Monday 20th December 2010

Guest Writer Phyllis

This is our last working week before the Christmas break and as all of our conferences are over for this year most of our staff are taking a well deserved break.

Our Training Centre is busy today and tomorrow.

Scott is meeting with Tom Evens from Employment Rights Branch of Department for Employment and Learning on 21st.

Legal-Island shall be closed for the Christmas holidays from Friday 24th December until 4th January when all our staff shall be back full of enthusiasm and energy.

Until then Seasons Greetings to all.

Guest Writer - Arnold

Welcome on board Legal-Island . This is a last full working week before Christmas so everybody is looking forward to it after a busy year. Last week we had our training week where Linzi Conway did group exercises on teamwork and communication and JJ Lynch who spoke about ‘What makes successful people successful’. After all that we had Christmas Lunch on Friday Afternoon at the Ballyrobin.

This week we have Schrader Electronics using our training centre on Wednesday and Thursday.

Networking

Our CEO, Barry, has a lot on this week as he tidies things up before his winter break. He’s seeing company coach Richard O’Rawe this afternoon and again tomorrow for a feedback session on our EFQM efforts. On Wednesday he’s meeting some of the team from Quelltraining as well as Keith Pryde from AMI Ltd. He’s also meeting Alan Wallace the patent lawyer Wednesday afternoon. That could be a big meeting. At the moment Thursday and Friday is free in his diary but I’ve no doubt that by Wednesday most of the end of the week will be accounted for. Go Barry. Go!

Scott hopes to attend a breakfast seminar at Lisburn Enterprise network on Thursday.

Ainsley is at Parkhall College for his Young Enterprise group on Wednesday afternoon, followed by an Institute Of Directors event in Belfast.

On Thursday morning he is meeting Nic Charlton (Design) at The Mount in Belfast, followed by Jake Campbell (Design).

Peter is graduating on Tuesday after completing his Advanced Diploma in Management Practice and Volunteering at an old peoples home all day on Wednesday, back in the office for his last day before Christmas on Thursday.

Jacqui will be doing her first voluntary day tomorrow at Mount St Michael’s Nursery.

I would like to wish everybody Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Guest Writer - Jacqui

Last Tuesday saw the end of our Annual Review of Employment Law conferences take place in the Stillorgan, and so too the end of another season of events.

Well done to Heather and the team, who made it to Dublin, despite the nasty road conditions. To all the delegates who braved the bad weather to attend the conference and helped end our year on a high with yet another successful day, we say a huge THANK YOU!!

This week everyone is on lockdown, as we have our annual winter training week here on the Island. It got off to a great start with Donna,who did a presentation on "How to be Happy at Work" which provided us with some useful tips (NOT THAT WE NEED THEM). Next up was Kerry on Networking, followed by Vanessa, who gave a detailed brief on "Eventpro". Heather rounded the morning off with an entertaining and lively presentation on "Personalities within a Winning Team".

The training schedule for the rest of the week has been put into jeopardy, thanks to the awful weather conditions, which really took a hold in the afternoon. Here's hoping the sessions go ahead, as the end of the week sees us all heading out for a well deserved Christmas feast before some of my colleagues head off for a lengthy festive break.

I would like to end this weeks blog with wishing everyone a happy and safe Christmas. And if these weather conditions continue, embrace it and get out there and enjoy (who needs the Alps!).

Guest Writer Jayne

Well here we are - the final week of 2011 events!!! Last but by no means least we have the big finale of the Annual Review at the Stillorgan Park Hotel tomorrow.

With what is sure to be an eventful day - complete with a snow covered journey - the team led by Heather are looking forward to completing the year on a high.

Movements for the rest of the team look a bit like this:

Scott is attending the E-Forum Steering Group of Skills for Justice on Tuesday. On Wednesday he is volunteering at Cullybackey High School and assisting with an entrepreneurship exercise. On Thursday Scott will be meeting with Sarah Bondi from NILSC and Emer Hinphey from Thinkpeople. On Friday, Scott will be working from home.

Barry is busy as always this week. He's meeting Trayc Keevans today from Morgan McKinley in Dublin this evening and then having dinner with Clive Byrne from the NAPD later this evening. Tomorrow he's chairing the last of our Annual Reviews. On Wednesday and Thursday he's out networking before flying to London for more of the same on Friday afternoon.

Jayne is hosting at the Annual Review tomorrow, before heading back to Belfast for the Chamber of Commerce President's Banquet in the City Hall. On Thursday she will in meetings all morning with staff and on FRiday she will be volunteering at Ballycraigy Primary School before attending a networking lunch at the Old Courthouse in Antrim. Kerry will also be attending this event.

Ainsley is in Dublin with the Annual Review team Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday he is meeting with DCP in Belfast. Wednesday lunchtime he is meeting with Lesley from Belfast Telegraph Business Magazine and in the afternoon he will be visiting Parkhall College for Young Enterprise (last production week before the trade fair at Fairhill on 8^th December)

On Wednesday Kerry is YENI on Wednesday morning at Ballykeel Primary.

With December only 2 days away, it looks like we'll all get a White Christmas early!!!

Guest Writer Heather

Well another week and another flagship event! This time Kerry will be running the 2nd Northern Ireland Annual Review, this time in the Ramada Shaws Bridge. I'm sure it will go as well as (or even better) than our first one.

Take a look at some of the delights we served at our Annual Review Of Employment Law at the Radisson Dublin Airport last Thursday!

The training centre is also having a busy week with Smart Forward today, Independent Healthcare Providers tomorrow and the Institute of Licensing on Thursday phew!

