THE CHARTERED INSTITUTE
OF ARBITRATORS
EAST MIDLANDS BRANCH
(Chairman: Bill Fisher)
BRANCH
NEWSLETTER
Click here for previous Newsletters
July/August
2001
CHAIRMAN'S
NOTE
Well, here we are again – another year and a
new team.
For those who did not attend the AGM we have a
new team of Branch Officers and welcome new members onto the Committee. I was
persuaded to take on the role of Chairman and consequently John Evans, of
Matlock was appointed to the role of Honorary Secretary. Bill Fisher continues
as Honorary Treasurer and Jeffrey Rosenthal continues as Branch PRO. You will
read their reports below. In addition to my continued appointment as Council
representative we also have Robert Dorrington, a member of our committee who is
an elected member of Council – so we have good representation within our Branch
– better than many Branches have been able to achieve.
Roy Pickavance, in addition to editing the
Branch web site, has agreed to undertake co-ordination and editing of the
Newsletter. We are hoping that the next edition of the Newsletter will be the
last one to be published in “hard copy” format. The proposal is for future
editions to be issued to members via email and your attention is drawn to the
request to forward your email address to the Hon Sec. To date, only a handful
of members have done so and, if you want to receive the future editions of the
Newsletter, it will be necessary to either let us have
your email address or to inform the Hon
Sec that you still require a hard copy to be sent by post. A copy will of
course continue to be posted on our Branch web site.
The web site has recently undergone an update
and our thanks are due to
Details of the new Committee are shown below
in the Newsletter and we welcome new members Richard Brackenbury and Paul
Nicholson.
The tasks which the Officers and committee
are charged are shown in the New Branch Rules. I have included a précis of the
main responsibilities below. In truth these are not very different from those
we pursued under previous Chairmen and I know the Committee will be grateful
for your continued support of their efforts and time. The Committee is
currently preparing a series of events for the coming year and it is hoped to
circulate details in due course. Please keep your eye on the web site for
details of those not included in the Newsletter.
As part of these responsibilities we have
started a series of presentations on ADR to allied professionals, to Rotary
Clubs and to Chambers of Commerce. To date these have been well received and it
has been illuminating to realise just how little general commerce knows about
Arbitration and other forms of ADR in settling commercial disputes. We are
hoping to continue these presentations and if you know of any such organisation
which may be interested please let the Hon Sec or Jeffrey Rosenthal know.
The revised Branch Directory is now with our
printers and should be ready for circulation in September. Please let us know
if you require additional copies for your firm. You will see that all members
of the committee are accessible via email so communication with us either
direct or via the web site could not be easier.
I cannot end this first message without expressing thanks to our immediate past Chairman, John Townsend, who has, over the last three years, manfully maintained the high standards set by previous Chairmen. My hope is that he will continue to assist the committee well into the future and that I can achieve those same standards.
With my best regards to you all,
Email: chair@CIArb-EM.org
HON
SECRETARY'S REPORT
We have two new members to welcome:
Mr W Fantham BSc, ARICS - Chartered Surveyor,
of Claybrooke Magna, Leics
Mr P N Lawson MRICS - Quantity Surveyor, of Abington,
Northants
Tel: 01629 732818
Fax: 01629 732513
Email: sec@CIArb-EM.org
BRANCH TREASURER’S
REPORT
The financial position of the Branch remains healthy. We have recently received the half yearly grant from H.Q. of £1,069.28, bringing the balance to date to £5,166.05. There is nothing, that I am aware of, that should materially affect our existing financial position.
Email: treas@CIArb-EM.org
BRANCH PRO
REPORT
The Institute has issued national Press
Releases on the re-launch of the ABTA and Post Office Consumer Arbitration
Schemes, and we have issued these to the regional press. Please watch out for
them in your local newspaper.
The talks and seminars programme has been
continuing – we made presentations on arbitration to the members of the
Chambers of Commerce in Leicester on 31
January and
We made the first of our new four-part
presentation on ADR in its various forms to Derbyshire Law Society on 29 March,
and have a date with Leicestershire on 18 September. We are setting up similar
presentations for the
Contact has been made with the area branches
of the
Email: PR@CIArb-EM.org
Web address: www.JeffreyRosenthal.com
COUNCIL
REPRESENTATIVE’S REPORT
The Chairman reported that the paper we had
put up to Council justifying a separate Council Representative for our Branch
had been rejected. The reason had been
the Council’s resolve to reduce rather than increase the number of Council
Members.
We will need to discuss this further with the
West Midlands Branch if we wish to make another submission. He also reported
that there had been eight nominations for the four vacant seats on Council, and
that the Branch Model Rules had been approved, with only minor amendments.
One important issue that the Branch Committee
would need to address was that of fiduciary responsibility of officers, which
was now included in the Rules. The Committee agreed that we should wait to see
whether Council intends to insure this responsibility for every branch. If this
is not to be the case, this branch would investigate the availability and
insurance for its own officers.
Joint East and West Midlands Council Representative.
WEB SITE EDITOR’S
REPORT
You will note that on our web site, www.ciarb-em.org, there is a members' listing. If you wish to update your details, please e-mail web@ciarb-em.org.
At some stage the newsletter will only be
sent in paper form to those who do not have e-mail addresses since this is a
way that the branch could significantly reduce its administrative expenses.
To help reduce branch expenses, if you have not submitted your e-mail address, please send it with your name to web@ciarb-em.org.
Additionally, if you want your web address to be listed with a link, this can be arranged for the sum of £10 per annum which will become part of the branch funds. If you would like this, please send your request to web@ciarb-em.org.
Any additional
events or updates to current events will be posted on the website.
Web Site Editor
Email: web@ciarb-em.org
Contributions to the Newsletter are always welcome.
The paper form
of this Newsletter is distributed by:
Jonathan Hawkswell of Pinsent Curtis
Biddle
Tel: 0113-244-5000.