Annual Bar and Young Bar Conference 2016Saturday 15 October 2016

Westminster Park Plaza, London

Raising the Bar:Innovation and global opportunity for a forward thinking profession

The Bar CouncilIntegrity. Excellence. Justice.

P rogramme overview

1. Alternative Dispute Resolution CommitteeA necessary adjunct to your civil or commercial practice

2. Equality and Diversity Committee and Association of Women Barristers Generating a diverse profession: Learning from international experience

3. Ethics CommitteeHow to make the most of new work opportunities: Understanding outsourcing, secondments and other non-traditional ways of working

4. International CommitteeInternational ambitions: Never too early to start

5. Chancery Bar Association The changing landscape6. Criminal Bar Association Court craft, judge craft and case craft7. Bar Human Rights Committee

FGM Protection Orders: Keeping young women safe across borders8. Education and Training Committee

Entrenching privilege? The impact of the unregulated elements of barrister training9. Commercial Bar Association and American Bar Association

A view from the USA, a comparative approach to commercial litigation

11:00 - 12:30

Morning specialist sessions

The Bar CouncilIntegrity. Excellence. Justice.

13:30 - 15:00Afternoon

sub plenary sessions and Young Bar Open

Forum

The Bar CouncilIntegrity. Excellence. Justice.

Bar Council EU Law Committee, Bar European Group and Bar European CircuitBrexit: What now for the UK and EU?

Legal Services CommitteeDigital Courts: the present, the possible and the potential

Young Bar Open ForumRaising the Bar: Innovation and global opportunity for a forward thinking profession

15:30 - 16:40

Afternoon specialist sessions

The Bar CouncilIntegrity. Excellence. Justice.

10. Family Law Bar Association Arbitration and the modern advocate11. Circuit leaders of England and Wales

Career advancement at the Bar: When and how to apply12. Employed Barristers’ Committee

Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPA): A practical guide by defence and prosecution

13. Institute of Barristers’ ClerksMarketing and Client Service: You’ve made it, you’re a barrister – now what?

14. Personal Injuries Bar Association and American Bar Association

Learning from the trial lawyers; what can we learn from the USA approach to litigating cases

15. Advocacy Training Council Ethical advocacy in the modern adversarial system16. The Commercial Fraud Lawyers Association The thrills and spills of alleging fraud17. Bar Standard Boards

Alternative Business Structures and opportunities for the Bar and the wider legal profession.

18. Wellbeing Emerging resources and lessons learned

09:30 - 10:30Raising the Bar: Innovation and global opportunity for a forward thinking profession.Bar Conference Opening Keynote

WelcomeChairman’s address: Chantal-Aimée Doerries QC, Chairman of the Bar of England and Wales

Young Bar Chairman’s address: Louisa Nye, Chairman of the Young Barristers’ Committee

Gerard McDermott QC, Annual Bar Conference Chairman; Outer Temple Chambers

Keynote address: Sir Ernest Ryder, Senior President of Tribunals

The opening keynote session will set the tone for the full day, focussing on and addressing the increasing pressures facing the Bar due to economic, political and internal pressures including the development of alternative services being made available to the public.

This year’s theme has been chosen to explore existing growth as well as future development opportunities available in an environment that continues to present challenges for all.

The keynote address will specifically examine domestic opportunities while also looking at potential for international development.

All sessions throughout the day are open to all attendees. Some sessions have been designed to also be specifically inclusive of the Young Bar. These have been marked with the below icon.

