treasurer) London Marathon fundraising for MS-UK.
Thank you, again, to everyone who attended this year’s Annual Dinner and to our sponsors: the Society truly values your support.
If anyone has any feedback or comments about the evening, we would love to hear from you as we are keen to ensure that everyone has a great time. Photos from the evening are now on our website under the Gallery section - please take a look! We look forward to seeing you all again next year for an even bigger and better 87th Annual Dinner.
Thank you again & best wishes
Kirstie & Stephanie
On behalf of the Peterborough & District Law Society