Amelia Clegg is this year's Chair of the Young Barristers’ Committee. She is an employed barrister practising in business crime and regulatory law at BCL Solicitors LLP. She is dual-qualified at the English Bar and as a New York attorney and has experience practising on both sides of the Atlantic.
As Chair of the Young Barristers' Committee, it was a real privilege to lead this year's delegation on the Anglo-Dutch Exchange. I knew we were in for an outstanding professional programme, but I hadn't anticipated quite how much I would learn or how many wonderful people we would meet. I also hadn't appreciated quite how many stroopwafels would be consumed in the name of strengthening Anglo-Dutch relations – but I'm pleased to report we rose to the challenge.
This year was particularly special because the Anglo-Dutch Exchange celebrates its 60th anniversary. After spending time with our Dutch colleagues, it's easy to understand why it has stood the test of time. The exchange isn't simply about comparing legal systems; it's about building relationships, sharing ideas and remembering that, despite practising in different jurisdictions, we face many of the same opportunities and challenges.
As Chair of the Young Barristers' Committee (YBC), I spend a great deal of time thinking about how we support the next generation of the profession. Opportunities like this are invaluable. Junior practitioners often hear that the Bar is a collegiate profession, but it is exchanges like these that bring those words to life. We had honest conversations about practice, wellbeing, advocacy, ethics, regulation and the realities of building a career at the Bar. It was reassuring to discover that many of the questions keeping young barristers awake at night are also being discussed by our Dutch counterparts.
Our itinerary took us from the Supreme Court of the Netherlands to the Peace Palace, the headquarters of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) and the United Nations International Court of Justice (ICJ). As an art lover, it was an unmitigated privilege to be able to see some of the many treasures given by the PCA’s Founding States, all of which depicted themes of justice and peace. Great Britain gave four breathtaking stained-glass windows by Douglas Strachan, named the “Evolution of the peace ideal”. The four stained glass windows depict the evolution of the peace ideal in four time periods and they sit in the windows of the hall which hosts the ICJ.
We enjoyed an engaging discussion with Justine Asbroek from the Amsterdam Public Prosecution Office, whose insights prompted lively comparisons between our criminal justice systems. We also visited Amsterdam City Hall and spent an enlightening morning with Marc Padberg, Dean of Rotterdam, discussing professional regulation and ethics in the Netherlands. We even had time to watch England play the Democratic Republic of Congo in the World Cup at a beach bar in the Hague (which resulted in a tense 70 minutes followed by relief…).
The formal programme was outstanding, but, as every barrister knows, some of the best conversations happen while walking between meetings, at the pub, or while trying to work out how to cross the road without colliding with a cyclist!
The exchange also had a personal resonance for me. As we travelled through the Netherlands, I found myself thinking about my grandfather, who fought as a paratrooper at the Battle of Arnhem during the Second World War. He rarely spoke about the horrors he witnessed during his service, but he spoke often of the courage, dignity and kindness of the Dutch. He returned to the Netherlands as a tourist several times and continued to take part in memorial “drops” with other veterans. Visiting the country generations later, not in conflict but in friendship, was profoundly moving for me. It was a quiet reminder of how relationships between our nations have evolved and deepened, and of the privilege of being able to contribute, in a very different way, to those enduring ties.
My sincere thanks go to Kimberly Meijs, Louise van de Pol and all our colleagues from the Netherlands Bar for their extraordinary hospitality and generosity throughout the visit. We are equally indebted to Mariam Diaby and Evelyn Mataba, whose organisation on the UK side made everything run seamlessly and allowed us to focus on making the most of the experience.
I was also struck by the exceptional calibre of the UK delegation. It was a pleasure to spend the week alongside such thoughtful, engaged and accomplished junior barristers and solicitors, all of whom approached the exchange with genuine curiosity and generosity. Watching those professional relationships develop over the course of the visit was one of the most rewarding aspects of leading the delegation.
One of the greatest strengths of the YBC is creating opportunities for young practitioners to look beyond their own chambers, circuits and jurisdictions. The legal profession is becoming increasingly connected internationally, and the challenges we face – whether technological change, access to justice, wellbeing or maintaining public confidence in the profession – rarely stop at national borders. Learning from colleagues overseas makes us stronger advocates, more thoughtful professionals and, I think, better custodians of the rule of law. Through the Bar Council’s International Grants Programme, barristers can access funding to support overseas visits and exchanges, helping more members of the profession to develop those invaluable international connections and bring fresh ideas back to the Bar of England and Wales.
The Anglo-Dutch Exchange has been helping us do exactly that for 60 years. Long may it continue.