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Registration, exhibition viewing and refreshments08:30 - 09:30

Registration, exhibition viewing and refreshments10:30 - 11:00

2. Generating a diverse profession: Learning from international experience. Equality and Diversity Committee and Association of Women Barristers

ModeratorFiona Jackson, Vice Chairman of the Equality and Diversity and Social Mobility Committee; Chambers of Andrew Mitchell QC, 33 Chancery Lane

SpeakerAngela Grahame QC, Vice Dean of the Scottish Faculty of Advocates, Compass ChambersBrie Stevens-Hoare QC, HardwickeHarini Iyengar, 11KBWGrainne Mellon, Garden Court Chambers

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1. A necessary adjunct to your civil or commercial practice. Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee

ModeratorColin Manning, Littleton Chambers

SpeakersJames Bridgeman, Lamb Chambers Andrew Parsons, Portsmouth Barristers’ Chambers

This session is to educate and inform both the Bar and Young Bar of the opportunities and responsibilities involved in representing parties effectively in mediations.

Apart from the requirements of the Civil Procedure Rules, the increase in the costs of litigation generally makes it inevitable that parties look to more cost effective ways for early settlement of their disputes. Mediation is the best known form of alternative dispute resolution. The advocate representing a party in a dispute needs to be fully equipped to give advice and assistance so as to enable the client to achieve a just and speedy settlement. The skills of the advocate at a mediation are different and often more extensive than those required in the court process, and the Bar needs to recognise and develop those skills so as to play a meaningful role in the process.

The session provides a practical, interactive, role-played dispute where difficult issues which arise in mediations, and with which the advocate will have to deal, are highlighted and solutions identified and discussed.

Recent Bar Council and BSB surveys of the profession have identified ongoing barriers to retention of women, and the Bar Council is taking further measures to address those barriers.

The session will look at the challenge and experience of improving recruitment and the retention of women, and the progression of women at the Bar of England and Wales into Silk and the judiciary.

We will draw upon the experience of other Bars, including Australia, Scotland and Northern Ireland in order to identify shared learning and new ideas for chambers’ specific and profession wide policies and practices.

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Morning specialist sessions11:00 - 12:30

3. How to make the most of new work opportunities: Understanding outsourcing, secondments and other non-traditional ways of working. Ethics Committee

ModeratorAndrew Walker QC, Chairman of the Bar Council’s Ethics Committee; Maitland Chambers

SpeakerAndrew Granville Stafford, Chambers of Timothy Raggatt QC, 4 King’s Bench WalkEwen MacLeod, Director of Regulatory Policy at the Bar Standards BoardFenner Moeran QC, Vice Chair of the Ethics Committee and Wilberforce ChambersStephen Ward, Managing Director, Clerksroom

This session will equip members of the Bar with knowledge about how to engage in work arrangements outside the traditional referral model while still ensuring they are adhering to regulatory requirements.

Have you ever thought about doing a secondment? Entering into a retainer? Being a ‘consultant’ to a law firm? Or outsourcing some administrative work for a public access case?

More flexible and non-traditional ways of working are becoming more common, but many barristers feel uncertain about what arrangements they can enter into under the provisions of the BSB Handbook. This workshop will make sure that you have the necessary information to make the most of opportunities that arise and help you navigate the professional practice and regulatory issues that may occur.

4. International ambitions: Never too early to start. International Committee

ModeratorAmanda Pinto QC, Chairman of the Bar Council International Committee; Chambers of Andrew Mitchell QC, 33 Chancery Lane

SpeakersAlex Haines, Bretton Woods LawDuncan McCombe, Vice-Chairman of the Young Barristers’ Committee; Maitland Chambers Saba Naqshbandi, Three Raymond BuildingsFrederico Singarajah, HardwickeKirsty Sutherland, 9 Bedford Row

This workshop aims to give junior barristers practical ideas on how to develop an international practice and exploit business development opportunities through participation in the International Committee’s work.

The panel will lead an open discussion on:

— The current international programmes for the young Bar: exchange programmes, hosting a foreign lawyer in chambers and business development missions

— How to exploit business development opportunities successfully

— How to get the most from attending international conferences and the most useful ones to attend

— Opportunities for the young Bar in Public International Law, and

— Funding opportunities.

