We kept our promise… It definitely was “not a conference”, but a place to connect, share, engage, and enjoy.
It was about a commitment to serious and genuine personal development, not tired format CPD. It was about challenge, not a tick box.
A place where students and law firm partners, professors and trainees, in-house and judges could come together without hierarchy, to learn from each other and we hoped to be just a little bit inspired.
It was the inaugural event, of course there were wrinkles, but friends and strangers came together in a spirit of kindness and generosity – everyone gave it go.
A mix of sporting heroes, musicians, a comedian, actors, a theatre director and a poet stood amidst hay bales, balloons and bunting to deliver a programme that heightened the emotions, welled a tear and ensured many smiles… and throughout we learnt.
We learnt through play, through action, through writing, through listening… we learnt about ourselves and by the end we liked each other and ourselves a little bit more.
My personal reflection is this – When a professor shares a poem he has written that touches his heart, that is then picked up and carried by actors, gently placed before a hushed audience for their quiet contemplation, and it then touches their hearts; in that moment we learn about the power of words, of sharing, of loving, of speaking and of listening …then that is truly a moment to cherish.
#LawFest was not a conference, but it was intended to be a collection of experiences and thanks to moments like this one we can say we did ok. We really did.
Will there be a #LawFest 2015? May be, but not definitely.
There was #LawFest 2014 not because it was tweeted, planned, talked about or made, but because you came. From just one tweet a few months before to the thing it became, it only happened because you came.
