Putting the ‘new’ into CA ‘news’

There’s always an air of excitement around the ‘new’ and that’s certainly the way we feel as we have a number of new announcements and initiatives to share with you this month.

Firstly, you will have already had a number of communications from our new Secretariat team at CJ Association Management (CJAM) – to say they come with a wealth of experience would be a huge understatement and I’ve already been impressed with the work of Christine, Sandra and Laura who are all now at our service in terms of moving the CA through the months ahead.

To that end, we are able to announce the launch of our ‘new’ website – the new Secretariat have put a huge amount of work into getting this ready to launch and I’m pleased to say that we achieved this earlier this month. And here you are, reading this piece on the new site.

Please take some time to explore what we now have to offer including our new Member section for Legal Member firms and the huge amount of detail on our campaigns, workstreams, news, affiliate members, charity work, the list goes on.

As mentioned this is ‘new’ in the sense of a new look and feel, and a range of additional information, but it is by no means complete or finished and we’ll be adding further pages and sections to it throughout the course of the year.

One area of the site that I would like to draw your attention to is our ‘Events’. At the tail-end of last year we were able to start meeting again in person, and I know this is viewed as a vital part of what makes the CA work.

We completely agree and the insight and feedback we receive at our physical events is crucial in terms of developing our thinking and our way forward across all our workstreams and projects. We get to hear about the areas that you, the members, want us to focus on, particularly in terms of improving your ability to complete business in the quickest timescale possible.

So, it’s therefore very pleasing to be able to make you aware of three initial member events that will be taking place in London in May, July and September this year:

• On May 5^th, courtesy of our wonderful Affiliate members, Howdens, we are able to meet at their DUAL offices for our Legal Members and All-Members Meetings, followed by drinks and networking.
• On July 6^th we’ll be at the Royal Society for Arts for both meetings, followed by the always-anticipated Conveyancing Association and Groundsure River Cruise.
• And on September 14^th, we’ll be at another new venue, this time the Queen Mary Undercroft at the Old Royal Naval College, followed by what sounds like a fabulous evening dinner on board the Cutty Sark.

Hopefully, those whet your appetite and I know everyone on the CA Executive and the Policy & Strategy Board is looking forward to these events to catch-up with you, to outline what we have been doing and where we go next, and of course where we will provide updates and panel sessions on a variety of topics.

Plus, later in the year we’ll be confirming details of our next big Conference & Dinner – a major event in our calendars.

Earlier this month you should have received a member update, please look out for further ones between now and the first event in May, plus you might wish to look at our News & Media section which details the coverage we’ve achieved this year, plus links to our most recent press releases.

Also, please – if you don’t already – follow us on both Twitter and LinkedIn where you’ll find the very latest news issued by the Association, as well as links to our regular trade press articles, plus comments and analysis issued by the CA to the wider media.

We are very far from the start of a new year already, but it does feel like something of a new beginning for the Association with these latest developments. We will continue to work on your behalf and keep you fully-informed on all of this, and look forward to catching up in person once again at the first event in May this year.

Nicky Heathcote is Non-Executive Chair at the Conveyancing Association (CA)