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5. The changing landscape.Chancery Bar Association

ModeratorThe Rt Hon the Lord Justice Briggs

SpeakersAndrew de Mestre, 4 Stone BuildingsRuth Hughes, 5 Stone BuildingsEleanor Holland, Chair of the Junior Chancery Bar, 4 Stone Buildings

The session will discuss a number of recent changes and initiatives in the Chancery commercial sphere, and is intended partly as a practical update and partly as an exploration of new challenges and opportunities. The session will explore the proposals for an online court, and discuss matters including fixed fees, the new initiatives in the Rolls Building, and changes to the Insolvency Rules and the Civil Procedure Rules. Attendees will be invited to express their views on what these changes mean for the Bar and for litigants in the coming years.

6. Court craft, judge craft and case craft.Criminal Bar Association

ModeratorFrancis FitzGibbon QC, Doughty Street Chambers

SpeakersSarah Vine, 187 Fleet StreetRosina Cottage QC, Red Lion Chambers

Helping those in their early years navigate the minefield of difficult cases, difficult clients and difficult judges.

In addition to the seemingly unending wave of new legislation, procedures and protocols, practitioners in their early years are all too often faced with difficulties of which the solutions cannot be found in any standard text. Such problems can be daunting when faced without the benefit of practical experience.

This presentation by the Criminal Bar Association will focus on the ways in which to tackle the unexpected, to reason with the unreasonable and to negotiate with the intractable.

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7. Female genital mutilation ‘FGM’ Protection Orders: Keeping young women safe across borders.Bar Human Rights Committee (BHRC)

ModeratorKirsty Brimelow QC, Chairman of the Bar Human Rights Committee; Doughty Street Chambers

SpeakersThe Rt Hon. The Baroness Smith of Basildon; Shadow leader of the House of LordsTanya Barron, Chief Executive of Plan UKZimran Samuel, Doughty Street ChambersHibo Wardere, author and anti-FGM activist

In 2014, the BHRC gave evidence to the Home Affairs Committee that the UK was failing to meet its positive obligations under international law to protect women at risk of FGM. Amongst the BHRC’s original recommendations within its evidence to the Home Affairs Committee was the introduction of civil protection orders for potential victims of FGM.

Following a Ministry of Justice consultation, the BHRC’s recommendation on civil protection orders was brought into force under the Serious Crime Act 2015.

Whereas criminal law had previously legislated for the punishment of perpetrators after FGM occurred, the new civil orders allow for intervention to prevent potential victims from being subjected to FGM in the first place.

This session will discuss the implementation of FGM Protection Orders since the introduction of the new legislation and consider the impact of the protection orders on young women globally.

8. Entrenching privilege? The impact of the unregulated elements of barrister training.Education and Training Committee

ModeratorSimon O’Toole, 5 Pump Court

SpeakersGemma de Cordova, Tanfield ChambersJames Hampson, Government Legal ServiceDr Lee Elliot Major, Chief Executive of the Sutton Trust

To explore and debate how the non-BSB regulated elements of barrister training impact on social mobility at the Bar. This workshop will be structured as a questions and answers session.

Mini-pupillages, internships, paralegal work, third six pupillages and squatting are steps some take on the journey to becoming a barrister. However, do the current arrangements entrench privilege?

Should mini-pupillages be available to all irrespective of ties? Are third six pupillages exploitative? Are internships another example of unpaid labour?

This session is a unique chance to debate these hot topics and contribute to future Bar Council policy around social mobility and barrister training.

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9. A view from the United States of America, a comparative approach to Commercial Litigation.Commercial Bar Association and the American Bar Association

ModeratorTo be confirmed

SpeakersTo be confirmed

This session will focus on some of the key differences between preparation of a typical commercial litigation case in the US as opposed to England and Wales including the use of depositions and discovery, mock trials and trial management.

Speaker will include renowned US trial lawyers and leading Silks in this field.

Lunch, exhibition viewing and networking12:30 - 13:30

Reduced conference rates for all those who pay the Bar Representation Fee ‘BRF’.