Our staff volunteering days are also in full flow with myself, Kerry, Jayne and Donna in our local primary schools delivering the YENI programme. Ainsley is in the local Parkhall college, Barry has been cleaning up leaves and Jacqui helps to help out at a school nativity.

Out and About:

Barry - has a busy week loaded with a variety of tasks and duties for him to get stuck into this week. On Monday at lunchtime he's meeting John Cherry to talk about the new Bribery Act before meeting his parents at the airport who are flying in from Devon for a few days. No doubt they will be inspecting the new extension to his house not to mention Island House which they have yet to see. On Tuesday Barry's speaking at the Annual Review of Employment Law Conference at the Ramada. On Wednesday morning he's meeting John Stevenson to review to successful education seminars he has been doing with us. On Wednesday afternoon through to Friday Barry's in London networking. Watch out London!

Scott - will be chairing the second of our NI Annual Review of Employment Law as mentioned above.

Kerry - our Conference Manager for the North will be leading the way on Tuesday at the Annual Review Conference at the Ramada Shaws Bridge. Kerry's hosters for the day will be: Vanessa, Peter, Ainsley & Jayne. Good Luck everyone!

33 sleeps to Christmas!

Guest Writer - Julie

This week sees the 2nd of our flagship Annual Review Employment Law events taking place in Dublin on Thursday at the Radisson Blu Hotel Dublin Airport and it's another sell-out!! However don't frett, our FINAL Annual Review event is taking place on the 30th of November at the Stillorgan Park Hotel, there are still places available but it is booking up fast!!!

A further Legal Island conference is taking place this week on Tuesday the 16th of November also at Dublin Airport called:
Dealing with Teacher Underperformance - The New Procedure

Our Training Centre at Legal Island is at full capacity this week with Schrader availing of our training facilities today and tomorrow and the Centre of Competitiveness making a return on Wednesday and using it right through until the end of the week.


Out and About:

Barry - is busy today working with the EFQM inspectors. He's in his posh suit - always a sign that something serious is happening! This afternoon he's meeting CIPFA. On wednesday he's meeting David Thorogood from Capita and after that Tom Evans from DEL. In between times he's working on events for next year in GB.

Scott - is meeting solicitors from Arthur Cox tomorrow for lunch and then has a meeting with representatives from the Northern Ireland Tourist Board. Arthur Cox are the writers of our popular Q&A feature 'First Tuesday' in our NI Employment Law Email Update service. The NI Tourist Board provides Legal Island with a top 10 attractions list every week that is sent out with our weekly review of developments email. On the 18th of November, Scott will be helping out in the main hall sessions at our Annual Review of Employment Law at the Radisson Blu Hotel at Dublin Airport.

Heather - our Conference Manager for the South will be leading the way on Thursday at the Annual Review Conference at the Radisson Blu Hotel. Heathers hosters for the day will be: Vanessa, Peter, Ainsley & Kerry. Good Luck everyone!

As part of our on-going volunteering initiative all the staff at Legal Island opted to go out and about into the local community and mentor/give a helping hand to organisations with a desire to pass on skills and experience of business to inspire the next generation.

The following staff at Legal Island volunteering this week are as follows:


Heather - In Ballycraigy Primary School this coming Wednesday
Ainsley - At Parkhall College on Wednesday afternoon.
Kerry - At Ballykeel Primary School on Wednesday morning.
Jayne - Attending to P2 Pupils this Friday.

So to another busy week for all!

Guest Writer- Donna

Remember, remember the fifth of November. Forget Guy Fawkes, Legal Island is causing a bit of an explosion with our Annual Reviews of Employment Law - 5 venues over 4 weeks - Guy Fawkes was an amateur really!


Who?
Barry is working hard early this week on his presentations at the first of the NI Annual Reviews on Wednesday 10th at the Culloden . He is presenting on Mediation in NI which is being talked about much at the moment. On Thursday, he has a Skype meeting with John McMullen in Newcastle with lunch on that day with Richard O'Rawe. Later that same day he's meeting with Dawn Baird for a catch up on all things to do with social media. On Friday he'e meeting CIPFA before attending a barristers' lunch shortly afterwards.

What?
Kerry and the team will be hosting the Annual Review of Employment Law in NI on Wednesday 10th November at the Culloden Hotel - after a fantastic one last week in ROI, we are really looking forward to this one. Scott will be the man in the chair. It also promises to be an "exotic" affair at lunch time!

Click hereto book if you have not already done so.

Dealing with Teacher Underperformance will take place in ROI on 11th November and Jayne will be looking after the delegates.

Quality, Quality Quality...


Jayne will also be preparing for the visit from the NI Quality team on Monday and Tuesday of next week.

Volunteering
Kerry and Donna will be lending their "teaching experise" to Ballykeel Primary school on Thursday in the Young Enterprise programme - they will probably offer them jobs!!

Congratulations.... to Ainsley, our Senior Marketing Manager, and his wife Lindsay in the safe arrival of baby Freddie.

Farewell to John , who so ably stepped into the marketing department during the "baby boom". We will miss him and wish him every success in the future.

Have a great week!

Guest Writer Vanessa

We’re excited here on the Island this week. It’s the first of our flagship Annual Reviews this Thursday at the Red Cow in Dublin and it’s a sell out. These conferences are the ones that made our name and we’re not resting on our laurels this year with a host of new surprises for delegates as well as the return of an old favourite! It is also the last of our GB events this week so no more globetrotting for that Event team!

