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Bar Conference 2024
Our programme features keynote addresses from the Lady Chief Justice and Lord Chancellor, as well as the Chair of the Bar and Chair of the Young Barristers’ Committee.
Ari Alibhai, QEB Hollis Whiteman
Ari Alibhai specialises in the private prosecution of criminal intellectual property infringement. He acts for multinational corporate clients in music, film, sport and broadcast media, including the Premier League, FACT, Sky and BT Sport (now TNT). He is at the forefront of ground-breaking and precedent setting cases, having undertaken almost 100 private prosecutions over a 20-year period, with an increasing focus on broadcast piracy and illicit streaming.
John Battle KC (Hon.), Head of Legal and Compliance for Independent Television News (ITN)
John works as Head of Legal and Compliance for Independent Television News (ITN). He was awarded honorary KC in December 2022. He has led the broadcast industry on the issue of cameras in court over twenty years. There is now filming of sentencing hearings in the Crown Court, the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal and most Public Inquests. In 2022 he won the Employed Barrister of the Year in Commerce, Finance, or Industry in the Bar Council’s Employed Bar Awards for his work on a Reporters’ Charter which summarises the rights of court reporters and was adopted by the Ministry of Justice and launched at the Society of Editors’ Annual Conference in May 2022.
The Rt Hon Sir Robert Buckland KC MP, Conservative MP for South Swindon
Robert is a Senior Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmini Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School. His work has so far been focused on how the use of AI has and could potentially continue to affect judgment.
In his first paper, he identified the potential risks widespread adoption of AI poses for the judicial system - bias, undermining of trust etc. Coupled with the challenges it poses for the gathering/scrutinising of evidence and content authentication.
His second paper will aim to plot a path forward with concrete recommendations for policymakers and the legal profession. This will be driven by analysis of domestic and international comparisons and engagement with practitioners (legal and technological) to ensure the sector can mitigate the risks AI poses and harness the benefits.
David Bunting, Head of Legal for Sales and Trading, Deutsche Bank AG
David works at Deutsche Bank AG, where he is Head of Legal for Sales and Trading. Over the course of 20 years, he has worked on many important matters at the bank, including the financial crisis of 2008, the Eurozone crisis of 2009, and the resulting wave of regulatory reforms to make the financial system safer. He recently led the bank’s legal work to phase out the Libor benchmark rate.
David is a member of the Bar Council, and Junior Vice Chair of the Bar Association for Commerce Finance and Industry (BACFI).
The Rt Hon Alex Chalk KC MP, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
Alex Chalk KC MP was appointed Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice on 21 April 2023. He was Minister of State in the Ministry of Defence from October 2022 to April 2023 and was formerly HM Solicitor General for England and Wales and the Prisons and Probation Minister.
Prior to being elected in 2015, Alex was a barrister and prosecuted and defended in cases concerning terrorism, international fraud, and homicide.
As Justice Minister, Alex led the Domestic Abuse Bill through the Commons. As HM Solicitor General, Alex oversaw the work of the Law Officers’ Departments which includes the Crown Prosecution Service and Serious Fraud Office.
Grace Cheng, 39 Essex Chambers
Grace Cheng is an English barrister and qualified solicitor in Hong Kong. She has rights of audience before the AIFC Court (Kazakhstan) and DIFC Courts (Dubai) and has been granted full registration as a registered foreign lawyer at the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC).
Grace is a versatile advocate, specialising in commercial litigation and arbitration, and with experience in many different areas of the law. She has been included on the Legal Services Panel for the Government of the Virgin Islands. In addition to her practice as counsel, Grace is a sought-after arbitrator and adjudicator.
Grace will be speaking about alternative dispute resolution.
Lady Chief Justice Carr
The Rt Hon. the Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill became Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales on 1 October 2023.
As Lady Chief Justice, she is the first female President of the Courts of England and Wales and Head of the Judiciary of England and Wales. Her judicial career began in 2009 in crime. She was appointed to the High Court, Queen’s Bench Division in 2013, and became the second female High Court Judge to sit in the Commercial Court and the first female High Court Judge to sit in the Technology and Construction Court in 2014.
She was elevated to the Court of Appeal in 2020. She was appointed as the Senior Judicial Commissioner and Vice Chair of the Judicial Appointments Commission shortly thereafter, remaining in that role until January 2023. She was a temporary Investigatory Powers Commissioner during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Lady Chief Justice will be delivering a keynote address.
Adrian Darbishire KC, Joint Head of Chambers at QEB Hollis Whiteman Chambers
Adrian Darbishire KC is a highly regarded criminal practitioner, specialising in financial crime and health and safety/involuntary manslaughter allegations. He has acted in many private prosecutions and was a Managing Editor of the 2022 PPA Code.