To find out more, contact the Bar Council Member Services team on +44 (0) 207 611 1321 or email MemberServices@BarCouncilServices.org.uk

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13:30 - 15:00Raising the Bar: Innovation and global opportunity for a forward thinking profession.

Young Bar Conference Keynote and Open Forum

Keynote AddressCaroline Wilson, Former British Consul General to Hong Kong and Macao

Open Forum speakersChantal-Aimée Doerries QC, Chairman of the Bar of England and Wales Mark Fenhalls QC, Former Chairman of the Criminal Bar Association; 23 Essex Street Frances Judd QC, Vice-Chairman of the Family Law Bar Association; Harcourt ChambersLouisa Nye, Chairman of the Young Barristers’ Committee; Landmark Chambers Family Law Bar Association speaker to be confirmed

Moderator:Duncan McCombe, Vice-Chairman of the Young Barristers’ Committee; Maitland Chambers

The Young Bar Conference keynote address will consider the opportunities and the challenges facing young barristers in the developing legal world. The keynote speech will follow the theme of the Annual Bar Conference; looking at the global reach of barristers, including young barristers, and the opportunities for the Bar in overseas jurisdictions as well as in England and Wales.

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2. Digital Courts: the present, the possible and the potential.Legal Services Committee

ModeratorDerek Sweeting QC, Chairman Legal Service Committee; 7 Bedford Row

SpeakersRt Hon. Lord Justice Fulford, Senior Presiding Judge for England and WalesAndrea Coomber, JUSTICEFiona Rutherford, HMCTS

One of the biggest changes to barristers working is the influence of technology. 2016 has already seen the introduction of Better Case Management in Crown Courts, with online Plea and Trial Preparation Hearings and the Digital Case System, as well as the proposal for an Online Court in relation to cases under a value of £25,000 in the County Courts. While technology can make cases more manageable, it can also offer challenges and potentially limit court users and access to justice.

This sub-plenary session will look at where we are now and the current systems; whether they are working and what benefits these new systems have brought. The session will also look at potential future developments and how barristers can best prepare for the changes to come. This will lead to consideration on where the Bar is heading and how big a role technology will take in the future of the Bar.

Refreshments, exhibition viewing and networking15:00 - 15:30

Afternoon sub plenary sessions13:30 - 15:00

1. Brexit: What now for the UK and EU?Bar Council EU Law Committee, Bar European Group and Bar European Circuit

ModeratorBarbara Dohmann QC, European Circuit Leader, Blackstone Chambers (invited)

SpeakersStephen Morris QC, 20 Essex Street Gordon Nardell QC,Chairman of the Bar Council EU Committee; 20 Essex StreetEvanna Fruithof, Consultant Director, Bar Council Brussels Office

In the event of a “leave” vote: BREXIT: What now for the UK and EU?

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10. Arbitration and the modern advocate. Family Law Bar Association

ModeratorSir Peter Singer, 1 Hare Court

SpeakersDuncan Brooks, QEBJanet Bazley QC, 1 Garden CourtGavin Smith, 1 Hare Court

This session will consider a number of questions arising from the use of arbitration in family cases, including private children and financial remedy proceedings.

The panel discussion will:

— Increase awareness of the use of Early Neutral Evaluations (ENE) and arbitration in private children and financial remedy cases

— Consider the use of private financial dispute resolutions in financial remedy cases

— Question whether there is global opportunity in the use of such methods

— Ask whether this will lead to an increase in ‘divorce tourism’, and

— Look at whether Alternative Dispute Resolution is complementary to the traditional court system or will replace it.

