Sub-Treasurer's Report, May 2018

The Investment Sub-Committee met on 24 April.  Investments fell in value during the first quarter of the year from £52.6m to £51.4m: a loss of 2.8% on the Long Term Fund and 1% on the Medium Term Fund.

Pension Scheme Trustees met on 2 May.  Market volatility arising from US inflation figures and the imposition of trade tariffs by the USA and China had also affected the pension scheme’s investments, which fell by 2% in the first quarter. 

The Estates Committee met on 1 May and was pleased to note that there are no current residential or commercial voids on the Estate. Several residential refurbishments are underway.

Following consultation with the Project Pegasus Steering Group and the Library, Education and Training and Executive Committees, the Bar Liaison Committee launched a balanced and factual online survey of members of Hall on the subject of Project Pegasus on 1 May. The aim of the exercise is to inform the discussion which will take place in the Executive Committee and at Bench Table in June/July.

A New Practitioners’ Advocacy Training Residential Weekend took place at Wotton House on 13-15 April; New Practitioners’ Ethics Training took place in Inner Temple on 23 April; Training on Advocacy and the Vulnerable on 28 April; and Pupil Supervisors training on 3 May.

The Education and Training Committee met on 24 April to consider minor editing of the 2022 Advisory Group report so it could appear on the website; the possible methodology for recruiting a Dean of Education; and the recent BSB policy statement on the future role of the Inns of Court. The Committee also received updates on Project Pegasus, the draft COIC anti-sexual harassment policy and the new ethics training course.

The Advocacy Training Committee met on 8 May, to discuss feedback on the latest New Practitioners’ course; the grading of trainers; trainer to trainer peer review; and how to offer advocacy training to the middle years and senior practitioners.

Very well-attended dinners were held for Legal Academics on 24 April and 8 May.

Contracts were signed with King’s College to secure space for major E&T events there in 2019, if Project Pegasus goes ahead.

Ms Sellisher Lockyer has been appointed as Scholarships and Students Manager to take over from Eamonn O’Reilly. Ms Lockyer has been working in the Education and Training Department of Lincoln’s Inn for the past three years. A two-week hand over will begin on 4 June.

Work continues on the General Data Protection Regulation, to make Inner Temple compliant with the new legislation. To date, only some 17.5% of members have given Inner Temple permission to correspond with them after 25 May 2018 about non-regulatory matters that would be considered ‘direct marketing’ under the new rules and that do not fall within our legitimate interest.

The BLC met on 16 April, their main output being the Pegasus Project survey mentioned above.

Another of the Social Context of the Law Lecture series of talks, “The End of War Crimes” was held on 16 April, between speakers Master Bonomy and Master Nice, chaired by Master Korner. The events were recently made Qualifying Session events and some 35 students attended. On Monday 14 May, the last in the current series will take the form of a conversation between Master Schiemann, Master Rix and the Master of the Temple on “Law and Religion”. Following the talk, the Treasurer will host a dinner for several of the speakers who have contributed to the series over the past three years.

The Sub-Treasurer held his first Town Hall meeting (possibly only the second ever such event in Inner Temple) for all staff on 1 May and intends to try to hold such meetings quarterly in future.

A Dinner for 23 of the Inn’s 36 New Silks took place on 9 May.

Bench Table received draft version 13 of the Bench Table Orders (BTOs) at the meeting on 3 May. Master Treasurer thanked Master Seymour for the colossal amount of work he had done to revise the BTOs. She also paid tribute to the efforts of Master Dias; Master Deech and the BTO Steering Group team; and to Jennie Collis Price. There was a detailed discussion primarily around the structure of and age limits applying to Benchers, and the methodology of electing the Treasurer, Reader and Reader-Elect. Bench Table then unanimously approved the draft BTOs in their amended form, subject to final clearance on a few specific points.

