Speakers

Mark Allan, Chief Executive of RCJ Advice – Citizens Advice & Law Centre

Originally based out of the Royal Courts of Justice to help litigants in person who couldn’t afford a lawyer, RCJ Advice now provides civil and family legal advice to people from across England and Wales. This also includes running a national domestic abuse legal advice service, a miscarriage of justice support service, and the only court-based child contact centre in the country.  

Mark’s background is in broader social justice, including running the homeless charity Jimmy’s in Cambridge, which pioneered modular homes for people who’d been rough sleeping, and at Toynbee Hall in East London, which runs a broad range of community services, including one of the oldest free legal advice clinics in the country.

Mark is speaking at Justice under review: challenges, reform and renewal in the system

Marion Baker, Co-founder and a partner of Balint Legal

Marion is co-founder and a partner of Balint Legal, which brings Balint groups (facilitated reflective practice peer support groups), renowned across the medical profession, to the legal sector. Marion qualified as a lawyer at Herbert Smith Freehills, spending 20 years at the firm in commercial litigation and partnership management.  

She subsequently re-qualified in executive and leadership coaching at the business-focussed Tavistock Institute of Human Relations, and developed a successful coaching practice focussing on legal, educational and business leadership. Specialist interest and qualification in workplace group dynamics and reflective practice led Marion to Balint group work and the introduction of Balint groups to law. 

Marion is speaking at Reflective practice: a powerful tool for barrister wellbeing

Lord Charles Banner KC, Keating Chambers

Lord Charles Banner KC was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2004, to the Bar of Northern Ireland in 2010 and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2019. Since 2024, he has been a working peer in the House of Lords, in which capacity he sits as a legislator in the upper house of the UK Parliament. Charles has a heavyweight domestic and international practice at Keating Chambers, principally focused on planning and environmental law, public law, government contracts, public procurement subsidy control and commercial disputes, especially in the context of development, infrastructure, construction, energy and real estate.  

He is recommended as a leading silk in a total of 8 practice areas by Chambers & Partners (Band 1 for planning) and Legal 500. He is also ranked in the top two planning silks in Great Britain in the 2024 edition of Planning Magazine’s annual Planning Legal Survey. In April 2024, Charles was featured as The Times’s Lawyer of the Week. In 2024, he led the Independent Review of Legal Challenges to Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project, the recommendations of which are now being taken forward in proposed legislation. 

Lord Charles is speaking at Planning for development and the environment – impacts on public law

Jason Beer KC, Head of 5 Essex Chambers

Jason was called to the Bar in 1992, was Junior Counsel to the Crown (A Panel) from 2005 to 2011, took silk in 2011, and is presently Head of 5 Essex Chambers. He sits as a Deputy High Court Judge (KBD and ChD) and as a Recorder in Crime on the South-Eastern Circuit.  He specialises in public law, in particular public inquiries - he has been instructed in some 25 such inquiries, including the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, the Hutton Inquiry, the Al-Sweady Inquiry, the Thirlwall Inquiry and the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry. 

Jason is speaking at Public inquiries: truth seeking or time wasting?

Her Honour Judge Carole Burgher, Circuit Judge and lead family drug and alcohol court (FDAC) Judge at the Birmingham and Solihull FDAC HMCTS

Her Honour Judge Carole Burgher grew up in Birmingham. She attended a local comprehensive school and has a degree in English with drama from King Alfred’s College, Winchester (now the University of Winchester). She completed the CPE and Law Society Finals at Wolverhampton Polytechnic, winning an award for best student. She qualified as a solicitor in 1991. In 2021 Judge Burgher was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Law from the University of Winchester and in 2022 was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Literature from Newman University.  

For over 23 years, Judge Burgher, who was a member of the Law Society Children’s Panel, represented children and families in public and private family law proceedings in Birmingham and the West Midlands. From 2008, Judge Burgher was a Deputy District Judge (Civil) and in 2014 she became a full-time District Judge and was one of the first two District Judges appointed to sit in the Family Drug and Alcohol Court in Milton Keynes. At the time the Milton Keynes FDAC was the third such court in the country.  

Judge Burgher became a Family Circuit Judge in February 2018 and has been instrumental in creating the Birmingham and Solihull Family Drug and Alcohol Court. The FDAC opened in March 2021 with a two-year pilot and continues to produce impressive outcomes for children and their families. Judge Burgher is the lead FDAC judge and feels very privileged to work with the families who need the court, all those that made it possible and the team of experts who support it. She is now the lead judge for Private Family Law in Birmingham and has led the introduction of the Pathfinder Pilot court that began in May last year.  