Our CEO Barry has a busy week ahead as always. On Monday morning he’s at a business breakfast as a guest of Noel Brady at La Mon Hotel Belfast. On Tuesday he’s in Leeds chairing the last of the Annual Review Conferences in GB. On Wednesday he’s visiting Translink to find out all about their mediation scheme. Later that day he’s at the Rosspark Hotel for dinner as a guest of the ASCL. On Thursday he’s at the Red Cow Hotel in Dublin for the first Irish Annual Review conference. Later that day he’s attending a black tie event at the Burlington as a guest of George Alexander. On Friday he’s meeting Geoff Hayter at Guardian24, Penny Holloway at the LRA and Andrea Cooke at Netwonabbey Borough Council. Phew!

Scott is meeting representatives from Carson McDowell solicitors, Penna, and BITC on 1 November to discuss next year’s HR Conference. On Tuesday Scott will be a volunteer for a Young Enterprise (NI) session at Cullybacky High School.

On Thursday Scott will be helping at the Annual Review of Employment Law at the Red Cow in Dublin along with Heather and Kerry the Conference Managers and other LI staff.

Finally look out for our new season brochures which will be appearing over the next week or so.

Guest Writer John

As the leaves turn brown and the mornings become noticeably colder, the team at Legal-Island continue with the hard work of the Autumn season.

Barry is busy all day today planning more events for GB, so that should keep everyone busy in 2011. Tomorrow he is meeting Mark Fitzmaurice of Dale Carnegie for breakfast before chairing our Annual Review conference in Manchester.

On Wednesday he is meeting the CEO of Belfast Health Trust Pat McCartan whilst on Friday he's meeting Maureen Butler to talk about education issues. Throughout the week he is busy working on our EFQM application and drafting his notes for his presentation at our Northern Ireland Annual Reviews on mediation. And all of this at the usual speed of 100 miles an hour!

Jayne will be leaving with Barry today for the Manchester Annual Review tomorrow, and on Wednesday she is meeting Laura Kerr from YENI (that's Young Enterprise Northern Ireland for those not up to speed on the lingo), along with Heather and Scott, and they will be discussing volunteer work in schools in relation to enterprise.

Scott has another busy week of networking ahead, starting in Dublin on Tuesday when he will be meeting with Barrister, Cliona Kinmer, the Tax Expert Ken Killoran from Mazars, HR Guru Niall Saul and finally Carol Fawsitt from Hayes Solicitors.

On Wednesday, he will be heading up to the big house on the hill for an in-camera session with Permanent Secretaries in relation to the spending review, which has been organised by the Chamber of Commerce.

Finally, on Friday, he will be attending the LRA (thats the Labour Relations Agency) for the launch of their 09/10 Annual Report.

Tune in next week for more updates when your blogger will be the vivacious Vanessa!

Monday 18th October 2010 - Guest Writer Peter

Another hectic week ahead on the 'Island as silly season gets into full swing! With so much still to do with Annual Review's fast approaching, Barry is still fitting in some high quality networking (what's new?)!

He’s meeting Norman McCudden from Infosecure consulting on Monday morning and then, in the evening, Peter McBride from NIAMH and Fiona Keenan for dinner. On Tuesday he has a 1 hour on-line with his performance coach before meeting Adrian from Team Solutionz about new conferencing software. On Wednesday he’s at an Equality conference in Dublin. On Friday he’s attending the IOD lunch at the Holiday Inn before taking off to Donegal for the weekend in his MG if both that and the weather holds. We’ll see.

Scott is chairing the Antrim/Ballymena HR Network on Tuesday and will be going to Dublin that evening to help at our ‘Transfers of Undertakings’ event at the Westbury Hotel in Grafton Street. On Thursday, Scott will be attending the Equality Authority’s 10^th anniversary conference.

Ainsley is off to meet Nic Charlton from Nic Charlton Design on Tuesday morning as we search for someone to provide backup for our 'main man'. He'll also be out of the office on Friday on annual leave...some of us have the life of it!

Wednesday see's our Transfer Regulations event, the last of the ROI conferences before the Annual Review of Employment Law conferences begin on 4th November. Good luck Heather.

Don't forget, you can get all the very latest information from Legal-Island by 'following' us on Twitter or 'befriending' us on Facebook.

Here's to a fantastic week ahead.

Guest Writer Ainsley

You could hear a pin drop in the office this morning.

Had it not been for the frantic tapping of keyboards or the occasional telephone call, I would have been worried about my hearing! The murmurs that usually accompany Monday mornings in the office had been replaced with a quiet atmosphere of anticipation.

This is because we are now firmly in the middle of our 'silly season' where the events come thick and fast and we build towards our 'Annual Review of Employment Law' events in November. This week marks the busiest week of the year (in terms of number of events) and by 5pm on Friday we will have run 7 great events, catering for the needs of around 150 delegates in 3 jurisdictions.

Jayne is busy preparing for our second 'Annual Review of Employment Law' event in GB, which is taking place tomorrow in the MacDonald Burlington Hotel, in Birmingham. The London gig last week was a great success with some excellent feedback from the delegates - hopefully more of the same to follow this week.

Barry is also in Birmingham tomorrow and will be chairing the Annual Review event. On Wednesday, he's meeting Noel Brady for lunch and on Thursday he's attending an InvestNI breakfast seminar. On Friday he's in Dublin meeting among others, Sarah O'Donnel from Certification Europe.

Heather is busy preparing for our Republic of Ireland events this week which begin with Conducting Workplace Investigations and Annual Update on Payroll Matters on Wednesday, followed by Getting the Best out of Employees: Building Performance on Thursday.

Kerry's organising our three Northern Ireland events this week which begin tomorrow with Delivering Workplace Investigations and TUPE Update 2010 (which has now Sold Out), followed by Section 75: Guiding you through the New Equality Agenda on Thursday.

