Course focus

16th Annual Legal Update Conference

Date:
23 March 2010
Venue:
Royal College of Surgeons, London
CPD:
5.0

Training programmes

Monitoring Officer Conference

This one day conference is an ideal opportunity for Monitoring Officers to hear from an expert panel of speakers - from Local Authorities, the Standards for England, Jonathan Goolden Associates, Bevan Brittan LLP, Wragge & Co and Blake Lapthorn.

CHAIR: Manchester Conference: Kirsty Cole, Strategic Director, Newark & Sherwood District Council

Opening Address
Glenys Stacey, Chief Executive, Standards for England

Offering a Helping Hand 
Standards for England’s role in providing support to local standards committees.
Vivienne Horton, Director of Risk, Standards for England

Top Investigation Tips
Jonathan Goolden, Solicitor, Jonathan Goolden Associates

Governance – What’s on the Horizon?
Monitoring Officers responsibilities cover not just legality and standards, but also the Constitution and holding the ring between the Council and the Executive.
In each of these areas, there is a prospect of rapid and radical change, and Monitoring Officers need to be ahead of the game.
Peter Keith Lucas, Partner, Bevan Brittan LLP 

Coping with Crisis – The Role of the Monitoring Officer
Dealing with criminal investigations: this session looks at the role a Monitoring Officer plays, including resources, skills, impact on people, managing media and politics, timescales and interaction of criminal/inquest/civil/disciplinary/other internal investigation. It will cover handling staff as witnesses and preparing for coroners inquests, and dealing with FOI requests under the media spotlight.
Deborah Collins, Director of Legal & Democratic Services, Doreen Forrester-Brown, Head of Law, and Norman Coombe, Principal Lawyer, London Borough of Southwark

Promoting an Excellent Legal Service – How to Innovate to Survive
Phil Thomson, Essex County Council

Monitoring Officers Defence Actions/Options
Kirsty Cole, Strategic Director, Newark & Sherwood District Council

Pitfalls for the unwary Monitoring Officer
Mark Greenburgh, Head of Local Government, Wragge & Co

Bias and Predetermination: Do Monitoring Officers need to catch up? (Covered in Manchester only)
Mike Kendall, Consultant, Blake Lapthorn

Question Session with the expert panel of speakers

Programme directory