Speakers:
Rina-Marie Hill, Barrister at 23 Essex St Chambers and Wellness Specialist at Dotty’s Oils, Hannah Beko, Commercial Property Partner at Gunnercooke LLP and Founder of Authentically Speaking, Dionne Spence, Director of Casework and Resolutions at the General Optical Council, Elizabeth Rimmer, CEO of LawCare
Chair: Richard Coleman QC, Barrister at Fountain Court Chambers
Date: Tuesday 11 May 2021
Seminar Time: 18:00-19:30
This seminar, will take place remotely on an appropriate platform. Those signing up will be provided with a link in advance of the seminar. Please note that the seminar is open to members only and you are asked to confirm that you are a member before joining the event.
The ARDL membership page is https://www.ardl.org.uk/sign-up/
Overview:
You are invited to the second of ARDL’s wellbeing events which will focus on how you can look after your own wellbeing and the wellbeing of your colleagues and employees.
Speakers:
Rina-Marie Hill, Barrister at 23 Essex St Chambers and Founder of Dotty’s Oils
Rina teaches people how to use essential oils in her interactive and immersive workshops. She is also a criminal barrister of 19 years’ standing, specialising in recent years in representing individuals charged with very serious sexual offences.
It was whilst she was practising as a barrister that Rina began to feel a sense of overwhelm. In common with many criminal barristers, she was feeling the pressure of a criminal justice system in a state of rapid decline. The extremely long hours, significant cuts in fees, heavy caseload, and often distressing subject matter of the work she was undertaking all contributed to her feeling stressed and exhausted.
Rina was introduced to essential oils in late 2016 and began using them in earnest to improve her quality of sleep, ease her stress and anxiety levels and support her focus and concentration. Little did she appreciate at that time that in less than a year, she would be so passionate about using essential oils that she would be sharing her love of oils with others. Rina continues to practise as a barrister alongside running her essential oils business, Dotty’s Oils.
Hannah Beko, Commercial Property Lawyer and Founder of Authentically Speaking
Hannah is a commercial property lawyer and a coach & trainer to the legal profession.
Practicing as a self-employed lawyer for 9 years, Hannah founded Authentically Speaking in 2016 and provides training and coaching on behavioural skills such as stress management, improving emotional wellbeing, authentic conversations, and life/career success planning.
Following her coaching of both employed and self-employed lawyers, Hannah created The Lawyers Business Mastermind™ in 2021, a place for entrepreneurial lawyers to grow their businesses without burning out. As author of the upcoming “The Authentic Lawyer” and co-author of “Future proof your legal career” Hannah is passionate about bringing about change to the culture and practice of law.
Dionne Spence, Director of Casework and Resolutions at the General Optical Council
Since early 2019, Dionne has held the position of Director of Casework and Resolutions at the General Optical Council, providing the strategic and operational leadership for the regulator’s fitness to practise and legal functions. She quickly developed and introduced a customer centred improvement strategy, achieving a more than 50 per cent reduction in caseload alongside a natural 15 per cent reduction in staff. Prior to that, Dionne’s professional career has spanned a number of senior leadership positions including Head of Casework at the Financial Ombudsman Service.
As Executive Sponsor, Dionne is most proud of the growth and impact of EmbRace, the GOC’s first staff network for non-white staff, and also the recent publication of FtP FOCUS, the organisations first lessons learned bulletin. She is a big advocate for taking good care of your mental wealth (yes, she calls it her mental wealth) through regular self-care and wellbeing activities. Dionne is a gifted coach and mentor, running both individual and group sessions through her popular mentoring circles, and is highly skilled in training, improving performance and strategic leadership.
Elizabeth Rimmer, CEO LawCare
Elizabeth has been managing and developing charities in the mental health sector for over 20 years. She joined LawCare in 2014 from the Institute of Group Analysis, a membership and training organisation for group psychotherapists. Before that she headed up Alzheimer’s Disease International, a worldwide federation of Alzheimer Associations. Elizabeth started her working life as a solicitor specialising in clinical negligence, practicing at Leigh Day.
LawCare is an independent charity offering emotional support, information and training to the legal community in the UK and Ireland. LawCare works to promote good mental health and wellbeing in legal workplaces and drive change in education, training and practice.
Chair:
Richard Coleman QC, Barrister at Fountain Court Chambers
Richard Coleman QC sits on ARDL’s seminar sub-committee and initiated ARDL’s discussions about complementing our established educational seminar programme with events that focus on wellbeing.
Richard is recognized in the legal directories as a leading Silk in professional discipline, professional negligence, commercial dispute resolution, banking and financial services. Recent regulatory cases include Harcus Sinclair v Your Lawyers (Supreme Court – solicitors’ undertakings and restrictive covenants); Financial Reporting Council v KPMG and David Costley-Wood (professional discipline – accountants/insolvency practitioners), SRA v Baker McKenzie and others (professional discipline – solicitors – investigation of allegations of sexual misconduct), Wingate & Evans v SRA (Court of Appeal – meaning of integrity in professional codes of conduct); R (on the application of Holmcroft Properties Ltd) v KPMG (Court of Appeal – whether the reviewer’s decision under a redress scheme is subject to judicial review).