The TUPE event has proved very successful, particularly with the recent addition of the UK's TUPE 'guru' Professor John McMullen, a Partner in the GB law firm Short Richardson & Forth LLP and Visiting Professor of Law at Durham University. John is regarded as the leading expert in the UK on the Transfer of Undertakings and he also has an international reputation in that field. He is the author of ‘Business Transfers and Employee Rights’, the leading work on transfers of undertakings.

Finally, Scott will be Chairing the TUPE Update seminar tomorrow and on Thursday, he will be attending the Employment Lawyer's Group meeting in Belfast.

Here's ho-pin for another great week!

Guest Writer Bronagh

Hope your having a good day so far! Reporting on Legal-Island's Blog is me, new start Bronagh McCotter. I am happy to report on this week's staff movements as well as help with event bookings, now that I've got into the swing of things! Having only joined on 23rd August, I feel I'm now settling in but how the time has just gone as we are already in the month of October! For this week I am working an additional morning coming in on Wednesday to assist with the demands of event bookings and am looking forward to it as well!

After last week's exciting photo shoot, Legal-Island's marketing team inform me that the new staff images update will be on the web site by the end of the week! So we are all looking forward to seeing those online.

Both Barry and Jayne are in London this week for the first of the Annual Review and Employment Law events. We wish them a safe journey.

Donna would like to welcome the Public Health Agency to Legal-Island Training Centre and hope they enjoy their experience with us today!

Mean while the rest of the team will be busy this week in other areas, including other areas of Ireland! Heather and Julie will be in the Stillorgan Park Hotel this Thursday at the Data Protection conference while Scott is facilitating the Discipline & Under Performance workshop in the Training Centre with Lorraine Toolan from EEF. Scott will also be meeting Penna and others to discuss next year's Northern Ireland HR Conference, so this should keep Scott busy and out of trouble for this week anyhow!

Ainsley, Marketing Department, is out on Wednesday afternoon at Parkhill College Company Programme with Youth Enterprise. He's out again this week at the Business in the Community in W5. Apart from that, Ainsley will be available in the office for the rest of the week.

And finally, John Hardy joined the Marketing Department two weeks ago. We would all like to extend to John a warm welcome to Legal Island and to the team!

Guest Writer Kerry

Major excitement today.......it was like London fashion week here in the office...and we were only getting our new photos taken for the website!

From the various outfit changes (actually that was just Barry), a last minute dash to rectify a wardrobe disaster, a few mini tantrums when the schedule changed, to the copious amount of lip gloss we had it all.

Although as you'll see my old picture isn't bad I still look forward to choosing my new one!

On a more serious note Barry has a week chockablock with networking. Today he's meeting Gerry Ormsby from Skills for Justice and then Martin O'Brien, barrister for dinner. Tomorrow morning he's at the Merchant hotel for a Freshstart Breakfast meeting. On Wednesday he's meeting John Brolly from the Irish News for breakfast before attending our Winning Tenders event in the Hilton Belfast. Later that day he's meeting lawyers from O'Reilly Stewart Solicitors and John Stevenson Education Consultant in the evening. On Thursday he's meeting old friend and former colleague Maura McCallion form Law Centre NI. In between times he may even get some work done!

A a number of staff are meeting with Laura Kerr from Young Enterprise NI on Tuesday to see what the next stage will be for each of us that have signed up with this volunteer program.

On Wednesday Legal-Island welcomes Independent Healthcare Providers to our Training Centre in Antrim.

Also on Wednesday Heather will be hosting Health & Safety - A Focus on Bullying and Stress in the Workplace in Dublin.

Ainsley is off to Ballymena on Wednesday to meet with Young Enterprise to discuss the 'Company Programme' he is getting involved with for Parkhall College.

Scott will be chairing our Equality Law Update for experienced practitioners on Thursday at the Hilton in Belfast and afterward will be meeting Emer Hinphey from Thinkpeople about her role at the Annual Reviews of Employment Law on 10 and 23 November.

And finally Jayne is preparing for our first GB Annual Review of Employment Law taking place in London next Tuesday.

Guest Writer: Scott Alexander

Got some great news last week - Professor John McMullen, a Partner in the GB law firm Short Richardson & Forth LLP and Visiting Professor of Law at Durham University, has agreed to speak at the TUPE Update seminar on 12 October.

John is regarded as the leading expert in the UK on the Transfer of Undertakings and he also has an international reputation in that field. He is the author of ‘Business Transfers and Employee Rights’, the leading work on transfers of undertakings. So we look forward to welcoming him here to Northern Ireland.

This week Scott will be meeting with Emer Hinphey of Thinkpeople and Nicola Shaw of BDO about their roles at this year's annual reviews of employment law. Both were recenly guest writers of our employment law email service 'Weekly Review of Developments' emails. Scott will also be meeting with Joe Blair of MBS about our joint 'Customer First' training programmes and Scott will be attending an LRA conference on Thursday entitled 'Employment Relations in the New Decade'.

Barry’s got a busy week of meetings and networking as always this week. On Tuesday he’s meeting trainer Richard O’Rawe. On Wednesday he has a conference call meeting with Hammonds and dinner that same evening with some educationalists at Corr’s Corner in advance of the education law conference the following day. On Friday he has a team sales and marketing meeting before flying off to Edinburgh to see his friend’s musical “John Paul Jones” at the Queen’s Hall.

Jayne is at our Education Law Update Event at Corrs Corner on Thursday. She is also meeting with George Wilson from the Centre for Competitveness on Friday.

