One of the main benefits of YLS membership is the opportunity to keep up to date with news, events and developments both within the profession and within individual firms.

This website provides the perfect tool to communicate those developments to other members.

If you wish to include any individual member, firm or event news on this page (ie. new appointments, partnership changes, retirements, mergers, etc.) please contact Kathryn Cripwell, Administrator.

Dr John Shannon (1917 - 2010)

Sadly, Dr John Shannon (Honorary Members) passed away on 2nd June 2010.  John was born on 28th September 1917 in Castlegate, York.  In 1935 he commenced a 5 year Articles of clerkship to Henry Cooper Scott of Munby & Scott of Blake Street.  He took his Law Society finals at the outbreak of war in June 1940.  After service in the Royal Navy as Captain of a minesweeper based off the north of Scotland, he qualified as a Solicitor in October 1944.  After discharge in 1946, he returned to York and became a partner in Munby & Scott in 1948, with whom he remained until his retirement in 1985.  A general practitioner of "the old school", he acted for York University during its formative years and also the College of Ripon and York St John.  He became a member of the Yorkshire Law Society in 1947, was Honorary Secretary for a total of 29 years and President for year 1974-75.

Alongside his legal career, he lived a very full civic life.  Amongst others, he was a City Councillor, Sheriff of York in the Coronation year, a Magistrate and, perhaps most importantly, Chairmain of York Civic Trust for 38 years.  As such, he had a profound influence on the preservation of the City he loved and where he was proud to be a Solicitor.  John Shannon's funeral will be held at York Minster on Monday, 14th June.

YLS AGM & President's Reception - 14th April 2010

Over 100 members attended this year's President's Reception, held at Queen Margaret's School, Escrick Park, on Wednesday, 14th April, when the presidency was handed over from Andrew Faulkes of Crombie Wilkinson (York) to Jenni Bartram of Crombie Wilkinson (Malton). 

Members were able to enjoy some early evening sunshine in the stunning setting of Escrick Park, and welcomed Jenni as the first female President of the Yorkshire Law Society.

Question Time - 29th January 2010

The Yorkshire Law Society held a Question Time event at the York College of Law on Friday, 29th January.  This provided members and their guests, together with individuals from the wider business community, with the opportunity to take part in a debate about legal services, as well as topics of more general interest.

The panel consisted of:-

Gilbert Gray QC (Chair)

Hugh Bayley - MP for York Central (Labour)

Julian Sturdy - PMP for York Outer (Conservative)

Diane Wallis - MEP for Yorkshire & the Humber (Lib Dem)

Godfrey Bloom - MEP for Yorkshire & the Humber (UKIP)

David Taylor - Green Party Councillor (City of York)

The event was a great success and was attended by over 100, including the Business Editor of The Press. Click here to view the article which appeared in The Press on Saturday, 30th January.

Annual Dinner 2009

This year's Yorkshire Law Society Annual Dinner took place, as is our custom, at the Merchant Adventurers' Hall in Fossgate, York, on 20th November.

In common with many other Societies, the take up of tickets was down on previous years.  We tried a new arrangement for the layout of the tables; seating members and their guests at round tables in the hall, but preserving a top table arrangement.  A large number of members have said to me that they had thought, in advance, that the round table arrangement would be a regrettable change from tradition, but that, in the event, everyone who has spoken to me found the arrangement more pleasant, slightly less formal, but more convenient for the purposes of holding conversations with fellow guests.

I am very pleased to be able to report that the Dinner has been said to be a great success and I am very grateful to the Lord Mayor and the Sheriff (who are pictured with me) for attending.  There is a requirement and convention that wherever the Sheriff is present, in her capacity as representative of the Queen, she proposes the Loyal Toast, which she duly did on this occasion.  We were entertained to a particularly lively and relevant speech by our guest speaker, Charles Taylor (Barrister and Head of Chambers based in Chichester).  Part of his speech focused on the recent pervasive loss of liberties suffered by the British people, which struck a cord with many present in the room.  The success of the evening bodes well for another successful Dinner on 19th November 2010, when our guest speaker will be Baroness Hale.

Andrew Faulkes

President 

Solicitors' Assistance Scheme

These are difficult times for many in our profession and the pressures arising from a drop in the number of conveyancing matters, legal aid problems, client complaints, financial difficulties, lack of availability of PI insurance and an increasingly active regulator, have meant that many solicitors face a bleak future or struggle with problems they are ill-equipped to deal with. 

It was to help with problems such as these that the Solicitors’ Assistance Scheme (SAS) was formed over 35 years ago. It now assists nearly two thousand solicitors each year with a wide range of issues including disciplinary and conduct related matters, interventions, crime, finance, employment, partnership, stress and insurance, to name but a few.

The SAS provides solicitors, their staff and families with access to a panel of solicitors in various parts of the country, each of whom agrees to provide up to an hour’s free advice to those who contact them.  Contact is either through a central help-line, or from a printed membership list or web site. The SAS currently receives a small grant from the Law Society but relies mainly on the goodwill and generosity of its members who contribute towards its upkeep and give many hours of their time on a non-charging basis. 

All SAS members are independent of the SRA and the Law Society and will keep confidential all information which they receive through the scheme without feeling compelled to “whistle blow”.  This is a right enshrined at note 23(b) to Rule 20 of the Solicitors’ Code of Conduct 2007.

The Scheme is administered by Duncan Finlyson who can be contacted either by telephone on 0207 117 8811, by email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or you can visit the website -  www.thesas.org.uk to find details of an SAS member who can assist you.