Vision for Justice 2023 and Access Denied: Annual Conference Opening Evening

Chair of the Bar of England and Wales

Mark Fenhalls KC is Chair of the Bar of England and Wales 2022. 

Mark’s practice is principally in crime, business crime and regulatory compliance. 

Mark was Chair of the Criminal Bar Association (2015/16) and Leader of the South Eastern Circuit (2019-2020). He is a Bencher of Gray’s Inn and Vice Chair of The Kalisher Trust.

Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales

Lord Burnett was appointed Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales on 1 October 2017. He is President of all the Courts of England and Wales and sits in both the Criminal and Civil divisions of the Court of Appeal, in the Divisional Court and also, by invitation, in the UK Supreme Court.

Lord Burnett was called to the Bar in 1980 where he became a pupil and then a member of Temple Garden Chambers. At the Bar Lord Burnett’s practice was in common law and public law. In the early part of his career he undertook a broad range of common law work and thereafter he focused on public and administrative law, personal injury and health and safety law, including acting as junior counsel to the King’s Cross Fire inquiry and to the inquiry into the convictions of the Guildford Four and Maguire family. He was involved in inquiries into the Southall (1997) and Ladbroke Grove (1999) rail crashes and the inquests into the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Al Fayed.

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Legal Aid Barrister of the Year 2022, One Pump Court

Amean specialises in family law with a practice predominately in the Family Court, High Court (Family Division) and the Court of Appeal, undertaking publicly funded work representing parents and children. 

Prior to coming to the Bar, Amean worked at Release – an NGO providing legal services to hard to reach client groups in all areas of common law including housing, welfare benefits and debt advice. 

Amean regularly speaks at Career events through Lincoln’s Inn, he trains law students in advocacy for mock trials at Brunel University and maintains a commitment to undertaking pro-bono work.  He is a member of the Pupillage Committee and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee within Chambers. 

Amean is the first British Yemeni barrister in England and Wales and in 2022 Amean was awarded Legal Aid Barrister of the Year.

Freelance consultant and former Interim Director Legal Action Group

Carol was a practising solicitor for many years in local government, a law centre, private practice and Shelter. In 2008 she became Director of the membership organisation Legal Aid Practitioners Group. In 2019-2021 was Interim Director of the charity Legal Action Group. Carol now works as a freelance consultant in the legal sector and is a trustee of Coram Children’s Legal Centre, Advice Services Alliance and the Access to Justice Foundation as well as co-chairing the Legal and Advice Sector Round Table.

Vice-chair Elect Bar Council of England and Wales, Keating Chambers

Samuel is Vice-Chair Elect of the Bar Council and will be Vice-Chair in 2023. 

Samuel is a silk at Keating Chambers. Along with mainstream construction, energy and professional negligence work, his particular specialities are offshore construction and marine engineering including dredging, together with infrastructure and utilities. He regularly acts for clients in the courts of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and has a thriving practice in international and domestic arbitration (recently acting in arbitrations to final hearing in Australia, Singapore, Paris, Dubai, the IDRC and a fully remote ICC arbitration), along with all forms of alternative dispute resolution.

Samuel was appointed Standing Counsel for the National House Building Council (NHBC), the market leading insurer of new and refurbished residential properties in the UK, for whom he acts for claims, recoveries and against personal guarantors. 

Samuel is an Accredited Mediator, Adjudicator and Dispute Resolution Board panellist and has acted as Mediator in domestic, international and remote mediations. He also regularly acts as mediation and negotiation advocate.