Guest Writer - Donna

Unbelievable...

Did you know it is only 181 days to Christmas - time is shifting on and we at Legal-Island have so much to cram in before then that really I don't have time to chat for long today. Never mind Christmas, it is only 129 days to our first Annual Review at the Red Cow in Dublin with 4 more to follow across November in NI and ROI- keep your eyes peeled at www.legal-island.com for booking details.

Out and About...

Our CEO Barry has a busy week of networking ahead. Today he Jayne and Kerry are meeting Brian Grimshaw from Sinai Training. On Tuesday he's meeting Ken Thompson just after lunch and then attending the launch of the Data Sharing Code of Practice in Belfast. On Wednesday he's attending a dinner with the Minister of Health at the Merchant. On Thursday he's in Birmingham for a mediation conference. On Friday he's meeting John Brolly from the Irish News for breakfast and over lunch he and Jayne are meeting the owners of "Towards Consulting. Packed as ever but that's how he likes it.

Scott is volunteering at Antrim Grammar School on Tuesday and hopes to work from home for the rest of the week and on Saturday is attending an ADR conference in Dublin run by the Employment Lawyers’ Association of Ireland

Heather is meeting with Fionnuala from Clic Sargent on Wednesday and then on Thursday I’m in Dublin to meet with the Annual Review venues.

Good deeds...

Last week Arnold and James helped out at the MS offices in Belfast by painting - both are available for painting at weekends if any of you need any painting done - I will be booking them first so join the queue.

Sharon was helping out at Antrim Primary school sports day and had a wonderful with the children plus she got a t-shirt - everyone loves a new t-shirt.

What you need to do next....

If you are like me and hate to miss out on a good day out, get yourself onto our website at www.legal-island.com and when your boss asks what you would like for a Christmas present, you will be able to give him a list of Legal-Island events well worth attending - Happy Christmas from all at Legal-Island!!!

Guest Writer: Vanessa

It’s another busy week for us here on the Island with the last NI Conference of Season One taking place on Thursday – it’s the sold out Agency Workers Regulations – your Questions Answered at the Hilton Templepatrick being ably hosted by Kerry.

Barry will be out and about, on Monday his day is full of internal meetings. Tuesday sees him out networking - meeting Mary Montague of Tides Training, Joan Davis of FamilyMediation NI and then Barry Fitzpatrick for lunch. He’s off to Dublin on Wednesday setting a new record for speed and distance networking, meeting Maeve Regan from NCLC at Coolock then Mary Kelly at Maynooth University followed by Marian Jennings for lunch at the Burlington. Thereafter he's meeting Austin Kenny from ICMA and finally Michael Lantry from Certification Europe before heading north for home – phew! On Thursday he's attending a breakfast seminar before flying to London for a meeting in the afternoon and an EBA seminar the next day.

I will be at the same breakfast seminar as Barry on Thursday – the launch of the Northern Ireland “Gold Star” Service Excellence certification scheme, which has been developed in partnership with the NI Consumer Council and the NI Chamber of Commerce for the purpose of raising customer service standards in the private sector across Northern Ireland businesses. Additionally I am meeting

Andrew Cuthbert of Omnisoft Services on Wednesday morning to discuss changes to the Legal-Island Event Registration System and Website.

Today Jayne has her usual internal meetings. She is meeting Omnisoft briefly and then has an internal credit control meeting on Wednesday. On Thursday she is attending Recipro Executive Learning at Crawfordsburn Inn from 8am – 11am, followed by meeting with Lyndsey from, BITC at 12noon at their offices, then back to the Island for an Annual Review meeting with the Conference Executives and Marketing Team.

One of our volunteering initatives comes to an end on Friday – when Kerry, Heather and Jayne will be attending Ballycraigy Primary Assembly to present hockey trophies.

Scott will be working from home on Tuesday this week. He is meeting Elaine Magee from Antrim BC on Wednesday and will be chairing our Agency Worker event at the Templepatrick Hilton on Thursday. On Friday Scott will be attending a meeting of the Mediation Council NI and other meetings in Belfast.

On Wednesday afternoon Ainsley will be volunteering and on Friday afternoon he will be attending a Customer Relationship Management Event at the Holiday Inn, Belfast.

