Guest writer - Heather

 Well we started our week off with a bit of Bruno Mars - Marry You in the morning meeting this morning as this is Kerry's last week before her wedding! She will go off as Miss Taggart and return as Mrs Murphy. Every member of staff would like to wish her luck on her wedding day and of course her life together with Simon as I'm sure you do too.


So while Kerry is off at hair appointments, make-up trials and mixing in a few glasses of celebratory champagne we will be keeping the island afloat! Here is what we are up to:


I will be working hard with Kerry before our meeting tomorrow about Annual Review, we will be looking at how to make it even bigger and better than last year (if that's possible!).

The rest of my week will be spent working on our season 2 events which begin again in September - no rest for the wicked.

Scott

In relation to work, Scott is meeting Tom Evans from DEL this week to see how we might further help promote the DEL discussion paper on employment reforms. Scott will also be carrying out in-house training with FOLD Housing.

On a more personal note, he is Best Man at the wedding of friends Peter and Paula on Friday and will be attending the reception of Kerry and Simon’s wedding on Saturday. Kerry is the events manager for Northern Ireland and a very lucky lady. Let’s hope the bruises don’t show from where she’s been pinching herself. 

Jayne

Will be attending the Annual Review meeting tomorrow. On Wednesday she will be meeting Anne Dargan at the Ramada and then on Thursday she will be out all day for Common Purpose Intensive Day in Derry/ Londonderry.

Barry

Our CEO, Barry, has quite an easy week this week by his standards. Today he has internal meetings pretty much all day. Tomorrow he's attending a leadership seminar at the Titanic. On Thursday he's meeting Stephen Brown who is in the business of arranging import opportunities from China. On Friday he's back in the office working on events for the second season.

Donna

Has a busy week delivering flyers and posters to local schools and businesses for our Family Fun Day. Tomorrow she will be attending Ballycraigy Primary's P7 Leavers assembly along with Kerri. Then she will be organising our birthday/wedding celebrations tea break tomorrow.

All this and I haven't even mentioned the Queen's visit or the Irish Open. Enjoy your week whatever you're doing....

Guest Writer - Donna

Hands up who loves a bouncy castle! Hands up who loves a bouncy castle and a BBQ, though not simultaneously as that would just be messy and a nightmare to clean up!

 Legal-Island is having a Family Fun day here Station Rd, Antrim on 6th July from 12-3pm. Not only will there be bouncy castles but we will be having a BBQ, stalls, face painting, balloon modelling and all proceeds will be in aid of Tiny Life. Come along and bring your friends and family, it is going to be brilliant!



It is not all about bouncing around on the Island we actually do some work as well.

Jayne

On Monday Jayne has internal meetings all day. Tuesday, she will be hosting with Kerry at All About Absence in the morning. Wednesday, Jayne is launching Legal-Island's Health and Well Being programme with Jane McClenaghan and in the afternoon she is involved in a Strategy session. On Thursday, she will be attending Common Purpose sessions “Playing Different Roles” and “Who do you need to be”. Finally on Friday she has another Strategy day.

Scott

Scott is chairing the ‘All about Absence from Work’ event tomorrow (Tuesday). As well as chairing, Scott will be acting out a role play, where he plays a passive-aggressive employee with a secret to hide in a return to work interview. Is that Hollywood on the phone? Thought not.

Scott will be doing SWOT analysis and focussing on sales on Wednesday and Friday at the Senior Team away days. Scott hopes to work from home on Thursday.

Ainsley

Ainsley has the usual meetings on Monday.  On Wednesday morning he will be at the launch of the Health and Wellbeing programme and in the afternoon it is more strategy. Thursday lunchtime he will be at a BITC event on Corporate Values in Belfast and finishing the week on Friday with another strategy day

Kerry

Kerry will be hosting the final NI season 1 event All About  Absence from Work in the Hilton Hotel, Belfast on Tuesday. She has a number of internal meetings scheduled for the rest of the week. This is Kerry's last full week before she heads up the aisle. Dah dah te da...

Barry

On Monday Barry is meeting David Braziel at Kilbegs Business Park in Antrim. On Tuesday he is going to a half day awards ceremony at the Titanic followed by a finance meeting. In the evening he is heading off to a BBQ at Malone Golf club, lets hope it is a dry night. On Wednesday Barry will be attending a mediation meeting at Triangle Housing in Ballymena followed by a meeting at the Association of Coaching in Belfast. Into Thursday with an early start at the launch of the Haiti concert in Belfast, the rest of the day will be filled with meetings with Helen O'Brien, Mags Millar and an Annual review meeting in the afternoon. Friday will involve a strategy day in-house and Friday night is race night. I am exhausted and I am not involved in any of these meetings, he will need a lie-in on Saturday morning.

