As we head into the hustle and bustle of December, we’re taking a moment to reflect on our firm’s activities and achievements throughout November. It’s been a busy month of knowledge sharing, visits from abroad, and glamorous events!

We welcomed several people to Pinners Hall throughout November

Starting with the newest members of the Laytons ETL team; we are so pleased to welcome Jenna Tudtud as our newest Private Client Paralegal, and Mark Jones as Credit Controller. 

We had several members of the IPG visit our office. First, Kristianne Fenech from Boston Trust Limited visited the office - she is a long standing IPG member from Malta, and is very well respected across the group. That afternoon we were also joined by Michiel Römer & Alvize Tanzi from AMA Corporate Solutions B.V. It was a day of productive conversations, involving lots of exciting planning for the future.

The time came for our firm to get involved in the ETL Challenge! Over the past four weeks, we have welcomed four individuals from ETL GLOBAL ESPAÑA law firms. They each enjoyed a taste of life at Laytons ETL, as well as getting the chance to explore our fascinating capital city. Thank you to Renata, Maria, Natalia and Luis - we’ve loved having you all.

It was also a month full of insights & knowledge sharing

This month, two of our Partners hosted very successful webinars…

Victoria Welsh hosted her Sponsor Licence workshop at the beginning of the month. The exclusive webinar incorporated her expertise to guide the attendees through the entire Sponsor Licence criteria and application process.

John Abbott hosted an exclusive International Arbitration webinar for the International Practice Group (IPG). The session talked attendees through the process of international arbitration, from drafting an agreement to the pitfalls of tribunal appointments.

We hosted our final Employment seminar of the year, with Nicholas Lakeland, Victoria Brockley and Victoria Welsh at 22 Bishopsgate! It was a very insightful evening, covering a variety of topics looking at how to manage employment and immigration challenges at both an individual and organisational level. A huge thank you to all those who attended, we look forward to hosting our next seminar in the new year.

From 24th-26th November, Andrew Spearman travelled to the University of Galway to engage in presentations on differing approaches to surrogacy ahead of proposed legislation changes in Ireland. Andrew was specifically asked to talk on ‘Challenges & legal issues encountered by LGBT+ Parents of Surrogate-Born and Donor-Conceived Children’. He joined several Seanad Éireann Senators and professors in law from England, Scotland, Ireland, Spain and France. As the only English lawyer to attend, Andrew shared lessons to be learned by the Oireachtas.

Andrew Spearman and Marc Selby both contributed to reputable publications this month! Andrew commented on ministerial plans to delay reforms to surrogacy laws in The Brief, whilst Marc wrote a case study on de-enveloping’ published in Tax Journal.

We even attended a couple of conferences and awards shows…

Michael (Agi) Kashis and Liza Zucconi attended the Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA) Awards! This was hosted by our fellow ETL member firm Gerald Edelman, in celebration of entrepreneurs in the acquisition industry.

Andrew attended the Family Law Awards 2023 on 27 November as the guest of recruitment firm, AJ Chambers. The event was a celebration of family practitioners in law firms and chambers from their work throughout the year. It was rewarding to be invited and support another AJ Chambers in their networking and reputational growth within the sector. 

Alexandra Bartrope attended the STEP annual update. It was a very useful conference, with excellent speakers, and plenty of insights into UK tax, trusts and estates. 

It’s fair to say that November has been an exciting month at Laytons ETL! We’d like to take this opportunity to celebrate the achievements across our team, and share our excitement as we enter into the final month of 2023!