Sukhjit Ahluwalia is the sole principal of mixed civil practice Avery Emerson based in Ilford, London. He took office as Chairman of the Sole Practitioners Group (SPG) on 10^th May 2015. His career path has included working in research for Goldman Sachs, doing his professional training at the College of Law, working for City firms as a paralegal before returning to research work for Arthur Andersen and Ernst & Young, and finally setting up his own practice in 2003. Established in 1992, the Sole Practitioners Group (SPG) is a not-for-profit representative body and independent stakeholder group, for which membership is free of charge. It provides professional and pastoral support, training and regulatory representation on behalf of all Sole Practitioner solicitors in England and Wales.

Tracey Campbell-Hynd is founder and principal solicitor of TCH Law. Having built up a solid reputation in the debt recovery and insolvency fields, she formed TCH Law in 2009, specialising in debt recovery, insolvency, business dispute resolution and landlord enforcement.

Tracey is a knowledgeable solicitor with a wealth of experience helping clients recover their debts, and resolve their conflicts. Tracey trained in a top Glasgow law firm, where she quickly progressed from traineeship to Associate Partner, within just 2 years of qualifying. Having decided to spread her wings she worked in a medium sized law firm before moving to a niche Debt Recovery firm, both also in Glasgow, where she was inducted as Partner within nine months.

In founding TCH Law, Tracey's goal was to provide top class legal services to her clients, combined with a personal touch. Just because you are in big business doesn't mean you should simply feel like a number.

Being a proactive and commercially-minded litigator means Tracey takes a pragmatic approach to litigation, which is done with a high degree of organisation and skill. She is also a very approachable person and holds client care in high regard.

Tracey is always striving to get the very best results for her clients, and does so while considering not only the legal but also the commercial implications of the procedures available to her clients.

Tracey has built a team around her who also thrive on providing effiicient and cost-effective debt recovery solutions.

Since April 2012 Tracey has also been a regular commentator on insolvency issues with BBC Scotland and STV, on both television and radio.

Additionally, Tracey's achievements were recognised when she was awarded 'Sole Practitioner of the Year' at the Law Awards of Scotland 2012.

Director at Moore Legal Technology, Chris has over 10 years’ experience in corporate communications environments, including as a specialist inhouse legal marketer/BD manager with some of Scotland’s top commercial law firms. An advocate of Moore Legal Technology’s vision to be the UK’s leading provider of online business generation solutions, Chris has a great deal of experience in helping law firms grow their business and generate profitable enquiries using the internet.

Sarah spent several years working as a solicitor in Thurso and later in Edinburgh. She has worked at Registers of Scotland since 1999 in a number of different roles. She has been a senior caseworker registering high value and complex titles, worked on the creation of the latest incarnation of the internal registration manual, and delivered staff training. Latterly she has taken a role in the policy unit developing internal policy for the various registers.

Joanna Goddard is the ‘go to’ business development specialist who has advised Channel 4 and BBC research teams since 2008 and has been advising professional services in Scotland since 2010. Law firms that have benefitted from her guidance include Morton Fraser and Young & Partners business lawyers.

Joanna has successfully founded and run businesses following a career in management and project management with John Lewis Partnership and Arcadia Group. She now brings her entrepreneurial, business development and commercial skills to the Scottish SME market.

With a strong return on investment focus Joanna advises on developing robust business development and digital strategies that deliver commercial results. Often advising in house Marketing and BD teams as well as advising Partners.

Adopting a service driven and digital culture in a small legal practice is crucial for commercial success in today’s challenging market. Joanna will explore some key considerations and share some top tips for achieving growth through effective BD and digital strategies.

Highly recommended for the time poor and digital novice.

Follow Joanna @JCGoddard

LinkIn with Joanna https://uk.linkedin.com/in/jcgoddard

The Public Guardian is responsible for assuring the protection of adults with mental incapacity. Sandra heads the Office of the Public Guardian which employs 70 staff, is located in Falkirk but has a Scotland wide remit.

Sandra trained as a nurse and worked for five years as a Sister on an intensive care unit before moving to a management role in the NHS where she managed a number of services before changing direction in to the legal field. Combining her NHS and legal knowledge, Sandra became an in-house legal advisor to an NHS Trust, as well as leading their clinical claims portfolio. Sandra has been Public Guardian for Scotland since 2004; the combination of management, law and nursing makes Sandra ideally suited for this role.

Stewart is a Law Society of Scotland trained law accountant who established Mullans Law Accountants after a period as an in-house law accountant in Edinburgh. Seeking new challenges and identifying a gap in the market Stewart then created Legal Fee Management as a specialist fee billing support agency aimed at both the provider and purchaser market. Although still involved as a ‘hands on’ consultant law accountant at Mullans, Stewart now spends most of his time tailoring and monitoring fee charging packages for a range of clients including many insurers, government and non-government agencies and large scale private purchasers of legal services.

Stewart was the only law accountant on the Taylor Review of Expenses and Funding of Civil Litigation in Scotland published in the autumn of 2013. He has been a member of the Professional Remuneration Committee for over 12 years and is also a founding member of the Association of Independent Law Accountants.

With over 20 years’ experience in legal aid work, Mark has been a member of the Law Society’s Legal Aid Committee since 2003, and is the convener of the Civil Legal Aid Team. Co-founder of Thorley Stephenson, Mark is in charge of the family law and reparation department of the firm which started with one assistant and now has grown into a team of five lawyers and two trainee solicitors.

Stephen works within the HM Connect team and in particular is responsible for the operation in the West of Scotland. He is actively involved in developing existing relationship with member firms and fostering new connections with firms interested in learning more about the benefits that HM Connect can offer them.

Stephen has over 25 years experience in legal practice. A partner previously in several Law firms he successfully engineered a sale of his own practice in 2008.

Since then Stephen has taught on the Diploma in Legal Practice at Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities as well as having been a producer and presenter of PEAT 2 seminars. He is the author of several Journal articles as well as a convener and speaker at Law Society Seminars.

Stephen has also been involved in several other projects including on line automation of legal processes, internet and social media marketing and a new business start up.