Guest Writer - Ainsley

 

 Castlerock Beach

It's official. It's hotter here than Athens, Ibiza, Lanzarote and Gran Canaria. My desk fan is whirring faster than a jet engine and Barry's got his shorts on! Yes the sun is still shining and we are making hay on the island this week.

We are coming towards the end of our first Season of events this year, with just two events to go in each jurisdiction (NI: Data Protection in the Workplace Update and All About Absence, ROI: Workplace Mediation and All About Absence). Planning has already started on our second Season of events which will cover August to November and will be launched online in just two weeks' time. Watch this space!

Our CEO, Barry, has what he's calling a 'lucky week'. He has nothing in his diary for 3 whole days other than a few internal meetings which means he can catch up on loads of pressing work. On Thursday night he's at the BITC Black Tie Dinner at the Titanic Belfast. On Friday he's meeting the head of ASCL before taking a half day and catching early what he hopes to be a long good weekend of great weather.

Scott is meeting with Michele Groves of Charis Consultancy Services today to discuss a hybrid discipline / investigations in-house training event. Scott will be working from home on Tuesday and Friday. On Wednesday, Scott will be giving a presentation on mediation tips to DRD / DCAL in-house mediators. He is also on holiday all of next week. Lucky so and so.

Our MD, Jayne, is also on catch up this week after a busy week last week and will be attending the Common Purpose course entitled 'Passion and Resonance' at UTV studios in Belfast on Wednesday.

Kerry has internal meetings this week so is in the office all week except Thursday. Schrader are using our Training Centre on Tuesday, so Kerry will be looking after them.

I will be in the office for most of this week, but have Gareth Dunlop from Fathom coming in on Thursday to present our latest web strategy proposal and I will be joining Peter for our last volunteering day, coaching Ballycraigy Primary School's football team.

Have a great week.

Guest Writer: Allison

Grab your sun hat because it’s here ... a great big yellow ball in the sky and we’ve got it all week! 

It must have come out to greet our new member of staff, Kerri McCosker (seen pictured with her ‘welcome’ bottle of wine and card) we’re such a nice bunch of folks!  Kerri is our Chief Executives PA and will be busy keeping him organised and ensuring that he’s in the right place at the right time. 

Our Training Centre is hosting the Public Health Agency today and Wednesday, let’s hope they make good use of the outdoor seating area during lunch.  It’s a real suntrap out there so ‘factor 50’ should make sure they don’t burn.

Our CEO, Barry Phillips, has a busy week ahead. Today he's meeting John Friel of the Federation of Small Businesses. On Tuesday he has a meeting with his new PA, Kerri. On Wednesday he's on the first train out of Belfast for a number of meetings in Dublin including one with ESB and another with Central Law Training. On Thursday he's meeting Martin Rice of Next Level Impact before signing off a number of new events for the next season including the NI Mediation Symposium and Data Protection for the ROI.

Jayne will be in the office Monday-Wednesday, then Thursday finds her out all day in Belfast at Common Purpose Core Day 2 entitled “Broadening Your Vision.”  Friday see’s her in Belfast at the Young Leaders Conference which is being held at the lovely at Riddell Hall, Queens.

Scott travels to Dublin this week on Tuesday to meet Dermot Casserly of Beauchamps solicitors. On Wednesday he will chair and help facilitate the Transfers of Undertakings event with Hayes solicitors and Wrigley’s solicitors. On Thursday he will be delivering mediation training for the DRD and DCAL in Belfast and on Friday, he hopes to work from home.

Ainsley is office based with his usual meetings at the start of the week, however his pace picks up on Wednesday morning when he has a meeting with Tanya Kennedy of BITC re: the Innovation and Engagement survey that that Legal Island are sponsoring.  Then on Wednesday afternoon he will be meeting Grainne McCullagh of Guardian 24 re: our GB Annual Review events.  Thursday lunchtime see’s him tapping into an Essentials of SEO webinar, whilst on Friday, he’s at the IoD Young Leaders Conference at Queens with Jayne.

Heather Stewart will be in Dublin on Wednesday to host our Transfer Regulations event, there are still a couple of places available if you’re quick! Then, on Friday she will be going with Kerry, Allison and our new Kerri to the hockey tournament that our wonderful Ballycraigy students have been working so hard towards.

Vanessa is in the office all week, as well as her usual tasks she’ll be taking extra time to help Kerri settle in and also working on our new Certain databases.   She will be with the rest of her department for an admin meeting on Tuesday and attending a Certain Working Group on Friday.

Peter Gilpin is busy with an Essentials of SEO webinar with Guy Levine on Thursday.   He’s also fevering away with our Facebook completion.  If you were pretending to be Rip Van Winkle last week then you’d better check out the details!  You have to be in it to win it! 