Mental Health Awareness Week will take place from 14-18 May. Badges and donation boxes for the Green Ribbon Campaign, organised by The Lord Mayor’s Appeal to help raise awareness and end the stigma of mental health, will be available in the Treasury Office, Hall and Library. There will be a concurrent campaign on the Inn’s social media accounts.

A meeting of the Books Sub-Committee took place on 11 April and a meeting of the Library Committee took place on 18 April.

Two members of the library team ran a legal research training session for new pupils on 19 April. Feedback received from one participant described the trainers as “very knowledgeable and genuinely passionate about their subject”. A Qualifying Session on advanced legal research was held on 12 May. A trainer from LexisNexis will be visiting on 17 May to hold a drop-in session for library users on Lexis PSL.

The Inn is rebuilding various network PCs with increased memory and reliability in advance of the network upgrade. The new Server Room is almost ready, and new server hardware will soon be on site. Wi-Fi hardware will be tested on week commencing 14 May - the first stage in upgrading the Library's Wi-Fi.

Master Treasurer visited Singapore to give the keynote speech for a two-day Litigation Conference Workshop on 19-20 April and judge a mock trial. Masters Pittaway, Ross and Day and Christopher Smith QC and Leigh-Ann Mulcahy QC of Inner Temple also participated. Master Treasurer attended a dinner hosted by the Chief Justice, an Honorary Bencher of Inner Temple, and has told the Law Society that the Inn would welcome similar collaboration in the future.

Master Pittaway also travelled on to Malaysia on behalf of Inner Temple to maintain friendships made last year. In 2017 the focus of the Malaysia Inner Temple Alumnus Association was on the portrait of the Agong which now hangs outside the Drawing Room. In 2018 it is on a documentary about MITAA, which should be completed in September.

Master Beal represented the Inn at the Central and Eastern European Mooting Competition in Wroclaw, Poland, on 20-22 April.

The Sri Lankan Chief Justice and Attorney General visited Inner Temple on 23 April and met Master Treasurer, Master Dias, Master Jafferjee, Master Caldecott, Master Thorley and the Sub-Treasurer.

The International Committee met on 2 May to consider a range of current issues relating to Inner Temple’s overseas engagement. Inter alia, they discussed how this engagement could be made more strategic and better prioritised against available resources in future.

Judge Schroeder and Advocate Hendrick of the American Inns of Court visited Inner Temple on 19 April: they met Michael McParland QC and had lunch with Master Martin Griffiths and others. A large delegation from the New York Family Law American Inn of Court visited Inner Temple on 2 May for discussions about current family law issues and lunch with Master Cryan, Master Scriven, Jennie Collis Price and the Sub-Treasurer.

The Inn hosted a reception for members of the Malaysian Bar, in collaboration with the UK ASEAN Business Council, on 11 May.

Following the Country Life spread on the Inner Temple Garden in April, it was also featured in the Royal Horticultural Society magazine for May.

Master Lloyd had made an enquiry about the paving around and general maintenance of the plane trees in Church Court. He had introduced arboricultural expert, Thomas Stewart-Smith, to Master Treasurer. Mr Stewart-Smith and the Head Gardener are now preparing a long-term management programme for the trees.

Choral Evensong on Ascension Day, 9 May, marked the anniversary of the consecration of the Chancel in 1240 and was followed by a reception to thank the Lord Speaker’s Works of Art Panel for the continuing loan of the statues of the two Magna Carta Barons that stand in the mouth of the Round. The statues normally live in niches high up in the Lords’ Chamber.

An in-depth lecture on aspects of the archives by Harvard Professor Alan Nelson, touching on the Revels, took place on 19 April.

Meetings with COIC this month have focussed on drafting of a new anti-harassment policy and on preparing to host BPTC training in the future.

Due to the anticipated pressure on numbers, the memorial service for Sir Paul Jenkins KCB, QC, former Treasurer of Middle Temple, which will be held in the Temple Church, followed by a reception in the Inner Temple Garden on 9 July, will be ticketed.