#NLW2017

As part of the Institute of Licensing’s National Licensing Week (#NLW2017) leading licensing law firm Poppleston Allen has taken part in its first ever job swap, opening the doors of its Nottingham and London offices to senior personnel from the Home Office Alcohol Team.

Andy Johnson, Head of the Drugs and Alcohol Unit at the Home Office, spent time with London Licensing Partner Clare Eames. Aside going through online licensing applications and generally working as part of the team, Andy reviewed a set of papers concerning a licensing review and attended an evening hearing – which didn’t finish until 10pm.

Anna Dawson, Alcohol Policy and Legislation Manager at the Home Office worked with the Poppleston Allen Nottingham team.

Anna spent time in all client teams observing the day-to-day licensing work, including the differences between online and paper applications. This included: DPS variations, minor variations and full variations.

And on top of reviewing large amounts of evidence including CCTV for a Summary Review, Anna attended the final Review hearing where Partner Andy Grimsey was in action against Counsel instructed by the Metropolitan Police.

Jonathan Smith, Managing Partner at Poppleston Allen comments: “The purpose of this job swapping initiative was to shed a little light on how things work not only with the day-to-day licensing process but also to provide some insight into how licensing hearings work.”

He continues: “Hopefully Anna and Andy took away some valuable insights about how the licensing system works and, in particular, some of the different ways licensing authorities deal with licensing, in particular electronic applications.”

Poppleston Allen is now planning a role reversal for later in the year, which will see Partners from the firm working at the Home Office.

National Licensing Week raises awareness generally about licensing through national and local licensing initiatives.

For further information on this issue or any other legal licensing problems contact managing partner Jonathan Smith on 0115 953 8500.