Legal-Island is offering the chance for 2 lucky winners to receive 2 tickets each to the Irish Open golf tournament, taking place at Royal Portrush Golf Club from 28th June to 1st July 2012. Please visit the following link for details on how to enter:

http://bit.ly/JNOpwE

Guest Writer - Kerry Taggart

Here are the Ballycraigy Hockey Teams at the Antrim forum last week getting in some practice before the main tournament on the 25th May. If you look closely you'll be able to spot the Legal-Island helpers who went along on the day for support!

This week our movements are:
Barry - CEO


Today he has internal meetings for much of the day. Tomorrow, he's chairing the Antrim HR group. On Wednesday he's delivering a mediation workshop with his cohort, Scott Alexander. On Thursday he's in Dublin helping out at the Advocacy seminar. On Friday he's back in Northern Ireland networking in Belfast.


Jayne - MD

Monday and Tuesday – staff meetings
Wednesday – In Belfast all day. Common Purpose session on Sources of Power at Belfast City Hall, will hear presentations from Peter McNaney Chief Exec of Belfast Council, Colm Donaghy, Chief Exec of Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, Peter Johnson Director, BBC Northern Ireland and Marie Therese McGivern Chief Exec of Belfast Met.
Thursday – Finance meeting
Friday – volunteering at St Brigids Primary

Ainsley - Marketing & Sales Manager

Tuesday pm – meeting Gareth Dunlop from Fathom to discuss our web development project
Wednesday pm – volunteering

Scott - Head of Training & Development

Tuesday - delivering the second day of our two day mediation training course on
Wednesday - he takes the lead in a half day workshop on mediation, alongside Chief Executive, Barry Phillips.
Thursday - Scott will be chairing our workshop on TUPE with Roger Watts of C&J Black and Adam Brett of Pinsent Masons.
Friday - Scott will have to find some time to write our weekly review of developments email before flying to Edinburgh to watch Hearts beat the village idiots in the Scottish Cup Final for the first time since 1896. Not that Scott was around for that one. Go Rudi, Go!

Kerry - Conference Manager NI

Tuesday - Hosting the second day of our 2 day Mediation course in the L-I Training Centre
Wednesday - Will be sitting in on a free half day seminar L-I are running entitled 'The Place for Mediation in Your Organisation and why it’s time to ditch conventional means of workplace dispute resolution'
Thursday - Hosting Understanding TUPE in the L-I Training Centre

Heather - Conference Manager ROI

Wednesday – Radisson Dublin Airport for Creating Confident Managers and Day 2 of Internal Mediation
Thursday – Mason Hayes & Curran offices for Mock EAT – only 2 places left

Donna our Office Manager is attending the YENI trade fair in Ballymena on Thursday

Debbie is volunteering at the Library on Friday with the Silver Surfers

Arnold, Heather, Ainsley, Kerry, Debbie and Allison will be taking part in a charity carwash on Friday here at Legal-Island and all proceeds will be going to TinyLife - Northern Ireland's premature and vulnerable baby charity. Make sure you tell all your friends and family to come along and support us!

Guest Writer: Scott

Scott Alexander, Head of Training and Development, writes:

Our CEO Barry Phillips is delivering training today on mediation skills. On Wednesday he's hosting the Four Hour Work Week Business Club here at our training centre. On Thursday he's attending the Connect with Respect BITC event which is also here at our training centre. On Friday for now at least he's in the office all day.

For MD Jayne Finlay we have:

Tuesday – 2^nd stage interviews for PA/ Receptionist

Wednesday – internal meetings

Thursday – helping Ballycraigy Hockey team at Antrim Forum tournament

Friday – Certain meeting and Time to Read at St Brigids Primary

For me, Scott Alexander, we have:

Wednesday - meeting to discuss any possible improvements to our 'Essentials of Employment Law' NI event with the speakers and Kerry; meeting with John Conaghan of Carecall on joint working this year; meeting with Mark Reilly of the Belfast Telegraph to look at feedback from our NI HR Conference; and my usual weekly meeting with Barry. Then it's back to Lurgan to go blood doning.

Hopefully, I can work from home on Thursday and Friday.

ROI Conference Manager, Heather Stewart, has Ballycraigy Primary School hockey tournament on Thursday afternoon with Jayne. We are going to lend our support.

Our NI Conference Manager, Kerry Taggart, is hosting the first day of our two day Internal Mediation course on Tuesday in the Legal-Island Training Centre.  She will also be in the CIPFA offices in Belfast on Thursday hosting the Annual Update on Payroll Matters.

Today in our training centre we have the first day of a two-day mediation in-house training event. On Thursday we have Business in the Community (am) and Public Health Agency (pm).