Upcoming Events and Meetings
Housing & Levelling Up Group Webinar
Join the Society of Labour Lawyer’s Housing & Levelling Up Group and a fantastic panel, including guest speakers, for our next webinar on building safety on Thursday 30 May 2024, at 17:30.
Register in advance:
https://us02web.zoom.us/
In July 2019, the (then) Housing Secretary, James Brokenshire set a target to remove all ‘Grenfell-style’ cladding from buildings by June 2020. Although the latest government data-release reveals that remediation work has been completed on 87% of buildings with ACM cladding (the type used on Grenfell Tower), remediation work has only commenced on 45% of the total of 4,329 buildings identified with some form of unsafe cladding.
The Building Safety Act 2022 – introduced as a direct response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy – has been in force for two years. There can be no question about the importance of its aims to improve the design, construction and management of higher-risk buildings. However, as a result of the Act’s extensive scope and the speed with which it was drawn up, it contains numerous inconsistencies and, in some places, mistakes There have already been more than 20 different sets of regulations dealing with the Act which makes the current legislation confusing and difficult to navigate.
Perhaps most worryingly, in many cases leaseholders are shouldering the burden of the costs of the new regime, including fees of £30-50k to register a higher-risk building.The question of who pays for remediation costs remains a significant concern, especially in light of the proposed amendments contained in the current version of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill.
Join our expert panel to find out more about the recent changes to building safety measures and to discuss how a potential future Labour Government could improve them.
Panel:
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Wendy Pettifer – (Chair) Legal aid solicitor for over 30 years, retiring in 2020 having worked with migrants on housing issues in the public law context fighting for social justice, both in the UK and Europe. She joined SLL in 2020. She is active in her local community in Hackney and is a member of the Labour Party.
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Ceri Edmonds – Barrister specialising in leasehold property disputes. She is a co-author of Building Safety Act 2022: A Guide for Property Lawyers, published by the Law Society.
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Liam Spender – Leaseholder in London and a solicitor by profession, specialising in commercial litigation and arbitration. He is a trustee of the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership, a charity that campaigns for leaseholder rights.
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Rachel Blake – Labour Parliamentary Candidate for the Cities of London and Westminster. She has worked in various roles across the voluntary sector and central and local government. She gave evidence on behalf of the Local Government Association to the ‘Building Safety: Remediation and Funding Inquiry’ in 2022.
Previous Events
Mentoring Launch Event
We were delighted to launch our 2024 mentoring scheme. This marks the fifth year of us running the scheme. We were joined by previous successful mentees and the Chair of SLL and JLL, who introduced the society to the mentees and have them advice on how to get the most out of the scheme. A special thanks to Dan Jones, coordinator of the SLL mentoring scheme, who organised the event.
Access to Justice Launch
SLL launched a pamphlet entitled “Towards a National Legal Service – new visions for access to justice” in September at Gibson Dunn LLP. The pamphlet incorporated a series of important papers on how best to develop policy for an incoming Labour administration. We were joined by Emily Thornberry MP, Andy Slaughter MP, and numerous commentators and contributors – including HH Nic Madge and Roger Smith OBE, who originally proposed the idea of a National Legal Service earlier this year. We also heard from Joseph Kelen, chair of Junior Labour Lawyers, who provided economic analysis and funding proposals.
Housing Webinar: Living Rent with Shelter and the Bristol Living Rent Commission
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3VUb_HCm1w
Constitution Round-Table
Huge thanks to everyone in the Constitution Group who contributed to this fascinating discussion. Looking forward to developing the conversation further.
A2J Round-Table
Huge Thanks to Steven Hockman KC for convening this excellent round-table and everyone involved – it was a fascinating discussion and hugely informed our national legal service publication.
PLP Advice Training Session
We hosted a training session for members on how best to give advice to the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), aimed at all members who wish to get more involved in our PLP advisory service & as a refresher for those already advising.
This training took place as a panel event, with George Peretz KC and Daniel Jones – two of our EC members most involved in SLL advisory services – speaking. We were also joined by Emma McNicholas, a former PAD to Lord Falconer, who provided an explanation to members of how they can provide PLP advice in the most effective way.
Steve Reed MP: Speech
Steve Reed invited members of SLL to his speech on Britain and the Rule of Law.
In this speech, Steve set out Labour’s vision for justice under a future Labour Government, including the fundamental importance of the Rule of Law to our democratic society.
Brown Commission Panel Event
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