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Afternoon specialist sessions15:30 - 16:40

TwitterFollow the Bar Conference at

#BCYBC16

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11. Career advancement at the Bar: When and how to apply.The Circuit leaders of England and Wales

ModeratorRichard Atkins QC, Midland Circuit Leader; St Philips Chambers

SpeakersHer Honour Judge Usha Karu, Judicial Appointments CommissionerJohn Elvidge QC, North East Circuit Leader; Dere Street BarristersMax Hill QC, South Eastern Circuit Leader; Red Lion ChambersPaul Lewis QC, Wales and Chester Circuit Leader; Farrar’s BuildingBill Mousley QC, Western Circuit Leader; Chambers of William Mousley, 2 KBWAndrew O’Byrne QC, Northern Circuit Leader; St Johns BuildingsShaun Smith QC, Member of the Queen’s Counsel Appointments Panel; No. 1 High Pavement ChambersNicola Atkins, Independent Careers CoachClaire Lindley, Chief Crown Prosecutor; Crown Prosecution Service North West

This session is designed to help those who are thinking of applying for a Judicial appointment, for Silk, to join the Crown Prosecution Service Panels or the Attorney General’s lists.

The six Circuit leaders, together with a Judicial Appointments Commissioner, a member of the Queen’s Counsel Appointments Panel, the Chief Crown Prosecutor for North West and a Career Coach will provide advice and tips on the qualities sought, how to fill out the forms, how to prepare for interview and how to maximise your chances of success.

The Judicial Appointments Commissioner, the Chief Crown Prosecutor and the member of the Queen’s Counsel Appointments Panel will give an insight into the qualities sought by their bodies and the pitfalls present in making applications.

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12. Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPA): A practical guide by defence and prosecutionEmployed Barristers’ Committee

ModeratorStuart Alford QC, Latham & Watkins

SpeakersThe Rt Hon Sir Edward Garnier QC MPBen Morgan, Serious Fraud OfficeAlison Levitt QC, Mishcon de Reya

The session will discuss the merits of the DPA system and potential advantages and disadvantages. It will provide an opportunity for practitioners to better understand the process and procedures.

DPAs were introduced by the Crime and Courts Act 2013 and were based upon the model used in the USA. They are an agreement reached between a prosecutor and an organisation which could otherwise be prosecuted on economic crime offences such as bribery or fraud. The agreement allows a prosecution to be suspended for a defined period provided the organisation meets certain specified conditions. They have been used recently in the USA in the high profile case of United States v Alcoa and in the UK in the Serious Fraud Office v Standard Bank Plc.

Is this a pragmatic and sensible way of achieving recompense and improved practices without the need for a costly trial? Or is it a way for rich and powerful corporations to avoid embarrassment and bad publicity by ‘purchasing’ State granted contrition?

Our speakers, experts in this field, will seek to answer these questions and provide practical advice and guidance as to issues relating to DPAs.

13. Marketing and Client Service: You’ve made it, you’re a barrister – now what?Institute of Barristers Clerks

ModeratorLucy Barbet, 11 KBW

SpeakersLuke Irons, St Philips Stone ChambersSean Jones QC, 11 KBWAndrea Kennedy, Business Development Director, 11 KBWSarah Longden, St Philips Stone Chambers

This session will underline the importance of marketing and the creation and maintenance of individual relationships with clients. It will also focus on the importance of social media and how to use it effectively.

Using feedback from solicitors, the session will explore how to make marketing work and how to be more successful in not only making contacts but also maintaining them. There will be a short presentation on effective networking and how to “work a room” at an event, as well as looking at the art of social media. The session will be interactive with plenty of opportunities for questions and examples.

14. Learning from the Trial Lawyers, what can we learn from the Unites States approach to Litigating Cases. Personal Injuries Bar Association and American Bar Association

ModeratorRobert Weir QC, Devereux Chambers

SpeakersTo be confirmed

What can we learn from the conduct of trials from our colleagues in the United States (US)? How does the approach to a jury trial differ from a “Bench Trial”? How do US lawyers use demonstrative evidence to illustrate their points? What is their approach to examination in chief and cross examination? How does trial practice differ?

This session will explore these issues and more using practical examples to provide an insight into the variations in presenting a case.

Although of particular interest to personal injury and clinical negligence barristers, this session will be of interest to all interested in trial advocacy, jury trial advocacy and comparative and US law.

