Dentons partner Bryan Johnston has taken over as chair of the Property Litigation Association (PLA), and called on the organisation’s members to be “relentless in the pursuit of law reform”.
Johnston, who succeeds Shakespeare Martineau partner Martin Edwards, becomes the 24th chair since the organisation was established in 1995 to represent property litigators in the UK.
“We must be relentless in our pursuit of law reform,” he said as he was sworn in at the PLA’s annual dinner. “We need to agitate for change. If we do not, then this affects confidence in our law and the credibility of our legal system.”
As a member of the PLA’s law reform committee for many years, Bryan has helped steer key changes in property law which, this year, has included revisions to the draft bill on the “staircase tax”, the disclosure pilot and the lease renewal pilot scheme.
He takes on his new role at an especially busy time – the PLA’s law reform committee alone is actively engaged in over 30 initiatives – and he intends to continue to notch up successes in this area during his year in office.
Other significant personnel changes at the PLA include the appointment of Kerry Glanville, senior partner at Pemberton Greenish, as deputy chair. Rebecca Campbell, senior associate at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, has taken over as chair of the education and training committee.
Looking ahead, Bryan plans to further promote property litigation and grow the membership – currently around 1,400-strong – through a continued focus on education, training, lobbying and networking.
He also expects to see further development of the PLA’s regional network which he regards as “vital” to the work of the association, and the Junior PLA, which represents the interests of newly qualified and junior property lawyers.
He said: “It is imperative to members that we offer benefits of membership to all levels of experience.”
Johnston is adopting an “open-door approach” to his new role, and invites members to share ideas with him of how the PLA can better represent them.
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