Heather will be in Dublin on Thursday managing our events 'Discipline and Underperformance at Work' and 'Essentials of Employment Law'.

13th September -Guest writer Barry Phillips

Staff are hard at work this week as we head firmly into our next season of events. It's brochures mailshots brochures time again.

Scott is meeting John Hogg of Enlighten on Tuesday and will then attend a Chamber of Commerce dinner on building links between the public and private sectors.

Jayne is busy preparing to submit the company application for ur European Quality Mark which has to be in on Friday.

I'm busy wading through hundreds of emails as I recover from a two week break. I'm off to London tomorrow to deliver a presentations skills seminar and then I'm busy all week with internal meetings and putting some final shape to our strategic plan.

As always busy times ahead!

6th September: Guest Writer Jacqui

These are exciting times for us here on the Island as we have 4 new Annual Review Conferences taking place in England over October and November, to find out more, go to http://www.legal-island-events.com/. This may well be a "baptism of fire" for our new Administrator, Bronagh, who comes to us with 20 years of experience.



We have Sharon Simpson coming on board today as Housekeeper for our Training suite and she will be ensuring that the offices are in pristine order too. Sharon will be looking after Northern Trust who have availed of the training rooms today.



Other items of interest:



Barry is still on leave in Syria, no doubt having fun while squeezing in some networking!!



Scott will be chairing the Antrim/Ballymena HR Network on 7 September at the premises of Firmus. The HR Network is a loose affiliation of local HR professionals who come together every six weeks or so to discuss issues of mutual interest. The HR Network is open to anyone with HR responsibilities in the Antrim/Ballymena area. Guest speakers this time around are Harry Harpur from The Loop Training and Laura Kerr from Young Enterprise NI.

On Wednesday Scott will be networking in Dublin. He will be meeting with Eversheds sols; Hayes sols; Marian Jennings (chair of Dublin Annual Review of Employment Law conferences); Byrne Wallace sols; and John Horgan.

Then on Friday Scott will be taking time off, as he sees his eldest daughter fly the nest off to university in Scotland.



Heather will be going down to Dublin to view a few other venues in and around Dublin in the morning and afternoon. She will also meet with Scott and Marian for a well deserved lunch.



Jayne will continue working on the EFQM submission this week, taking Thursday off to focus on the paperwork and work from home.



Marketing continue to organise mailshots and set up event information on our websites. The only meeting this week for Ainsley, is on Wednesday morning when he meets with Brian and Alan Nelson of Forth Data to discuss an audit of our internal databases.



Finally, James will be returning to work tomorrow (we hope!!) after he completed a 10k run in Yorkshire yesterday.

31st August Guest Writer Jayne Finlay

So as second season nears upon us, we prepare to say goodbye to August, crazy sports days and river cleans and head into the busy month of September.

Last week we had a great week cleaning up rivers in Antrim, hosting a bbq for local businesses and competing against Abacus Recruitment for the coveted Sports Day trophy - ok so it wasn't exactly the "triathlon" Barry had in mind when he first set out with this idea but I think I can safely say fun was had by all as we substituted swimming for badminton, running for rounders and cycling for indoor hockey. Who won? Legal-Island of course! We feel a rematch coming on!!

As for the this week, with some staff members wisely using their annual leave before the silly season starts again we are preparing ourselves for what we hope will be a busy few weeks of bookings and conferences.

Barry is off to Syria on his holidays for 2 weeks leaving Jayne to mind the fort.

Jayne will be working hard on the submission for EFQM NI Quality Mark while marketing will be preparing mailshots for ROI.

We have our newest member of staff coming in to meet with Donna today. Sharon Simpson is our new Office Cleaner/ Housekeeper for the Training Centre and we look forward to welcoming her on board the Island.

Carecall are coming in to see us today to explain about the launch of EAP within Legal-Island. This is an exciting new project which gives all staff the opportunity to meet one to one with a coach/ counsellor to keep us calm and stress free during the coming months.

Let's hope we're all still standing at September kicks off....

Monday 23rd August 2010 Guest writer Phyllis

A warm welcome to Bronagh who has joined the staff of Legal-Island today. She will be working in the admin department helping to process bookings for our second season which starts tomorrow.

All work and no play - this is not the case at Legal-Island as we have the Antrim River Clean up and BBQ on Thursday and competitive games at the Forum on Friday. All welcome.

Kerry will be hosting Customer First Event which will be facilitated by Joe Blair MBS and we are happy to report that this event is all but sold out.

Heather will be going along to the Parity Steering Group tomorrow evening.

Scott will be helping out at our Customer First Workshop tomorrow. This is a new workshop from Legal-Island. He will also be assisting with the Legal-Island barbecue.

Vanessa will be attending our Customer First course.

Barry is meeting leadership consultant Richare O'Rawe on Wednesday and is taking part in the great Antrim River Clean up on Thursday. He assures us he'll look the part in his rubber diver's suit but we'll see. On Friday he's the captain of the Legal-Island triathlon sports team. Legal-Island is taking on Abacus Recruitment who think they're good but good may not be good enough!

We are all looking forward to a very diverse week at L-I.

Monday 16th August - Guest Writer Arnold

This is one of the last quiet weeks in Legal-Island before the busy second season of events begins. Everybody is excited for the Great Antrim River clean up and Barbecue that Legal-Island is hosting on Thursday 26^th of August. If anybody would like to join us please e-mail Vanessa at vanessa@legal-island.com by Friday 20^th August.

This week we have a Business in the Community coming in on Wednesday to chat with us about charity opportunities in the local community.