Finally congratulations to Rory McIlroy – the best example of “bouncebackability” I can remember. Back in April after his Masters meltdown, nearly all the pundits were saying it would take him months if not years to recover his game and go on and win a major tournament – here we are two months on and he has won the US Open by eight shots and smashed the course record at 16 under par. Sadly we didn’t win the Champion of Champions award at last weeks Irish News awards – the honour went to Allstate – however, our plans for the upcoming year will demonstrate that here at Legal Island we also turn disappointment into opportunity!

Guest Writer: Peter

Barry has nothing planned for today other than lots of internal meetings. On Tuesday he's visiting a school in Northern Ireland to talk to kids about entrepreneurship. Later that day he's meeting old colleagues from the Law Centre NI to talk about possible mediation interests. On Thursday he's off to the Irish News Awards at the Ramada and who knows what will happen?! On Friday he's meeting his coach, Richard O'Rawe for as Barry puts it "a good kickin".

Scott is chairing the Antrim/Ballymena HR Network meeting on Tuesday, where 20 local HR professionals are expected to hear guest speaker, Anne Dargan of Rapid Change Consultancy, discuss "Leading Through Tough Times":

"Anne Dargan argues that more must be done to support leaders through tough times; they need to be at peak performance, yet many are at best merely surviving. Anne challenges what HR need to do to support these leaders and offers practical advice so you can help them perform at their best."
anne@rapidchangeconsultancy.com

After Anne’s presentation, members will discuss current HR issues and will then have a tour of the JTI Gallagher tobacco plant in Ballymena, where the meeting is being held.

On Thursday, Scott will be attending the Irish News Workplace Awards, where Legal-Island hopes to win the champion of champions award.

Jayne has a very busy week ahead too. On Monday she has her usual meetings with staff. On Tuesday morning she’ll be joined by Heather at the BITC New Members Breakfast at PWC in Belfast, whilst in the afternoon she’s ‘peer reviewing’ Vanessa – a process whereby each member of staff reviews another member of staffs working practices. The main idea behind this is to improve working practices and find ways of improving efficiency. Constructive comments and creative ideas at the ready!

On Wednesday, she’s attending the monthly marketing meeting, then being ‘peer reviewed’ by Scott. I wonder will he take Vanessa’s revenge? Jayne then has a finance meeting on Thursday morning, followed by the Irish News Awards dinner on Thursday evening. She might have a glass of bubbly if we win, so Friday will be taken as annual leave as a precaution.

Ainsley has a meeting with Brian Nelson from Forth Data on Wednesday followed by volunteering at Ballycraigy in the afternoon with Peter. He is also attending the Irish News Awards evening at the Ramada.

Heather is at BITC New members breakfast event with Jayne tomorrow morning, and Hilton Summer Party tomorrow evening with Kerry. Then on Friday she is off to Stormont for a Women in Business and Network Ireland event.

Here we go again!

Guest Writer: Ainsley

EGGS-EEDING EGGS-PECTATIONS!

'The Girls' did well last week....very well in fact. Production has increased to such an extent, that the tupperware 'collection' container is now overflowing with recent offerings. And all this after James took a couple home at the weekend for his breakfast.

Still on the egg theme, we also discovered an interesting (and factually correct) way of checking an egg's freshness. You put the egg in a bowl of water and if it sinks, it's ok. If it stands up, it's still ok but getting on a bit. If it floats, it's bad and you shouldn't eat it.

You can always rely on Legal-Island to give you the very latest information and advice.

This week is another busy one for everyone on the Island. Our CEO, Barry, is chairing the Data Protection & Compliance Update Conference on Wednesday in the Le Mon Hotel, Belfast. This event will be hosted by our Northern Ireland Conference Manager, Kerry. If you're interested in attending and haven't yet booked your place, you'll need to be quick - there are only a few places remaining!

Our MD, Jayne, has lots of internal meetings this week, including a number of Mini-Reviews with staff - part of our commitment to continuous personal development. Jayne will also be meeting David Braziel from Team Solutionz tomorrow afternoon.

Heather Stewart, Conference Manager for ROI, will be helping out with the Data Protection event this week and will also be part of our 'Innovation Club' meeting on Thursday where we try to brainstorm new and exciting ways to exceed the expectations of our customers.

Scott will be meeting Luke Fuller and Fiona Burns from Hays Recruitment on Tuesday and on Thursday, he will be assisting at our Dublin event Dealing and Negotiating with Employee Representatives. There are a few places left on this event as well if you haven't yet booked your place.

