If ever you need to find out what was News with the SYLA in the past, here's the place to look!

Join us for a sizzling barbeque and drinks in The Famous Spiegel Garden’s VIP Beer Garden – only £10 per person. More info...

May 2007: New Events including Dundee Seminar

Our events diary is crammed with loads of new events, including an SYLA Evening Seminar on Preparation for Sheriff & Jury Trials, taking place in Dundee on 30th May.

March 2007: BOOK NOW FOR THE SYLA ANNUAL CONFERENCE - FRI 4TH - SAT 5TH MAY 2007, AIRTH CASTLE...

Book now for the conference for young lawyers. Always memorable for its great mix of quality seminars & lively social events and the opportunity it provides to meet other young lawyers. And it’s reasonably priced to boot! Especially suitable for trainees and NQs. More info and booking

January 2007: Book now for the SYLA Annual Conference - Fri 4th - Sat 5th May 2007...

More info

Jan 2007: The Future of Scottish Legal Education & Training – Easyinternet event

The SYLA took action to make young lawyers aware of the Law Society Education and Training Consultation and encouraged as many as possible to complete it by asking young lawyers to join us in the EasyInternetcafé, Edinburgh for a chance to complete the survey and network at the same time. As an incentive we offered free internet access, free coffee and cake and free entry into a prize draw. (Free stuff all made possible by the kind sponsorship of MLP Private Finance.) Thanks to everyone who made it along! We also encourage those who couldn’t make it to complete the survey online before the 9th February deadline.

Dec 2006: New issue of Eurolawyer online

Check out www.eyba.org for the latest edition of the European Young Bar Association's Eurolawyer magazine. It's packed full of great articles, including one by the SYLA's very own Vice President, Lorna Smith. And it's edited by another SYLA Committee Member, our Past President, Samara Shah.

2006: New SYLA Honorary President

The SYLA are delighted to welcome our new honorary president, Alistair Bonnington. Alistair is well known in the Scottish legal community for his work as BBC Scotland in-house lawyer and as a Professor, writer of legal texts and Solicitor-Advocate.

Friday 27 October 2006: SYLA Criminal Day Conference

An event which combines fantastic criminal law CPD, bacon rolls, wine and a rare opportunity to be in the Opal Lounge at 9.30am – find out more

September 2006: New Accreditation Scheme for Young Lawyers

The WS Society are launching a new accreditation scheme for young lawyers – called the Signet Accreditation Scheme. Find out more about it and how it could help your career in our Careers section.

September 2006: Women in the Law

A very interesting article appeared in the August 27th edition of the Scotland on Sunday newspaper about women in the law – contributed to by two SYLA Committee Member. More information

August 2006: Summer BBQ – a date for your diary

Following on from the phenomenal success of the Ball we co-organised with the EYBA in April we’re planning our next social event – our Summer barbeque! We’re holding it in Edinburgh at Indigo Yard on Thursday 3rd August from 6pm. The FIRM Magazine and Totally Legal are kindly sponsoring the event. A £65 Thomas Pink voucher and an iPod nano will be up for grabs at the raffle on the night. More information.

June 2006: Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Bill

The SYLA agree that an independent complaints body should be established, however we’ve got some real concerns about how the Bill proposes to do that and have strong views about how it could affect young Scottish lawyers. See our Issues section for more information.

June 2006: increase to recommended salaries for Trainees from 1st June 2006

See our Issues section for more information.

May 2006: We had a ball!
The EYBA/SYLA Gala Dinner event on Friday 21st April was an absolute ball – as featured in the FIRM Magazine! Around 250 young lawyers and friends including some of our European colleagues partied the night away at the Roxburghe Hotel in Edinburgh and, for the hardcore element, later in the Opal Lounge. Haggis, whisky, very energetic ceilidh dancing, Englishmen in kilts and Estonian national dress – to name just a few things that all helped to make it a great night.

May 2006: Special discounts from TM Lewin on quality shirts and other clothing and accessories
Join SYLA and take advantage of the fantastic special discounts which TM Lewin (shirtmakers since 1898) are now offering to SYLA members – such as £25 for men’s shirts (normally up to £99) and £22 for ladies’ shirts (normally up to £69) during the month of May. Just contact us and we’ll send you a voucher.

May 2006: Get clued up on financial planning
Come along to MLP Private Finance’s evening seminars on Financial Planning – see our new Events Diary for details.

SYLA Annual General Meeting

We’re having our AGM on 21st February 2006 at Drummond Miller’s offices, 32 Moray Place, Edinburgh from 7pm. All members are welcome. As well as discussing what we’ve been doing in 2005/2006 we’ll also be voting in the 2006/2007 Committee Members so anyone who wants to join up should come along and see what it’s all about. If you want more info before then about what it’s like to be a Committee Member just email us at sylawebsite@ hotmail.com.
31/01/06

Young Lawyers Weekend '06 - Seriously Fun

Combine business (a wide range of seminars to give you bags of CPD points) and pleasure (lots of fun social events) at our annual Young Lawyers Weekend Conference 2006 (previously known as the legendary "Traineeship Weekend") on Friday 3rd and Saturday 4th February 2006. This year the Weekend is being held at the lovely Airth Castle, Stirlingshire. The cost, including meals, social events and accommodation, is only £260 for SYLA members (£265 for non members).

All young lawyers - qualified, trainee or otherwise - are welcome but numbers are strictly limited so you're advised to book soon.