Networking:

Tomorrow Ainsley is going to meet Andy Hill from I Want More Design in the morning
and then Barry and Ainsley will be meeting Noel Brady from NB1 Consulting tomorrow
afternoon

Barry is busy this week getting ready for the hand over of Legal-Island to the new MD, Jayne, at the end of the month. He's also busy getting ready for his holidays. He's off to Syria & Lebanon with his nephew soon and this week they'll be busy getting visas ready to convince at least two governments that they would make worthy guests for a couple of weeks at least. Good luck Barry..

Monday 9th August - Guest Writer James

The summer sale has ended... much like the summer itself, but you can still get fantastic 'Early Bird' Discounts on Season 2 events.

The only event this month is the Customer Care & Service Programme on the 24th August
It's selling well with just 7 places left!

There's quite a few staff on holiday this week so things are a bit quiet on the Networking front.

Barry is hard at work with the marketing department; signing off brochures and calling on speakers for the rest of the this year and early next. He's in a very good mood at the moment. Anyone would think he's a holiday coming up.

I wonder if he's press-ganged all the required 'volunteers' for our triathlon match-up with Abacus Recruitment? Not wanting to miss out, I've signed up for the Great Yorkshire Run in Sheffield... you can watch me getting carted off by the paramedics on Channel 5!

Until next time, Cheers!

Monday 2nd August - Guest Writer Julie

It's the start of a new month at Legal Island and one month closer to the start of the 2nd season of events. Most of us have had a well deserved holiday and others are still to take a break before it all kicks off again.

Our training suite has had no rest over the summer months and sees ' Schrader ' return once again today for a meeting.

NETWORKING:

Barry's busy as always this week, but firstly he's having an ornamental face mask done tomorrow. I have never tried one of those myself but lets hope it's an enjoyable and relaxing one!! He is visiting Training Solutions tomorrow regarding some new software for the company. On Thursday attending a lunch as a guest of Carson McDowell solicitors at Belfast City Hall. Barry is aiming to do a 1/2 mile swim every day this week in preparation for the companys mini triathalon at the end of this month. No bother at all to you Barry!

Ainsley is out and about attending meetings on the following days:

Tuesday - Brian Nelson at Forth Data

Thursday - Anne Monaghan at DCP PR

Friday - Susan McCambridge from Belfast MET

Scott is meeting Rebecca McCourt from PwC and Tom Evans and Alan Scott from DEL on Wednesday. Scott heads off on holidays this Friday the 6th of August for 2 weeks. Bon voyage Scott!

Best wishes to Peter on his presentation at Parity tomorrow morning.

Onwards!

Monday 26th July - Guest Writer Heather

It's the last week in July already, doesn't time fly when you are having fun!

Our training centre is still in full swing this week with Schrader coming in on Thursday to use the facilities.

Other than that our networking is quiet this week as we knuckle down and prepare for season 2, however Barry is still getting out and about he’s in meetings all Monday and having lunch with Geoff Higgins of Team Solutions, also an Antrim based company, on Tuesday. On Wednesday he’s attending the big Annual Review meeting where we decide what’s in and what’s out for this year’s flagship event. On Thursday he’s busy doing performance reviews and then meeting NI Training Solutions before flying to London Friday lunchtime for yet more meetings. Allegedly, his nephew is Googling hard for a suitable holiday for him to go on next month – watch this space.
Admin is being kept busy with bookings coming through on our summer sale, have a look at the great deals we currently have, but be quick places are going fast.......

Northern Ireland events

Republic of Ireland events

Guest Writer- Donna

Come on Down the Price is Right!!!

Hands up who likes a bargain yes I thought as much, me too. Forget the high street retailers, get yourself some qulaity training from our ROI sale starting today at 9am - first 10 places at shocking prices, see http://www.legal-island.ie/.

I can hear you NI customers say "what about us?", don't be worrying, the NI price blitz starts next Monday at 9am, go to http://www.legal-island.com/ for a bargain.

Who? What? Where?

While we, in the office are coping with the rush for bookings in the sale some of our staff will be out and about spreading the good word about Legal Island.

Jayne Finlay, Director Of Events

This week Jayne will be setting off for Manchester on Wednesday to take part in Finance for Non Finance Managers.

Barry Phillips , MD

Barry is off to lunch with Carol Fitzsimons of YENI on Tuesday.

On Wednesday he will be flying with Jayne to Manchester to the Finance for Non Finance Managers .

On Friday he will be in London- a busy week this week.

Scott Alexander, Head of Training and Development

Scott is now a fully qualified Mediator and he will be meeting his fellow mediators on Tuesday. The HR conference of 2010 was a great success and Scott will be meeting with Mike Jones of Penna to plan for the 2011 HR Conference.

He will also meet up with Owen Murtagh of OH Consultants during the week as well.

Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!

We are currently recruiting for the role of Part Time Office Administrator, so if you think you would like to work for us then go to www.legal-island.com/news for a job specification and application form.

I hope you all have a good week you have been listening to me Donna Kirkpatrick and did I mention we are having a SALE!!!

Tuesday 13th July - Guest Writer Vanessa

It's the calm before the storm this week at Legal Island - our Summer Sale is starting in the ROI next Monday 19th and in Northern Ireland the week after - this is going to be very popular and will be keeping us busy going into the next conference Season.

Congratulations to Julie our Email Services Manager who last week passed her Accounting Techinician Qualification exams with Distinction.

Barry's got a quiet week in the office for a change. He's catching up on paperwork, planning and strategy stuff most of the week. He's meeting Olga Pollock from Consilium Technology for lunch on Thursday and John Fisher about Mediation on Friday. The only other person who is out and about this week is Heather who is meeting with Saville and Diana of Parker Butler on Thursday morning. Jayne is otherwise engaged in the office all week doing Performance Reviews and working on EFQM.