AA Drivetech are using our Training Centre today and tomorrow, taking advantage of the convenient location, excellent rates and accomodating staff! If you haven't seen our state-of-the-art Training Centre, you can have a look at our video or download a brochure for more information.

Myself and Peter will be volunteering again at Ballycraigy Primary School on Wednesday afternoon, continuing their football education.

Here's to another eggs-ellent week!

Guest Writer: Kerry

The big news this week is that Legal-Island has been shortlisted in the Champion of Champions category in the Irish News Awards. With a number of awards already under our belt this would be truly be the icing on the Willy Wonka chocolate cake…

Volunteering on the Island continues with Pamela spending her time at the T.A.C.T. in Crumlin last week. She is pictured here with a Kestrel that is currently being trained to fly independently, in the hope that it will be released back into the wild soon. She also cleaned out and fed a range of animals including pigeons, blackbirds, sparrow hawks, ferrets, hedgehogs, rabbits and chickens (is this meant to be giving me ideas for the exotic meat options at the next Annual Review!?!). On Wednesday Pamela is attending a breakfast seminar ‘Social Media – Friend or Foe?’ organised by the NI Chamber at the Fitzwilliam Hotel, Belfast.

Our CEO has a busy day on Tuesday. He has internal meetings pretty much all day before facilitating a discussion group this evening on mediation and its future in Northern Ireland. Tomorrow he's off to Dublin to visit his old workplace, Northside Community Law Centre, to find out about their mediation project. On Thursday morning he's chairing a breakfast seminar also on the topic of mediation. Thereafter he's leaving his two step brothers, over from Manchester, to paint his house for 3 days while he goes and relaxes in London in early celebration of his birthday. He's good to himself our CEO...!

Scott is meeting Tanya Kennedy of BITC and Pauline Shepherd, ex-NI Water on Wednesday. On Thursday he will be chairing the Legal-Island event, Absence, Age and Retirement at the Radisson Blu, Dublin Airport. On Friday he will be working from home.

In her own words Heather will be ‘awesomely’ hosting two events - Absence, Age & Retirement and Understanding UK Employment Law - in the Radisson Dublin Airport on Thursday.

Jayne is in internal meetings for most of day on Tuesday and from Wednesday to Friday is attending a Toward Consulting Purposeful Coach Programme at the Culloden. (www.towardconsulting.com)

Both Peter and Ainsley will be coaching the Football team at Ballycraigy Primary School on Wednesday.

I will be hosting the Making Mediation part of your Practice Breakfast Seminar at the Holiday Inn in Belfast on Thursday morning and then have a meeting with the La Mon Hotel mid morning before returning to the office.

And finally I sadly missed out on an award myself this week... This award was for the best rescue of a non missing hen… I was just pipped at the post by Donna. Congratulations!

Birthday wishes to Jacqui and Barry this week.

Guest writer: Pamela Park

Well done to Debbie for volunteering at the Silver Surfers Day in Antrim library last Friday. I am sure you’ll have made a huge difference to each individual in enabling them access the net. We’ll watch out for them on Twitter and Facebook. Who knows they may even start their own blog!

This week is gonna be as blustery as the weather, as there’s yet another busy week ahead.

Our CEO Barry has internal meetings all day today until 4p.m. after which he will be attending a Mediation Symposium at the Law Society HQ in Belfast.

On Tuesday he's pulling out all the stops to do a whole load of "speed networking" meeting first his old chum Colin Daly at the Northside Community Law Centre in Dublin. Thereafter he's visiting Lemans Solicitors in Dublin 2 to talk about some new education seminars. He's meeting Liz Ryan of Mason Hayes for lunch. After that he's off to Eversheds for a meeting with David Fagan finishing with a quick coffee at the offices of O'Rourke Reid to see star performer Killian O'Reilly. He's then shooting up the motorway to meet top Legal-Island speaker Paul Joyce off the train before taking him to dinner in Antrim.

On Wednesday he's meeting David Brazier from Teamsolutions about our new conference software.

On Thursday he's meeting Kat Hinfey from Carecall for breakfast, Stella Gilmartin later that day to chat about mediation developments and Pamela Woods later that evening to talk about changes to child protection legislation.

