Passing the Baton… 

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” – Henry Ford 

In February 2018 my Mum died from Alzheimers. She had suffered for nearly 3 years. My Mum was 85years when she passed and had experienced a fulfilling and a good life seeing myself and my brother achieve within our professions and she enjoyed a multitude of Grandchildren and two Great Grandchildren. Many of you will know the sense of loss and the void that occurs when you lose a loved one and I wanted to “do something positive” in my Mum’s memory… 

At this point in my professional life I had been a solicitor professional Deputy (previously a Receiver) for nearly 25 years. I had always been acutely aware that within the stakeholder community of the Court of Protection (COP) the Solicitor Deputy did not have representation, and, in memory of my Mum, I decided I would try and rectify that, and with that thought, the concept of the PDF was born. 

Of course, the journey from Birth to Adulthood is long and helping to create and develop the PDF was no different. Having an idea is one thing, turning it into reality is very different! What followed was a number of conversations with some other committed Deputies. I was lucky that Holly Chantler and Martin Terrell were my friends and also committed deputies and together with those two dedicated professionals (the three of us) we slowly put in place the structure of the PDF. 

As they say “the rest is history” and today the PDF is the only truly representative body for solicitor Professional deputies. 

However, a multitude of things make up “the rest is history”. To achieve anything in life we need leadership and teamwork as the interrelationship between those two is crucial for an organisation to be successful. 

In essence, leadership guides the team towards a common goal, while teamwork amplifies the impact of leadership by pooling together the strengths and efforts of individual team members. A strong leader understands the importance of collaboration and cultivates an environment where teamwork can thrive, resulting in greater productivity, innovation, and success for the entire team. 

It is never lost on me the importance and value of all of you members of the PDF. The current achievements and the future achievements are directly related to your support of the PDF.  

Having said that I have always believed that leaders must take ownership of Leadership. Those that know me will bear witness to the fact that I am a stalwart of professional challenge. I believe that is fundamental to good leadership. There are many concerns within the COP environment. I am not going to set them out here but you all know about them. Our job is to challenge the status quo to ensure that P is properly protected over the next 50 years and beyond. 

Many societal injustices persist because of entrenched systems and norms. Challenging the status quo is essential for addressing systemic inequalities and promoting social justice and that applies in relation to the various stakeholders in the COP landscape. 

In essence, challenging the status quo is not just about disrupting the current state of affairs; it’s about paving the way for a better future by fostering innovation, inclusivity, and continuous improvement. 

But whilst “banging the drum” is important, listening to each and every member of the team (you as members of the PDF) is of crucial importance and every leader must bow to the democratic view of the team. Without team support, the PDF will ultimately fail, sometimes the leader must be restrained to the view of the people (each of you). 

I am proud of the success of the PDF. I leave it in very good hands. Sam and Claire as our Admin team and our current directors and committee members led by Stacey Bryant are in pole position for building on the success of the PDF over the next 5 years… I shall be watching with interest as you all continue to “make a difference”.. Vivre Le PDF! 

Au Revoir… 

Russell