Her Honour Judge Carole is speaking at the future of family law – lessons learned and next steps for a more effective system

Dr Natalie Byrom, Researcher and Policy Advisor

Dr Natalie Byrom is a researcher and policy adviser with expertise in justice system reform, AI, data-driven technologies and justice data governance. She has a track record of leading high-quality research and translating this into policy impact.  

Between 2018 and 2020 Dr Byrom was seconded to the UK Ministry of Justice as expert adviser on data in the context of an ongoing £1bn programme of digital court reform. She has also completed projects for the OECD on justice data and AI. In 2024 Natalie was commissioned by the Nuffield Foundation to lead a review of current challenges in access to justice across England and Wales.  

Dr Byrom has given evidence to a number of parliamentary committees including the Justice Select Committee and the House of Lords Constitution Committee on issues relating to justice system reform, data collection and governance. Her writing on these issues has been published in the legal and national press.  

She is part of the BBC Expert Women Network, is a member of the Civil Justice Council for England and Wales, the MoJ Senior Data Governance Panel and the OPRC Sub Committee. She is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at UCL Laws.  

Natalie is speaking at Justice under review: challenges, reform and renewal in the system

Brian Cahill, barrister and member of the Bar Council's Ethics Committee

Called to the Bar in 1977, Brian joined ICL as an in-house lawyer before joining Glaxo (now GSK) to lead their legal department. He remained there for 28 years, working in European and international roles leading teams of lawyers in many countries. 

After retiring from GSK Brian now works part-time as an employed lawyer, legal adviser and director for start-up companies including holding a non-executive director role at Cambridge Dream Limited which provides summer and winter camps at UK universities for foreign pupils and students aspiring to attend university in the UK.  

Brian has previously been an elected member of the Bar Council and is currently a member of the Ethics Committee with particular interest in ethical issues faced by employed barristers in industry. 

Brian is speaking at Navigating ethical dilemmas at the Bar 

Lady Chief Justice Carr of England and Wales  

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 and presenting the Lifetime Achievement in Pro-bono: the Sydney Elland Goldsmith Award

Andrew Day, St Ives Chambers 

Andrew is a family practitioner, with over 20 years’ experience as a specialist in complex financial remedy work and a particular interest in non-court dispute resolution. 

He is qualified as an arbitrator under the Institute of Family Law Arbitrators’ financial scheme. He is regularly instructed as an evaluator for the purposes of private financial dispute resolution appointments.  He is a resolution-trained family and hybrid mediator. 

He is a member of the Bar Council’s ADR panel and co-authored its recently published guidance on neutral evaluation. 

He sits as a Recorder in the Family Court and the Financial Remedies Court. 

Andrew is speaking at The future of family law – lessons learned and next steps for a more effective system

Kate Eves OBE, Independent Consultant on Custody & Detention Safety and Effective Oversight

Kate Eves OBE chaired the Brook House Inquiry, the first statutory inquiry into abuse in immigration detention in the United Kingdom.  

Kate has over 25 years’ experience of complex investigations, research and inspections within secure criminal justice settings. She has investigated prisoner homicides, suicides and natural cause deaths in prisons and jails in both the United States and the United Kingdom and was formerly the Head of Violence Reduction Strategy for the HM Prison Service. She is currently a member of the Independent Advisory Panel on Preventing Deaths in Custody.  

In the United States, Kate has worked with federal, state and city jurisdictions, including the New York City Board of Correction, where she developed and implemented the methodology for death investigations across the city's jails. She also worked in public and private prisons across the United States, interviewing victims of sexual violence while incarcerated and assessing compliance with the federal government’s Prison Rape Elimination Act.   

Kate is speaking at Public Inquiries: truth seeking or time wasting?

Alistair Gray, Financial Times

Alistair Gray is law courts correspondent at the Financial Times, covering the cases of greatest interest to FT readers as well as broader legal and justice themes. 

Alistair is speaking at Justice under review: challenges, reform and renewal in the system

The Rt Hon the Baroness Harman KC 

Harriet Harman KC was MP for the diverse inner-city constituency of Camberwell and Peckham from 1982 to 2024. Joining a House of Commons which was 97% male, she has been politics’ most prominent champion for women’s rights, in a parliamentary career which spanned more than four decades. She had three children while an MP.   