On Friday he's attending an Annual Review Conference meeting where we'll be brainstorming what goes in our flagship event later this year. Phew!

Jayne our Managing Director has her usual internal meetings today. Tomorrow she will be carrying out interviews for an Intern with Ainsley, our Marketing Manager. On Friday she’ll be getting her thinking cap on when she joins our managers in a meeting to discuss ideas for our Annual Review of Employment Law Conference which will take place in Belfast and Dublin later this year.

Scott who is our Head of Training and Development is meeting Tanya Kennedy from BITC on Tuesday and is in Dublin on Wednesday networking and on Thursday chairing our ‘Hot Topics’ event at ByrneWallace offices, Dublin.

Apart from interviewing for an Intern, Ainsley our Marketing Manager is also meeting Andrew Cuthbert from Omnisoft on Thursday to discuss social media software and how it can be used by Legal-Island.

Kerry, Conference Manager for Northern Ireland is meeting with Olive McCartney from the Antrim Civic Centre on Tuesday. She will be hosting both the Understanding Irish Employment Law at the Hilton, Belfast on Wednesday and the second day of our Internal Mediation course on Thursday in the Legal-Island Training Centre.

On Thursday morning, alongside Donna, Office Manager, she will be attending Ballycraigy Primary school to present certificates in their morning assembly to all the pupils who participated in the 10 week hockey programme which was one of our volunteer projects this year.

Kerry would like to take this opportunity to say a very well done to both teams who played in the Antrim sixes tournament last week. And an extra special congratulations to the boys team who lifted the Plate on the day!!

Heather, Conference Manager for Republic of Ireland is meeting Hilary Dickson from Business in the Community (BITC) later today and on Thursday she’ll be hosting our ‘Hot Topics’ event at ByrneWallace offices, Dublin.

Peter, Marketing Officer is attending a Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce ‘Sponsorship and Advertising Opportunities’ seminar at the Fitzwilliam Hotel, Belfast on Tuesday and volunteering with the Ballycraigy Primary School footballers on Wednesday afternoon.

This week I’ll be completing my volunteering day at T.A.C.T. which is the Talnotry Avian Care Trust based in Crumlin. They rescue sick, injured and abandoned wild birds and animals and currently have over 350 long term animals in their care. They receive no Government funding so I am sure my time here will be well spent.

Enjoy your week!

Guest Writer: Scott

On Tuesday Scott will be helping on the Learn to Earn programme as part of our volunteering work with Young Enterprise NI: He'll be based in Parkhall College, Antrim, for the day.

On Thursday he turns trainer and will be facilitating sessions, along with Lorraine Toolan of the EEF, on discipline and underperformance at work.

He'll be leaving early on Friday to go to Scotland to get his eldest daughter, Catriona, from university. Do you remember when summer holidays seemed to last forever?

Barry the CEO has an easy enough early part of the week with nothing more than internal meetings planned until jetting off to London for a couple of days on Wednesday. In the big smoke he's attending a conference delivered by Peter Thompson. He's also meeting a representative at Squires Saunders Hammonds and then Colin Carrol for drinks and a chat Wednesday evening. On Friday he's with coach Richard O'Rawe in the morning and has an "Ompa lumpa" lunchtime meeting on Friday.

Ainsley will be at Ballycraigy Primary School on Wednesday afternoon coaching the kids football and then on Thursday afternoon he will be meeting Cleo Devaney from Tibus to discuss our website.

Pamela will be attending a National Training Awards Information Seminar at DEL Offices in Belfast from 8.30-10am this Wednesday. We are not entering the awards this year but it is all for preparation for an application in 2012.

Donna is in charge of the de-clutter day in the office this Tuesday.

On Friday Debbie will be volunteering at Antrim Library, helping out by teaching basic computer skills at the Silver Surfers’ Day.

Heather will be attending the following women in business event on Thursday: WIB NI BUSINESS FORUM 2011

Jayne is meeting Anne Dargan on Tuesday, decluttering and then meeting Kerry and Ainsley for one to one meetings. On Wednesday am – she has a photo shoot then finance meeting, then Heather meeting. On Thursday Jayne is covering hosting of Mediation 1 in Training Centre then 2pm Donna meeting.

On Friday – Jayne is attending hockey tournament from 11.30am with Ballycraigy Primary, followed by a 3pm meeting on email service.

Onwards!