Guest Writer - Peter Fitzpatrick 5 July 2010

Another busy week here at Legal-Island. Our training week last week meant everyone was out of the office for a large proportion of the time, however it was well worth it and everyone considered it both beneficial and at times even fun!


Barry our MD, has a week packed full of goodies. On Monday he’s meeting Niall McKeown of Ion Technologies for lunch. On Tuesday he’s in London. On Wednesday lunching with some lawyers at 1p.m. then he’s meeting Richard O’Rawe for some strategy work in the afternoon.
On Thursday he’s meeting David Fagan of Eversheds, Melanie Crowley of MHC and Walter Bradley of Dale Carnegie. Friday so far is free for him but no doubt that will change as the week progresses.


On Monday Ainsley is meeting with Elmo from Content+ regarding our social media strategy and on Wednesday he'll be meeting Chris Lynch from Digital Life Advertising about shooting videos for the website...exciting times! You can currently follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/legalisland or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/LegalIsland.


Scott returns to complete the final 4 days of an 8 day accredited mediation course from Tuesday to Friday this week.


On Wednesday Jayne and Heather are travelling to Killarney in County Kerry for a 'Meet in Ireland' conference where they'll remain until Friday hoping to meet new contacts and leads for the business. Also on Wednesday (although in the evening), DEL NI are using the Legal-Island Training Centre for the first time, hopefully they'll rate it as highly as everyone else has.


If you ever want to put a face to a name on this 'island check out http://www.legal-island.com/about-us/.


Busy week ahead for all...Onwards!

Monday 28th June - Guest Writer Ainsley

The mind, once expanded to the dimensions of larger ideas, never returns to its original size - Oliver Wendell Holmes

In the interests of expanding our minds, it's training week at Legal-Island this week. 5 days of training and development, packed with interesting topics ranging from Neuro-Linguistic Programming to Creative Problem Solving and Memory Techniques.

Everyone is looking forward to learning something new and interesting so it should be a very constructive week.

Saturday saw the final of our Beat The Director competition, with one finalist taking on our MD, Barry Phillips for the chance to win £1,000 cash. Charles Garavan was the plucky contender and with two attempts each, it was going to be an interesting challenge.

Both competitors went for it in their first attempt, with Barry's initial score of 4 minutes and 10 seconds a very good score given the obvious pressures. Charles came out fighting and just beat Barry's time with an impressive first score of 3 minutes and 8 seconds. Neither player could improve their score on the second attempt, so Charles walked away with the £1,000 prize money.

Fionnuala McKervey from NI Alzheimer's Society, was on hand as our independent adjudicator and we hope to do a lot more work with the Society in the future to raise greater awareness of

this fantastic charity.

Pictured at the Final of the Beat The Director Competition are (l-r); Barry Phillips, MD of Legal-Island, Fionnuala McKervey, NI ALzheimer's Society and Charles Garavan, Competition Finalist.

Finally, Barry did an interview for the Belfast Telegraph on Friday, which we hope will be published in Tuesday's paper, so we'll be keeping our eyes peeled for that.

Here's to a valuable and challenging training week.

Monday 21st June - Guest Writer Kerry

In Retrospect

A great week last week for Legal-Island who lifted the highly commended award in all three of the categories entered into at the Irish News Awards on Thursday evening. The pictures above show us proudly taking The Best Place to Work, the Managing Talent and the Innovative Employer awards at the gala dinner held at the Ramada. A monumental well done to the writing team who toiled over the submissions and a huge thank you to our distinguished guests who came along on the evening to support us.

We have also completed our 'Charity Memory Challenge' on a high last week raising a total of £228 for our two designated charities - Brainwaves NI and NI Alzheimer's Society. What started off reasonably slowly turned into a highly competitive and fun eight weeks of coming in early, staying late and giving up some lunch time in order to stay ahead of the opposition. I now see many members of the team in a very different competitive light! Again a wonderful effort by all for two great charities.

Looking ahead

Barry, our MD is in meetings all of Monday. On Tuesdays he's in Dublin and on Thursday of this week he's meeting Brian Grimshaw and Olga Pollock from Consilium Technologies. Saturday's his big day though. Thats when he takes on all comers in the Beat the Director competition. Hope he's remembered to train!

Ainsley is hosting the first meeting of the Antrim Marketing Forum which will take place at 9.30am on Wednesday in our Training Centre. If you or anyone you know in the local area would like to attend this event or any future meetings please contact Ainsley directly at ainsley@legal-island.com

On Thursday he will be attending an FSB event titled 'Growing your business through networking'

Scott will be coaching on Monday, meeting Bank of England Agent, Frances Hill, on Thursday; and this Friday will be attending a seminar on the importance for Northern Ireland of the GB Equality Act.

Events

Thats almost all of our season one events complete with the exception of our third and final Section 75 seminar here in Antrim on 1st July. Information on all our second season events will be on the company website from the end of this month.

Another beautiful day...here's to many more meetings this summer sitting out at our picnic area.

Networking from Legal-Island this Week

Scott is:
attending our s.75 workshop tomorrow and will be meeting Tom Evans from DEL. On Wednesday he will be chairing our 'All about Absence' event in Dublin. On Thursday and Friday Scott will be at our strategy meetings, which are being facilitated by Fiona keenan and Ricky O'Rawe.