Harriet was the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2015 and was the Shadow Deputy Prime Minister in 2010 to 2015. She has twice served as Interim Leader of the Labour Party in 2010 and 2015. She was the first woman Labour politician to answer Prime Minister’s Questions.  

In 2017, Harriet became the Mother of the House of Commons, the UK’s longest serving woman MP.  

Harriet chaired the House of Commons Privileges Committee inquiry which found in 2023 that the former Prime Minister Boris Johnson misled Parliament over “party gate”. 

In 2024 she was appointed to the House of Lords as a life Peer.  

She is Chair of The Fawcett Society, the UK's leading charity campaigning for women's rights. 

In 2024, Harriet was appointed by the Chair of the Bar to lead the independent review of bullying, harassment and sexual harassment in the barristers’ profession. 

The Rt Hon. the Baroness Harman KC is speaking at All change please: evolving the culture at the Bar 

James Hines KC, Three Raymond Buildings

James Hines KC acts in major international fraud, crime and extradition cases, both prosecuting and defending. James has acted in numerous SFO, FCA, and CMA cases. He is Chair of the Fraud Lawyers’ Association. He is currently defending in  SFO v London Mining Plc (bribery of government officials in Sierra Leone) due to be heard in spring 2026, and, on the prosecution side, he is instructed by the SFO in the Axiom Ince trial, he is also instructed in the Libor appeal in the Supreme Court. 

In crime he has acted in all areas. Recent cases include a number of murder cases including Operation Rockrose, a contract killing, an EncroChat case. 

Notable clients include Silvio Berlusconi, a suspect in the 1MDB trial in Malaysia, Glenn Mulcaire (News of the World phone hacking) and ‘the Nat West Three’. 

Called 1982, Silk 2015. James is Co-Chair of the Ethics Committee and is a visiting professor at BPP University Law School. 

James is speaking at Navigating ethical dilemmas at the Bar 

Elizabeth Isaacs KC, Head of St Ives Chambers

Elizabeth is the Head of St Ives Chambers, a specialist child law silk and sits as a Family Division Deputy High Court Judge.  She has an established national reputation for a compassionate, pragmatic and strategic approach, excellent advocacy and forensic preparation in complex public law cases.  Elizabeth has substantial expertise in acting for all parties in complex care, adoption and wardship proceedings and has a detailed knowledge of the legal and social care issues relating to local authority planning and decision making for children. 

Elizabeth is speaking at the future of family law – lessons learned and next steps for a more effective system

Suzanne Jacobs, Co-founder and a partner of Balint Legal

Suzanne is co-founder and a partner of Balint Legal, which brings Balint groups (facilitated reflective practice peer support groups), long-established across the medical profession, to the legal sector. Suzanne qualified and practised as a lawyer at Herbert Smith Freehills, spending 25 years at the firm in commercial litigation, and subsequently as director of the executive office focusing on strategic planning, implementation and practice management.  

Suzanne went on to take up major leadership roles including as CEO of a not-for-profit organisation, trustee of several charities and consultancy work. She now specialises in Balint group work across the legal profession. 

Suzanne is speaking at Reflective practice: a powerful tool for barrister wellbeing

Leon Kazakos KC, Former Leader of the South Eastern Circuit

Leon Kazakos KC is a barrister in practice at 2 Hare Court, Chambers of Jonathan Laidlaw KC. Called in 1999 at Lincoln’s Inn he took silk in 2020. He has a wide ranging and diverse defence practice; representing individuals and companies across England and Wales who face serious criminal and regulatory allegations.  

In 2022 he was elected Leader of the South Eastern Circuit, serving until the end of last year. He is committed to the efforts across the Bar to improve diversity and inclusion and to achieve equality in the profession.  He is an advocacy tutor, a trainer of pupillage supervisors and mentors both within the profession and to aspiring barristers through a variety of Bar related organisations.  

In 2024 he was appointed Vice Chair of the Kalisher Trust, a charity that has, over the last three decades transformed lives by encouraging and inspiring young people of ability, commitment and ambition to achieve their potential through the development of advocacy skills and participation in other programmes and thus develop a career at the criminal bar. He is a contributing author in corporate crime to LexisNexis and a contributor to Banks on Sentence. 

