Pictured above: Andrew Lancaster, president Birmingham Law
Society and Mary Kaye, deputy president Birmingham Law
Society
Partner at Anthony Collins Solicitors, Andrew Lancaster, has
taken up the presidency of Birmingham Law Society (BLS).
He takes the baton from Dean Parnell, who stood down at the
Society's Annual General Meeting (19 April, 2011), and becomes the
organisation's 192nd president.
An Essex man by birth, Andrew came to Birmingham in 1995 to join
the dispute resolution team at Anthony Collins Solicitors. He
specialises in resolving construction disputes and training clients
in risk management. He is an experienced commercial and workplace
mediator and helps clients avoid and manage disputes.
An officer of BLS since 2008, Andrew steered a governance
review for the Society in 2009, which led to the creation of a
board of directors at the AGM last year. The board took control of
the day-to-day running, staffing and financing of the organisation
and was part of a process of ensuring wider engagement and
involvement by members.
He said: " We have a governance structure that is fit for
purpose for a modern and progressive Society and Dean has done much
over the past year to encourage wider membership. The challenge for
this coming year is to harness still further the enthusiasm and
skills of all our members to continue to build a community of
lawyers that is dynamic, supportive and responsive to the changing
needs of our clients. Now more than ever we need to encourage the
regional profession to stand up for justice at a time when access
to justice is under threat.
"With this in mind, I aim to encourage wider communication and
involvement amongst members to ensure that Birmingham Law Society
remains the voice of the region's legal community."
Andrew's vice president for 2010-2011 is Mary Kaye, partner at
Martineau; Martin Allsopp, partner of Allsopp and Co, becomes
deputy vice president; Bernardette Griffin, centre director of the
College of Law, Birmingham and Ann Hunter of Irwin Mitchell, are
joint honorary secretaries.