02-01-06

Conveyancing Day Conference – February 2006

We’ve changed the date of our Conveyancing Day Conference – it’s now taking place on Tuesday 7th February 2006. Hurry – places are limited so book now! You’ll get 5 CPD points from only £115 inc lunch. It’s packed full of essential updates for young lawyers practising in those areas and also provide a great change to meet your peers.
02-01-06

EUROlawyer™ magazine now available online

The European Young Bar Association’s EUROlawyer™ magazine is now available online. See our Links page for more info and a link to the latest edition.
02-01-06

Coming up in November – SYLA Day Conferences – from only £115 each!

5 CPD points from only £115 inc lunch - in 2 easy steps! And what’s more – there’s a conference for everyone! Step one: choose from the 4 conferences: Civil (4 Nov), Criminal (4 Nov), Conveyancing (22 Nov) and Commercial (23 Nov). Step 2: go to the Events/Day Conferences section of this site for programme and booking information. The seminars are packed full of essential updates for young lawyers practising in those areas and also provide a great change to meet your peers. Hurry – places are limited so book now!
07-10-05

Trainee Law Ball 2005 – exclusive SYLA prize draw for Ball-goers – prize winner
SYLA are pleased to announce that the winner of the SYLA Cuthbert Recruitment Trainee Law Ball 2005 prize draw is Anna Lawrence from Shepherd & Wedderburn. Well done Anna and we hope you enjoy your case of wine! By all accounts the Ball was a great night and we can’t wait for the next one!
07-10-05

Law Awards

SYLA were lucky enough to be invited along to the Law Award of Scotland on 1 September 2005 by one our sponsors, MLP Private Finance. It was a great night, hosted by the superbly sarcy Donald Findlay. SYLA President Richard Pugh was unfortunately pipped at the post for the Young Lawyer of the Year award but better luck next year Richard! The award went to the very deserving Hazel Elaine Moffat from Shepherd & Wedderburn and the winner of Trainee of the Year was Katie Russell from Shepherd & Wedderburn.

Hmmm… there’s a bit of a Shepherd & Wedderburn theme here! Obviously it’s a lucky place to work!
07-10-2005

Trainee Law Ball 2005 – exclusive SYLA prize draw for Ball-goers
SYLA are pleased to be a sponsor of the Cuthbert Recruitment Trainee Law Ball 2005. The Ball is a charity event and is taking place on 20 August 2005 at the fabulous Balmoral Hotel, Edinburgh. You’ll find details on www.traineeball.co.uk. We think it’s going to be a great night! And the good news is that there are still tickets left – but you’d better hurry!

What’s more, SYLA are running a prize draw exclusively for Ball-goers to win a case of wine! When you get your Ball tickets you’ll receive details of how to enter. Please read the prize draw terms and conditions.
10-08-2005

Law Awards – you have the power
The Law Awards of Scotland 2005 are taking place on 1 September 2005 at the Moat House Hotel in Glasgow. This year there are loads of FIRM Magazine Readers’ Choice awards – so you have the power to decide who wins! There are 2 categories we’re particularly interested in: Trainee of the Year and Young Lawyer of the Year. Just think how good one of those would look on your CV! If you know someone who you feel deserves one of these awards you should get nominating! Or if you think you should get one of these awards yourself you should start spreading the word about the awards ASAP so you have a chance of getting nominated!

See www.firmmagazine.com for details and nomination forms.
10-08-2005

June 2005

ISRCL Conference Young Lawyers Afternoon
SYLA have been asked to assist the International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law and Crown Office in organising a young lawyers’ afternoon within the ISRCL Conference, which is being held in Edinburgh in the week beginning 27 June.

The conference is being attended by members of the legal profession, both from this country and abroad. This high profile event is being organised by the Lord Advocate, the Crown Agent, several High Court Judges and Sheriffs.

The idea behind it is to create a forum for discussing areas of criminal law on an international basis, and to consider issues for reform.

As part of the Conference there’s going to be a Young Lawyers’ Afternoon on 29th June 2005. This is a chance for younger members of the profession to attend the conference and participate in the discussion forums etc. There is a special rate to attend only this part of the conference, rather than having to pay a small fortune to attend the whole thing! In fact, this day only costs £30 and it will provide much welcome CPD time! Click here for a copy of the draft programme, including an invite to the evening event.

If you’re interested in attending the Young Lawyers’ Day and/or evening event, contact Sineidin Corrins [Sineidin.Corrins@copfs.gsi.gov.uk], at the Crown office.

Red Nose Day Skool Disco
Are you nostalgic for those days when the girls wore ties and pigtails and the boys wore shorts and blazers and you got paid pocket money and you got to go home at 3pm to watch cartoons and you didn’t even know what law was? Well all is not lost – dust off your old school uniform and come along to our “Skool Disco” event on Friday 11 March 2005 in Edinburgh. It’s only £5 for a ticket and all profits will go to Comic Relief! Click here for more details and info on getting tickets. It’s open to all young lawyers – and bring all your mates too!

The best legal conference ever – the SYLA’s Trainee and NQ Weekend!
Thanks for everyone who attended, spoke at or helped organise the SYLA’s “Trainee & NQ Weekend” conference (previously the “Traineeship Weekend”) which was held from 25-27 February 2005 at The MacDonald Inchyra Hotel, Polmont. We hope you all enjoyed it and hope to see you again very soon! It was also great to get so many new committee members – it’s always great to have new people with new ideas on board. We’ll be posting a full report on the Weekend in our Events section shortly, just as soon as we’ve recovered!