Watch the video - Bar Conference 2025 in 25 seconds
On Saturday, we held Bar Conference 2025 on circuit in Birmingham for the first time. Many thanks to the Midland Circuit for pulling out all the stops and hosting a fantastic Bar mess and for helping to shape the programme, making sure there was something for everyone.
As part of our packed programme, we heard from courts minister Sarah Sackman KC MP (The Times £) who discussed the introduction of intermediate courts which will see jury trials abolished for some criminal offences to “deliver swifter justice for victims”. In the ‘justice under review’ panel session, Kirsty Brimelow KC pointed out that there was “no data” to demonstrate that intermediate courts will reduce the backlog and speed up justice.
The Lady Chief Justice also gave a wide-ranging speech (Joshua Rozenberg) where she said she remains “stubbornly optimistic” about the future of the justice system, “subject to funding and provided that we all work together”.
Our session on public inquiries explored the impact of public inquiries and whether they can ever meet the demands of public expectations. Speaking on the panel, leading counsel to the Post Office Inquiry Jason Beer KC suggested public inquiries need fundamental change (Legal Futures) tto allow them to make recommendations as to regulatory outcomes, award compensation, and act like old coroner’s courts in preferring a criminal indictment.
Baroness Harman, chair of the independent review of bullying and harassment at the Bar, spoke in our session on ‘evolving’ the profession’s culture and called on us all to engage with the recommendations of her report when it’s launched later this year. Baroness Harman said: “There needs to be real buy-in across the Bar on all of this… You can either be on the side of progress and actually try to stamp out this problem, or you can pick out all sorts of reasons not to do anything.”
We recognise how difficult it is for complainants to come forward, but we encourage barristers and chambers professionals to continue to report inappropriate behaviours they have experienced or witnessed. We’ve signposted the support available on our website.
Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter FRS OBE – Emeritus Professor of Statistics at the University of Cambridge, renowned statistician, communicator, and author – delivered a brilliant closing keynote, illustrating how statistical understanding can play a vital role in the legal process.
In this guest blog, Dr Sarah Cumbers, chief executive of the Royal Statistical Society, explores this role and writes, “Statistics can play a critical role in both civil and criminal cases, yet their significance in the courtroom is often overlooked and can be subject to misunderstandings.”
Attendee and Red Lion Chambers barrister Tim Kiely came away with a sense of change and optimism. He writes: “We are also, as this Conference demonstrated, a profession hungry for real change and possessed of the cause, the will and the strength to see that it happens. That hope in your chest – hold on to it.”
For more information on any of the topics discussed on the day, visit our Bar Conference 2025 resources page.