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24 CHARITY & CSR<br />
Charity and CSR Matters<br />
Hello and welcome to our<br />
Charity and CSR Pages!<br />
I’m Matt Smith from the<br />
Employment <strong>Law</strong> team at<br />
Weightmans and I’ve<br />
volunteered myself to edit<br />
this section. Charity and CSR<br />
has always featured heavily<br />
in <strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong> but we<br />
wanted to give more of a<br />
focus to the great things<br />
you are doing in this area<br />
and also to tell you more<br />
about how you can use<br />
your professional skills to<br />
benefit the people and<br />
charities who are most in<br />
need of them. If you have<br />
taken part in a sponsored<br />
challenge, hosted a<br />
charitable event or done<br />
some pro-bono work that<br />
you want to shout about<br />
then send me an article.<br />
Equally, if you want to get<br />
other lawyers involved in<br />
offering pro-bono advice,<br />
know of an opening for a<br />
charity Trustee or want us to<br />
feature a particular charity,<br />
then let me know too.<br />
Finally, for those easily<br />
offended, apologies for the<br />
picture of me in shorts<br />
singing at Weightstock IV!<br />
Matthew.Smith@Weightmans.com<br />
Weightstock IV<br />
Mind the Gap<br />
Conference<br />
<strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong> Society’s Mind the Gap conference took<br />
place at the University of <strong>Liverpool</strong>’s Eleanor Rathbone<br />
building on 30 September 2015.<br />
The Conference was chaired by Chris Topping and hosted a<br />
number of speakers from <strong>Law</strong> Works, the <strong>Law</strong> Centres<br />
Network, CAB, LJMU and University of <strong>Liverpool</strong> law clinics,<br />
Jackson & Canter and Hill Dickinson. Attendees heard<br />
about the areas in which legal aid is still available, what free<br />
legal advice services are currently available in Merseyside<br />
and the difficulties that these services face in meeting<br />
demand.<br />
The event was attended by roughly 70 delegates and<br />
resulted in a lively debate as to what more our profession<br />
could to help fill the gap in services in Merseyside. Following<br />
that debate, it has been agreed the <strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong>’s CSR<br />
pages will carry volunteer opportunities for those working in<br />
law firms in Merseyside. So please keep an eye on these<br />
pages from now on for opportunities such as how to get<br />
involved in law clinics, provide pro-bono advice to charities<br />
or even become a trustee of charity.<br />
For the fourth time in as many<br />
years the <strong>Law</strong>yers and staff of<br />
national law firm Weightmans<br />
LLP swapped their computers<br />
for Amps and their desks for a<br />
stage in what has become<br />
the must-see event of the<br />
calendar, Weightstock.<br />
Returning to the Arts Club on<br />
Seel Street for the second<br />
time, hundreds of staff,<br />
friends, relatives and<br />
members of the public saw a<br />
group of amateur musicians<br />
entertain the crowd for three<br />
hours solid. Made up mainly<br />
of Weightmans staff, the<br />
bands did themselves proud<br />
putting on sets that many<br />
professional musicians would<br />
be proud of.<br />
The night started off with<br />
Funny Boy 3 featuring Partner<br />
Charlie Jones showing<br />
everyone how to be a<br />
frontman and Finance<br />
Director Tony Cannon<br />
providing back up on the<br />
guitar. Their set was a mix of<br />
all genres, styles and tempo’s<br />
and won’t easily be<br />
forgotten.<br />
The difficult job of following<br />
them went to State of Flux.<br />
Led by Finance Manager<br />
Pete Taggart they cranked<br />
the volume up to 11 with a<br />
rousing mix of Rock, Indie,<br />
Punk and Grunge. They<br />
finished the night with a<br />
snippet of the Star-Spangled<br />
Banner and the incredible<br />
sight of two drummers playing<br />
in perfect (and very quick)<br />
time!<br />
Turning the volume back<br />
down from ear-drum<br />
threatening levels, but<br />
ramping up the fun were<br />
Eclectic Nature, featuring<br />
Gwen Mensah and<br />
Weightstock newcomer<br />
Victoria Cargill. True to their<br />
name their set was truly<br />
Eclectic, mixing in something<br />
from pretty much any genre<br />
you could think of!<br />
Rounding off the concert<br />
were Weightstock regulars<br />
Swimming in Fear. Fronted<br />
with extreme energy by Matt<br />
Smith they reeled off some<br />
truly inspiring tunes, all<br />
backed up by backing<br />
dancers from the <strong>Liverpool</strong><br />
Institute of Performing Arts.<br />
They were cheered back on<br />
stage for an encore and<br />
rounded off the night with the<br />
obligatory confetti cannons!<br />
The crowd all left happy and<br />
disappeared into the night,<br />
already planning their<br />
calendars for next years<br />
concert.<br />
The event raised money for<br />
the charity Variety, which<br />
helps children dealing with<br />
sickness, disability or other<br />
disadvantages. The final<br />
fundraising total is still to<br />
come in with photo’s of the<br />
event to go on sale soon.<br />
Alun Evans<br />
Credit Controller<br />
Weightmans LLP
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