All in all that is the week for us here at Legal-Island, dont forget about the Family Fun day on the 6th July from 12-3pm. If you want anymore information, give the office a ring on 028 9446 3888.

Guest Writer - Vanessa

As the last notes of World in Motion (the best football song ever!) fade out, the Republic of Ireland team pick themselves up and dust themselves off and we all calm down about dodgy refereeing decisions - another week begins here on the Island and a busy one at that!

Away Fixtures - we have a hat trick of events taking place this week – Kerry, ably assisted by Ainsley is hosting the Data Protection in the Workplace event at the La Mon Hotel and Country Club tomorrow – we still have limited places for this event as well as All About Absence from Work which is taking place on the 19^th June.

Also our last two events down south are taking place before Heather has a well-deserved summer break and both promise to be well attended, Workplace Mediation and All About Absence from Work both have spaces still available for Injury Time Bookings and with that I promise to stop shoehorning in v poor football references. All About Absence promises to be particularly busy and Heather will be assisted on hosting duties by Jayne and Peter.

At home - our CEO, Barry Phillips has a busy week. He has internal meetings pretty much all day today. Tomorrow he's chairing our data protection conference at Le Mon Hotel. On Wednesday he's delivering a mediation workshop with fellow mediator Michele Groves. On Thursday he's meeting Martin Rice of NextLevelImpact and Stuart from the Ulster Business Journal. On Friday he's leading the first of our strategy days before attending mediation a training seminar at Letterkenny on Saturday.

Scott has options this week but he’s not sure what they’ll be until he’s had a couple of meetings today.  On Tuesday he’ll either be chairing the HR network, if it goes ahead, or he’ll work from home. On Wednesday he’ll work from home or might be in Dublin for a mediation event. Whilst on Thursday he’s definitely chairing the ‘All about Absence’ Event at the Radisson Dublin Airport and will be role playing in the return to work session. On Friday he’ll either be taking part in the Legal-Island strategy day or a discussion at the Law Centre on changes to dispute resolution and employment laws in NI.

Peter G will be attending the launch of the Digital Advertising Northern Ireland Awards on Tuesday morning in Belfast. On Thursday morning he will be attending a seminar on online marketing at the Hilton Hotel in Belfast.

Heather has Clarion Hotels coming in to see her tomorrow morning. 

Kerry will be hosting the First Thursday Mediation Club this week in the Legal-Island Training Centre on Thursday evening. We have Tony Kearney coming along from Donegal to facilitate a session on ‘Commercial Mediation’.

Everyone has their usual meetings this week and the Admin Team will be meeting individually with our Line Manager Donna to discuss objectives.

The Senior Management Team will be attending an offsite Strategy Day on Friday.

Guest Writer: Peter

We're back to porridge today after a 'lovely-jubilee' long weekend. It's a short week this week, but we've got lots to get squeezed in as always, so here goes...


Our CEO, Barry Phillips,  has a Senior Team meeting on Thursday with a possible meeting with Andrew Cuthbert of Omnisoft on Friday. On Saturday he's meeting Gavin Goodman of Office Convergence Ltd.


Jayne is in the office all week, except Friday when she completes her last 'Time to Read' session at St Brigid’s Primary, Ballymena. On Friday afternoon BITC will be coming to the office for a meeting about Diversity in the Workplace.


Heather has an interview with Investing in Volunteers on behalf of Young Enterprise tomorrow afternoon. Other than that it’s all internal meetings and preparing for her Workplace Mediation and All About Absence from Work conferences in Dublin next Wednesday and Thursday. Places are still available on both, if you're interested in attending...


Kerry, our NI Conference Manager, is looking forward to receiving a few last minute bookings for our Data Protection in the Workplace conference next Tuesday. With a great range of speakers including the Information Commissioner's Office, the Northern Ireland Ombudsman, leading lawyers from Pinsent Masons LLP and top data practitioner from Queen's University, Belfast, this is Northern Ireland's number 1 data protection event!


The marketing department of Ainsley, Peter F and Peter G are currently working on our 'second season' events for 2012 - keep an eye on the website for details, they'll be online soon!

Our Customer Relationship Consultant, Allison Sutherland, was meeting Paula Milligan this morning, with a follow-up meeting arranged for Friday. Between now and then, she's a marshall for the Olympic Torch arriving in Antrim - exciting!


We've also got NMBA using our Training Centre on Thursday.


And don't forget that Euro 2012 starts on Friday - they boys in the office are very excited!

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!