Leon is speaking at All change please: evolving the culture at the Bar 

Richard Kimblin KC 

Marc Mason, Counsellor and Senior Lecturer in Law and Psychology 

Marc Mason brings experience of practice as a family barrister and humanistic counsellor, with insights from over two decades of academic research into law and legal professions, and qualifications and training in counselling, psychotherapy and group facilitation. His current practices are as a counsellor with a special interest in supporting lawyers and as an academic teaching and researching across disciplines of psychology, law and social sciences. 

His research has examined the changing landscape of regulation at the Bar, as well as the experiences of LGBTQ+ barristers. His most recently published research was an examination of the ways that solicitors have used clinical supervision to support their practices, their professional development and their well-being. 

More information about Marc and his work can be found at www.lawyertherapy.co.uk 

Marc is speaking at Reflective practice: a powerful tool for barrister wellbeing

Charlotte May KC, 8 New Square

Charlotte is a specialist practitioner in intellectual property and media an entertainment. She was called to the Bar in 1995 and was the first female to be appointed as IP Treasury Junior in 2008. She took silk in 2014 and was appointed a Deputy High Court Judge in 2021. Charlotte was one of the original members of the Bar Council Wellbeing Working Group, playing a key role in the design and content of the Wellbeing at the Bar website when it was first launched in 2014. She only left the group in 2024 to take up the new challenge of assisting Barbara Mills KC with her vision of making wellbeing a more important part of daily practice. Charlotte also sits on the Chancery Bar Wellbeing Committee and is the head of the Equality, Diversity and Wellbeing Committee in her chambers. 

Charlotte is speaking at Reflective practice: a powerful tool for barrister wellbeing

The Right Honourable Sir Andrew McFarlane, President of the Family Division, Courts and Tribunal Judiciary 

Andrew McFarlane was called to the Bar in 1977 and practised in chambers in Birmingham until 1993 when he moved to specialist family law chambers in London. He appeared at all levels of court including the House of Lords and the European Court of Human Rights. He was appointed as a QC in 1998. 

In April 2005 he was appointed to the High Court, Family Division and was, for five years, the Family Division Liaison Judge for the Midland Circuit. He was the legal member of the Government ‘Family Justice Review’ Panel. 

In July 2011 he was appointed to be a Lord Justice of Appeal sitting full time in the Court of Appeal in London. On 28 July 2018 Sir Andrew succeeded Sir James Munby as President of the Family Division and Head of Family Justice. 

Together with the late David Hershman he is the co-author of a loose-leaf legal text book entitled “Children: Law and Practice”. In addition, he has contributed to other publications and lectured throughout the UK and abroad. 

Sir Andrew has been a trustee of YoungMinds (the national young person’s mental health charity) and is Patron of HOPE Family Centre (Bromyard). 

In addition to being Chancellor of the Diocese of Exeter, Sir Andrew was Chair of the Church of England Clergy Discipline Commission and President of Clergy Discipline Tribunals for five years until 2019. 

Sir Andrew will have a recording presented at The future of family law – lessons learned and next steps for a more effective system

Dr Tom McNeil, CEO of The JABBS Foundation

Tom makes strategic grants to prevent women from being caught in the criminal justice system. He sits on the MoJ Women’s Justice Board and is a Criminal Justice Alliance trustee. 

Tom started his career as a commercial lawyer and became a charity specialist. Later, as the West Midlands’ Assistant Police and Crime Commissioner, he initiated and supported innovative projects including one of the UK’s first women’s problem-solving courts. 

He has a social policy and criminology PhD from the University of Birmingham and policy fellowships at the University of Cambridge and York University. 

Tom is speaking at Justice under review: challenges, reform and renewal in the system

Sam Mercer, Head of Policy: Equality & Diversity and Corporate Social Responsibility, Bar Council

Sam joined the Bar Council in June 2013 and is responsible for the design and delivery of equality, diversity, and inclusion support for the profession. This includes equality and diversity training and good practice guidance, as well as the provision of direct advice and support to chambers and individuals.  

Sam has been responsible for high-profile programmes, such as Wellbeing at the Bar, the Bar Council’s work on Bullying and Harassment (Talk to Spot) and Earnings Inequality. She co-authored the first Race Report (2021) and latest Report (2024). Sam has a keen interest in modernising working practices at the Bar.  

With a team of 4, her remit extents to wider CSR issues including education and careers outreach; sustainability and pro bono/volunteering, the young and employed Bars. 