Jayne is:
Tuesday - meeting Gillian Esquivel for lunch with Barry
Wednesday - in London with Barry for meetings
Thursday - strategy day
Thursday night - Irish News Awards (fingers crossed!)
Friday - strategy day

Heather is:
Wednesday - running the 'All about Absence' event at the Radisson hotel, Dublin Airport
Thursday - hopefully collecting awards at the Irish News Workplace Awards

Barry is:

Off to Bristol on Tuesday to see a company that does special effects for big events. On Wednesday he has a meeting with a law firm in London. On Thursday and Friday he’s leading two days’ of strategy work. Lucky him

Monday 7th June - Guest Writer Barry Phillips, MD, at Legal-Island

Boy we’re looking good at the moment. The front of our training centre is now decked in a quote from Mary Pickford and loads of plants too. I’m sure Mary would approve.

I’m at a breakfast seminar on Thursday of this week at the IOD about Mediation and on Friday I’m meeting Alana Jones from Jones Cassidy and Jones for lunch.

On Wednesday our marketeers are attending the Invest NI Best Practice Club : “Developing a marketing strategy and the benefits to your business”.

Heather from our Events team is attending a Parity Alumni Meeting tomorrow night, a Stillorgan Corporate Event Thursday evening and a Women In Business lunch with Anne Widdecombe on Friday.

Scott Alexander is meeting Emer Hinphey of Thinkpeople on Tuesday morning. He will then be chairing our ‘All About Absence’ event at the Hilton Hotel, Belfast. That promises to be a really good gig.

Busy week ahead… But that’s how we like it here on the Island.

Tuesday 2nd June 2010: Guest writer Phyllis

After an extended weekend we are all back to work full of energy and ready to face the week ahead.

Our Training rooms are busy again this week.

On Wednesday Our Breakfast Seminar is Facilitated by Gillian Esquivel and is entitled Measuring Return on Investment in Training.

Scott shall be chairing the Antrim/Ballymena HR Networking meeting on 2nd June. It will be held at Schrader Electronics Ltd and the guest speaker will be Eric Jenkinson. On Thursday Scott will be meeting Adam Brett from McGigors and Roger Watts from C&J Black.

Jayne and Barry are attending The Key to Effective Team Coaching with John Leary-Jones on Wednesday morning. Harry Harper from The Loop is coming in to see Barry on Wednesday.
James Carey from Hutchinson Homes also has a meeting with him on Thursday.

Heather is off to Dublin to host Conducting Workplace Investigations. This meeting is completely sold out so she will be very busy on the day.

Kerry is at the Dunsilly Hotel on Wednesday where we are hosting the Data Protection and Compliance Update Conference.

So another short but busy week for all.

Monday 24th May 2010: Guest writer Arnold

Another busy week for Legal-Island. This week we have three events in our training centre. Tuesday 25^th May – Managing Underperformance in the Public Sector, Wednesday 26^th May - Breakfast Seminar: Positive Problems Solving and Thursday 27^th May - Delivering Professional Workplace Investigations.

Networking

On Tuesday Peter, Ainsley, Carmel and I will have a consultation with Jane McClenaghan who is a Nutritionist from Vital Nutrition

Scott will be helping to facilitate the ‘Underperformance in the Public Sector’ workshop in our training centre on Tuesday; he will be meeting Elaine Magee and others from Antrim Borough Council on Wednesday about how Legal-Island might help promote their future wellbeing events; and will no doubt be enjoying a healthy lunch when he later meets Emer Hinphey of HR consultants Thinkpeople

Jayne is attending The Loop event at The Galgorm Manor, Ballymena on Tuesday. Elizabeth Turner will be speaking as part of their Leadership Programme. On Wednesday she is attending our breakfast seminar Positive Problem Solving.

Barry is meeting Richard O'Rare for lunch on Wednesday and Sandra from the Loop consultancy on Thursday. On Friday evening he's at Massereene Golf Club in Antrim to hear Karl Morris talk about how to stay calm under pressure.

Busy week ahead!

Monday 17th May 2010: Guest writer Jacqui

This week has kicked off with Barry re-enacting scenes from Planes, Trains and Automobiles as he set off for London yesterday to eusure his timely arrival for a meeting there on Tuesday. Jayne however is hoping that the volcanic activity will allow her a window of opportunity to fly over tomorrow morning and meet up with Barry.

Here on the Island, the Breakfast seminars are proving quiet successful and Kerry will be hosting Discover A Life Less Ordinary tomorrow at 8am.

Scott is very busy as he is meeting Adam Brett from McGrigors solicitors; Lorraine McNicoll and others from the Committee for the Administration of Justice; Carmel McCormick and David Johnston of the PSNI tomorrow. He will be attending a luncheon at the Ballymena Chamber of Commerce, where the guest of honour is Frances Hill, Agent for the Bank of England on Wednesday. He will then be in Dublin for our Employment Law in the Public Sector event on Thursday along with Heather and finally he will attend a training event by the Equality Authority on Friday.

OTHER NEWS

Peter will be attending the Belfast City Council Business Advice Show at Hilton Hotel (11 – 2.30pm)
Barry and Jayne will hopefully be back to attend  an IOD North/ South Dinner on Thursday evening at Belfast City Hall.

The Training Rooms are being occupied by Driving Tech this week and part of next week,this will be their third visit to our facility which is great.

To see how we are doing in our efforts to raise funds for the Alzheimer's Society and Brainwaves NI click on to Charity Brain Challenge. We only have 4 weeks left to raise funds and its getting very competitive between the 2 teams.

And Finally...

Good luck to James who will be doing his final accounting exams next week (he hopes!!) and also Julie who is off this week doing Accounting Technician exams.

From all on the Island, we hope you all enjoy the warm weather while it lasts!!

Onwards...