15. Ethical advocacy in the modern adversarial system.Advocacy Training Council (ATC)

ModeratorDerek Wood CBE QC, Falcon Chambers

SpeakersSpeakers to be confirmed

This session will provide the knowledge and skills required to identify potential ethical dilemmas in practice and will demonstrate the ATC’s research into the ethical understanding of new practitioner advocates.

Derek Wood CBE QC will give a brief introduction to the ATC’s research into the ethical capabilities of new practitioner advocates.

There will be a presentation by an expert in the field of ethical training. This will set out in more detail how advocates’ values and professional principles influence ethical decision making.

There will be a live demonstration involving advocacy trainers in which ethical dilemmas will be explored. Ethical case studies developed for the ATC research will be used and participants will be asked to discuss how they would respond and what rules and principles are relevant to their approach.

The session will end with a more general discussion and questions and answers about ethics in practice as well as participants’ ethical training.

16. The thrills and spills of alleging fraud.The Commercial Fraud Lawyers Association

ModeratorJane Colston, Brown Rudnick LLP

SpeakersDuncan Matthews QC, 20 Essex StreetBenjamin Borsodi, Partner, Schellenberg Wittmer

This interactive workshop has been designed to give courage and confidence as to how and when effectively to allege fraud and to recognise the dangers of alleging fraud without a proper basis.

The panel will introduce their experiences of fraud from their own unique perspectives. The workshop will then centre on a real life case study. Participants will be given an outline of the facts then asked to vote on whether or not, under the circumstances, they would plead fraud.

There will follow a presentation and analysis of when to plead fraud, the dangers of pleading fraud without sufficient grounds and an application of the theory to the facts of the case. This will be done through practical examples and demonstrations from the panel.

Finally, another vote will be cast to see if the members of the audience have changed their view on alleging fraud.

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18. Emerging Resources and lessons learned.Wellbeing at the Bar Working Group

ModeratorRachel Spearing, Chairman of the Wellbeing at the Bar Working Group; Pump Court Chambers

SpeakersCharlotte May QC, 8 New SquarePushpinder Saini QC, Blackstone ChambersValerie Charbit, 2 Bedford RowNicholas Hill, 3 New Square

This session will demonstrate new Wellbeing resources developed over 2016 available via the Wellbeing at the Bar online portal. It will provide an opportunity to learn about the work of the Bar Council, Inns, Circuits and Specialist Bar Associations over the past 12 months in response to the Wellbeing agenda, providing a platform for participants to explore what has worked and why.

Particularly useful for those in a management role in chambers will be a focus on navigating BSB rules and providing appropriate support to members of chambers.

During the session we will debate what more chambers and Bar leaders could do to support their members and what further educational support should be put in place to prepare younger members of the profession for a life at the Bar.

17. Alternative Business Structures and opportunities for the Bar and the wider legal profession.Bar Standards Board (BSB)

ModeratorOliver Hanmer, Director of Regulatory Assurance, Bar Standards Board

SpeakersMartin Davies, Clerksroom Daniel ShenSmith, Shensmith Barristers Cliodhna Judge, Head of Supervision and Authorisation, Bar Standards Board

In October 2016, the BSB aims to commence the authorisation of Alternative Business Structures (ABS). This will build on its entity regulation regime which has been in effect for the last 18 months.

ABS will provide lawyers and non-lawyers with an opportunity to develop innovative and competitive models for the delivery of legal services which will be able to broaden access to justice for members of the public.

In an increasingly competitive legal market there are growing challenges on barristers to think creatively about how they deliver legal services.

This session will provide information about the genesis of the ABS regime, the approach to its regulation and the opportunities that arise from their availability to barristers. You will hear from the regulator and innovators within legal services who are at the forefront of pushing the boundaries in the provision of legal services.

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Keynote speaker: Steven Thiru, President of the Malaysian Bar

Followed by the Legal Reporting Award presentation

Drinks reception and entertainment17:15 - 19:00

Closing address and presentation16:40 - 17:15

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