Almost a decade after its inception, the Survive and Thrive programme continues to deliver a series of events covering topics outside ‘black letter law’ which give barristers, and others, skills and insight to help them survive and thrive in their careers.
We have continued to benefit from providing most of our events in a hybrid format, not only making them more accessible for members but also allowing many of them to be recorded and viewed by those unable to attend or watch live. For anyone who missed our 2023 flagship event ‘Leading Counsel; Counsel Leading’, where Advocate CEO, Master Rebecca Wilkie, moderated a discussion between Master Jonathan Jones KCB KC, former Head of the Government Legal Department, and Malcolm McKenzie, a leadership consultant, on the qualities that make a good leader, we would highly recommend viewing it on the website.
The autumn of 2023 also saw the first instalment of our joint series with the Talent Retention Working Group which focuses on effective communication in the workplace. Part one focused on feedback between leaders and juniors, with role played examples of both good and bad practice critiqued by Dr Anna Colton, a chartered clinical psychologist and executive coach. We welcomed Dr Colton back for part two in the series on Tuesday 4 June 2024, ‘The Clerks’ Room – setting boundaries, giving feedback and building professional relationships.’
The first event of 2024, ‘Aggrieved – Exploring the Relationship Between Grief and Working in the Legal World’ took place on Tuesday 5 March 2024. Georgia Mae-Chung, whose idea the event was, expertly led the discussion on grief, a topic which is often encountered but rarely confronted in our professional lives.
This year we have introduced a series of small group workshops aimed at providing barristers with tools which will make them more effective in leadership, communication, teamwork and serving their clients. These interactive workshops have been led by James Pereira KC, a practising barrister and certified executive coach. The first workshop, ‘How do we practice from a place of strength?’ took place on Monday 15 April 2024 and the second, titled ‘Communication and Relationship Tools’ was held on Tuesday 4 June 2024. The final workshop in the series will be scheduled in the autumn and will explore leadership and teamwork.
Looking forward to the rest of the year, we are delighted to welcome Selina Flavius, an award-winning financial coach and founder of Black Girl Finance to the Inn on Monday 14 October 2024 to provide a bespoke session on financial wellbeing for barristers. Other events in the pipeline will explore artificial intelligence, the psychology of procrastination and why barristers write.
The Survive and Thrive steering group welcome feedback on our events and are always open to suggestions for future speakers or topics which members of the Inn would like to see covered as part of our programme. If you would like to make any comments or suggestions, or are interested in joining the steering group, please feel free contact me via our excellent administrator, Gabriel Dorey ([email protected]).
The steering group would like to thank Master Louise McCullough for her excellent work as Chair of the steering group over the past two years and are delighted that she will continue to be involved in the group’s work alongside Master Juliette Levy, Michael Harwood, Beatrice Collier, Felicity McMahon, Frank McGrath, Zach Judge-Raza and Gabriel Dorey, who I would also thank for their hard work, collegiality and imagination in continuing to make the Survive and Thrive programme a success.
Master Karen Reid has been Chair of the Survive and Thrive Working Group since March 2024. Karen was Called in 2010 and appointed Master of the Bench in 2024. She practises predominantly in housing and immigration at the 36 Group where she is joint head of the public and human rights team.