Prior to joining the Bar Council, Sam set-up and ran the leading diversity and inclusion charity on age and employment and led the workplace division in Business in the Community. She is an award-winning communicator on diversity and inclusion issues and has worked on this agenda across a wide range of private and public sector organisations and charities (both in the UK and overseas). Sam has a Masters in Corporate Social Responsibility. 

Sam is chairing Reflective practice: a powerful tool for barrister wellbeing

Barbara Mills KC, Chair of the Bar of England and Wales

Barbara Mills KC is Chair of the Bar 2025. She is joint head of chambers at 4PB and practises in family law specialising in difficult, complex and sensitive cases concerning children, often with an international element. Barbara is an arbitrator and a mediator committed to non-court resolutions, sits as a deputy High Court judge, and has been a recorder on the South Eastern Circuit for over 10 years. Barbara is also a governing bencher at Inner Temple. 

Earlier this year Barbara set out her priorities for 2025 in an inaugural address: raising the profile of the family Bar (including in relation to tackling violence against women and girls), enhancing the wellbeing of the profession, making further strides on equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), and continuing to press for the resources needed to restore the justice system. 

Barbara is delivering the Welcome address, chairing All change please: evolving the culture at the Bar and chairing the keynote address by the Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales

Fenner Moeran KC, Co-Chair, Bar Council Ethics Committee

Fenner Moeran KC was called in 1996 and took silk in 2014. He is one of the two co-chairs of the Bar Council’s Ethics Committee since 2023, having joined the committee over 20 years ago.  Within the Ethics Committee, he has specialisations in civil issues relating to disclosure, confidentiality and conflicts of duty.  At the Bar he has a wide-ranging commercial Chancery practice, with specialisms in trusts, civil fraud, pensions and financial services.  

Fenner is speaking at Navigating ethical dilemmas at the Bar 

Lord Norton of Louth (Philip Norton), Professor of Government, Director of the Centre for Legislative Studies, University of Hull, and Chair, House of Lords Select Committee on Statutory Inquiries

When Lord Norton was appointed to his chair in 1986 he was, at 35, the youngest professor of politics in the country. 

He is Chair of the History of Parliament Trust, President of the Study of Parliament Group, and editor – and founder – of The Journal of Legislative Studies. He is also Chair of the Higher Education Commission. His publications include 36 books (50 if new editions are included), including Governing Britain and his most recent, The 1922 Committee: Power Behind the Scenes, and over 200 scholarly articles, including in journals such as Public Law. He is the recipient of the 2022 PSA Sir Isaiah Berlin Prize. 

He was elevated to the peerage in 1998 and was the first Chair of the House of Lords Constitution Committee. In 2024, he chaired the House of Lords Select Committee on Statutory Inquiries. 

He has been described in The House Magazine – the journal of both Houses of Parliament – as ‘our greatest living expert on Parliament’.  

Lord Norton of Louth is speaking at Public Inquiries: truth seeking or time wasting?

Ash Patel, Programme Head for Justice at the Nuffield Foundation

For nearly 25 years Ash has conducted and commissioned empirical social research within the socio-legal and related fields. He brings specialist expertise in complex and mixed methods research and evaluation focusing on low income and disadvantaged groups, and has been privileged to be involved in leading access to justice and legal needs research.  

In his current role, he is responsible for developing the Foundation’s justice portfolio to strengthen access to justice and advice sector related research and support the operational effectiveness of the justice system. Prior to joining Nuffield Foundation, he held senior analytical and research positions at the Learning and Work Institute (L&W), Ministry of Justice and Legal Services Research Centre. 

Ash is speaking at Justice under review: challenges, reform and renewal in the system

Harpreet Sandhu KC, Leader of the Midland Circuit

Harpreet Sandhu KC became Leader of the Midland Circuit in October 2024. He took silk in 2022 (in his fifteenth year of practice) and was appointed a Bencher of Gray’s Inn in the same year.   

Harpreet practises in criminal law from No5 Barristers’ Chambers and is ranked as a leading silk by Chambers UK and the Legal 500.  

He prosecutes and defends in grave and complex cases, including those of alleged homicide, terrorism, drug trafficking, fraud and serious sexual offences.  He is instructed to prosecute by the CPS’ Complex Casework Units, Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division and London Homicide Unit.   

Harpreet is recognised for his work in representing police officers in the criminal courts, in disciplinary proceedings and before the Police Appeals Tribunal.  

Harpreet is delivering the Welcome address