All Party Parliamentary Group for Legal and Constitutional Affairs


The Bar Council and the Law Society provide the secretariat for the All Party Parliamentary Group for Legal and Constitutional Affairs (APPG). The Bar Council support is via Political & Media Relations Consultants: Weber Shandwick. 

The group, which is chaired by Lord Hunt of Wirral, focuses on topics of interest from the new Ministry of Justice through to the Government's proposed constitutional reforms.

The group holds a series of events throughout the year.  All events have 1 CPD hour attached. Topics have included:

  • The Ministry of Justice under a new administration and its priorities going forward, the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Kenneth Clarke QC MP, spoke;
  • Recent developments in legal aid: Is there a future for the publicly-funded practitioner?;
  • After the Legal Services Act: future prospects for the regulation of the legal professions; 
  • Zimbabwe and the rule of law, at which the President of the Zimbabwe Law Society, Beatrice Mtetwa, spoke;
  • Constitutional Reform, at which Joshua Rozenberg, the Telegraph's Legal Editor, spoke. 

More information about forthcoming and recent events is available here.

Officers of APPG

Chair: Lord Hunt of Wirral 
Vice Chairs: Lord Brennan; Lord Neill of Bladen; Lord Bach; Lord Burnett; Lord Clinton-Davis; Keith Vaz
Secretary: Rehman Chishti
Treasurer: Yasmin Qureshi
Honorary Presidents: Lord Irvine & Lord Mackay of Clashfern

Further information about APPG and its activities is available on its website. You can also contact Toby Craig, at the Bar Council, by email, or by telephone on 020 7611 1429.  Alternatively, you can contact Richard Messingham at the Law Society on 020 7320 5858.