Guide to getting involved in YRes

6. Engaging with your members

Merseyside YResOnce you have set up your YRes group, you'll need some members to attend your events. One of the first things you can do to drum up interest and support is let local practitioners , and also students, know that you have started a group. We have a template letter[3], which you are free to amend which you can send out. However, you'll need first to decide who you are going to send it to.

Mailing list

To put together a mailing list you can contact Resolution who will have a list of all members in your region with fewer than 10 years PQE. Resolution will also ensure that an updated list is circulated to your chair regularly.

You can also research law firms and barristers' chambers in your geographical area and contact the head of department or head clerk to let them know you have set up a new YRes group, confirm what activities/events you will be running in the future and asking them to encourage their junior practitioners to become involved. Don’t forget to contact the relevant department of your Local Authority too as their maybe solicitors practising in public law children field who would be interested in joining your regional YRes group. Also be sure to find out whether their junior practitioners are Resolution members, and if not, encourage them to sign up.

Although not always easy, keeping your mailing list updated is a must. You may want to consider using a website based tool to help with this, such as Mailchimp.

You will need to decide whether you send your members your initial letter and events flyers in hard copy or via email. Different groups use different methods and you may initially like to try both to see what works best. Do bear in mind that if you are using hard copy, then you will need to think about how you are going to organise for the flyers to be sent out. Sometimes committee members combine a committee meeting with stuffing envelopes whereas other groups pay for a third party to do it on their behalf.

Email is cheaper and more time efficient, but do remember that hitting the delete key is all too easy so sometimes emails don't engage members as much as you might wish. Do also bear in mind limiting the number so there isn’t an overload. You could also nominate one of your committee to deal with any responses, or allocate depending on which committee position the enquiry relates to.

Newsletter

Newsletters are a great way of keeping in touch with members in between events and meetings and don't have to be long or time-consuming to put together. West Midlands region have a great example, which could help form a basis for your own region's newsletter. Victoria Sutton, Marketing Manager at Resolution, would be happy to review any newsletters before you send them out.

Things you could include in newsletters are: reviews/summaries of events you have hosted, advertising upcoming events, news from National YRes and your Regional YRes group, advertising Regional groups’ events, and anything else you think will be of interest to members.

Attendance at events

Do make sure that you go to events held by your Regional Committee or organised by Resolution nationally, as there are often lots of YRes eligible people there who don’t necessarily know about YRes. Often, junior practitioners will get sent to events on behalf of more senior members of their teams and so this is a great opportunity to spread the word about YRes in your region and nationally.

Social media

Many Resolution groups now have their own Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, micro-websites (available via the main Resolution website) and LinkedIn accounts, so do think about having one or more of these to help promote your group and your activities. Even just posting photos of events and Tweeting a few words can spark interest and get the word out about your group.

If you have more than one, link them together and it will make updating and posting event easier.

On Twitter, you can link with / follow Resolution (@resfamilylaw), YRes (@Yresnational), Resolution training (@ResFLTraining), other regional YRes groups and local law firms. You may even find members online who have been looking to get more involved with a more local committee.

Social media is also a great way to keep in touch with what other committees are doing. As a committee, we have got a lot of value from each other and have developed our committees and relationships as a result.

If in doubt, talk to Victoria Sutton, Marketing Manager at Resolution, who will be able to point you in the right direction.

As with any social media accounts, do think about access and passwords and keep these safe. If you move on from the committee, make sure that you have given any passwords you hold over to others in the committee so the sites can be accessed.

Attached to this guide is the YRes Guide to Social Media top tips / policy so do look at that for additional support.

Universities/LPC providers

Students can often be an overlooked source of YRes membership. Students can become Resolution members too for free! Some committees invite students to join the committee as members as ‘Student Reps’. It’s a great opportunity to talk about Resolution early on in their career and gives students the chance to start networking and thinking about family law in practice. It is also a huge boost for them and a great addition to their CVs.

YRes committees might consider hosting talks or events at or close to universities and GDL/LPC providers and advertise the events through the colleges and universities. It can be very helpful to create links with the senior lecturers or Head of Departments in these institutions as advertising from ‘within’ has been found to be the best way to promote and encourage attendance.

Regional committees are often keen to encourage these sorts of events and networks, and it might be an idea to contact them to discuss proposed plans and find out whether the regional Resolution committee might sponsor these events, or offer prizes to students for various successes.

It can be important to give consideration to the timing of the exams at the universities and LPC providers, but the lecturers and tutors can best advise in that regard.

Future family lawyers are the future of Resolution, so it is important to engage and encourage enthusiasm at the earliest stages in peoples’ careers so this sort of networking is not to be discouraged!