His reported cases include Kay (candour and setting aside summons); Haigh (costs against prosecutor); Boris Johnson (test on grant/set aside) and most recently Morjaria (candour, set aside and abuse).
Adrian will be speaking about the reform of private prosecutions in the wake of the Post Office scandal.
Andrew Day, St Ives Chambers
Andrew is a Birmingham-based family practitioner, with 20 years’ experience as a specialist in complex financial remedy work and a particular interest in non-court dispute resolution.
He sits as an arbitrator under the Institute of Family Law Arbitrators’ financial scheme and is regularly instructed as a neutral evaluator for the purposes of private financial dispute resolution appointments. He recently began training as a mediator under the Family Mediation Council scheme.
He sits as a Recorder in the Family Court and the Financial Remedies Court.
Andrew will be speaking about alternative dispute resolution.
Amrit Kaur Dhanoa, Chair of the Young Bar
Amrit became Chair of the Young Bar because she wanted to play a greater role in ensuring young barristers’ voices are heard on a range of issues, that their concerns brought to the fore and that they feel confident that the YBC represents their needs and interests.
The early years of practice for a junior barrister can be filled with opportunities, but challenges too. Amrit therefore feels it is essential that the YBC remains a vital voice for the Young Bar as they navigate those crucial early years and look forward to building successful practices.
Amrit will be giving a speech and chairing the session with the Lady Chief Justice.
James Hines KC, Co-Chair of the Bar Council’s Ethics Committee
James Hines KC is Co-Chair of the Bar Council’s Ethics Committee. He practises in crime, commercial fraud and extradition at Three Raymond Buildings, Gray’s Inn.
James will be talking about Navigating ethical dilemmas at the Bar.
Spenser Hilliard, Field Court Chambers
Spenser is a very experienced barrister and commercial mediator who has taught mediation skills extensively both nationally and internationally.
He chairs the Bar Council ADR Panel and is a member of the Judicial ADR Liaison Committee.
He is currently focused on ensuring that the Bar maximises the opportunities presented by the recent case of Churchill v Merthyr Tydfil.
Michel Kallipetis KC, Quadrant Chambers
Michel Kallipetis KC has 40 years’ experience as a practising barrister in the field of general commercial, professional negligence and employment work, and some 15 years’ sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge sitting in Queen’s Bench, Chancery and the TC.
After leaving Littleton Chambers, of which he had been Head, he founded Independent Mediators Ltd to practice as a full-time mediator. He is recognised in The Legal Directories as an expert in his field in mediation in the UK and internationally.
Michel will be speaking about alternative dispute resolution.
Baroness Helena Kennedy of the Shaws KC
Baroness Kennedy KC is one of the country’s most distinguished lawyers. She is a Bencher of Gray’s Inn, an Honorary Writer to the Signet and the recipient of 42 Honorary Degrees in recognition of her work on women and the law and on widening participation in higher education. She was created a life peer in 1997. Over the last thirty years she has been Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University, Chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University, President of SOAS and Principal of Mansfield College Oxford. She was Founder of the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights at Oxford in 2018.
Helena Kennedy’s public service has covered many fields, including as Chair of the British Council (1998-2004). She has chaired many public inquiries, including the Inquiry into Sudden Infant Death, an Equality and Human Rights Commission Inquiry in Scotland addressing Human Trafficking, and the Scottish Parliamentary Inquiry into Misogyny. She is President of Justice, the law reform think tank, and director of the IBA’s Institute of Human Rights. She is President of the Helena Kennedy Foundation which gives bursaries to disadvantaged students.
In 2021, Baroness Kennedy evacuated 102 women judges and prosecutors from Afghanistan. She is currently working for the President of Ukraine on war crimes and trying to recover the thousands of children who have been abducted from Ukraine by Russian forces.
Baroness Kennedy will be chairing the session about the future of international courts.
Judge Joanna Korner CMG KC, International Criminal Court (England and Wales representative)
Judge Joanna Korner CMG KC has practised criminal law for more than ten years as a judge and 45 years as a barrister. Prior to joining the ICC, she has served since 2012 as a judge of the Crown Court of England and Wales, trying the most serious and complex criminal cases including cases of fraud and murder. King's Counsel since 1993, she has also prosecuted and defended in numerous cases in the courts of England and Wales.
Her experience includes a total of eight years (1999-2004 and 2009-2012) as a senior prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
As a renowned expert, Judge Korner has organised and taught on numerous training programmes on international criminal law and advocacy for judges and lawyers from different regions. Between 2004 and 2005, she was Senior Legal Adviser to the Chief Prosecutor of Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the establishment of a War Crimes Section in the country's State Prosecutor's Office.
In 2004 she was Appointed Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (CMG) for services to international law.
Judge Korner will be speaking about the future of international courts.
