Meet the speakers

Kirsty Brimelow KC is Chair of the Bar 2026. Kirsty practises in criminal, international and public law from Doughty Street Chambers, where she is on the management board as head of the criminal law team. Kirsty was appointed Queen’s Counsel (now King’s Counsel) in 2011. Kirsty has the distinction of having led in both Civil and Criminal Courts of Appeal, the Supreme Court, the Privy Council, and the European Court of Human Rights. 

In 2021, Kirsty was appointed a deputy High Court judge in the King’s Bench Division and in 2022 appointed a Recorder. She is an accredited mediator and acts in conflict resolution. Kirsty worked in the Colombia peace process and negotiated an historic apology from the former President of Colombia to a community of farmers, for a massacre. 

Kirsty was a member of the Bar Council Public Affairs Committee and a Bar Council Young Spokesperson from 1998 to 2008. Kirsty was the first female Chair of the Bar Human Rights Committee (2012 to 2018) and served as the Vice Chair and then Chair of the Criminal Bar Association (2021 to 2023). In 2022, she led negotiations with the government of an historic increase in fees for criminal barristers. 

Kirsty is a Bencher of Gray’s Inn and was elected to the management board (2020 to 2023). She is an experienced high-level trainer, facilitator, and conference speaker in international human rights around the world, holding consultancies to the United Nations and OSCE (the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe). She has driven law change including in sexual offences law in Denmark and FGM protection orders in England and Wales.  

In 2018 Kirsty won both the First 100 Years ‘Inspirational Woman in Law Barrister of the Year’ Award and Advocate’s pro bono ‘International Barrister of the Year’ Award. She twice has featured as The Times Lawyer of the week. Kirsty is a trustee and director of the leading global environmental charity WWF UK, visiting professor at Goldsmiths Faculty of Law (2019 to 2025), and founding member of the Alliance for Lawyers at Risk. Kirsty was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts for her service to human rights. 

Lord Carnwath was a member of the UK Supreme Court from 2012 to 2020, having been a judge since 1994. He began his legal career as a practising barrister from 1968 (1980-85 Junior Counsel to the Inland Revenue; 1985 QC; 1988-94 Attorney General to HRH the Prince of Wales). He became a High Court Judge in 1994, sitting in both the Chancery Division and the Administrative Court. He went to the Court of Appeal in 2002 and to the Supreme Court in 2012. From 1998-2002 he was Chairman of the Law Commission of England and Wales.  

From 2004-2012 he was Senior President of Tribunals, overseeing the implementation of the Leggatt reforms of administrative tribunals.  

He has taken a special interest in environmental law and was a founder-member of the EU Forum of Judges for the Environment (“EUFJE”), and of the Global Judges’ Institute on 1the Environment (“GJIE”).  

Lord Carnwath is currently an Associate Member of Landmark Chambers, an Honorary Professor of UCL, a Visiting Professor of Oxford University, and a Visiting Professor in Practice at the Grantham Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at LSE.  

Prof Jo Delahunty KC, MICarb is a family law silk specialising in extreme child abuse and medically complex cases.  She is known not just for her work in court but for her preparedness over the years to speak out about toxic issues that have blighted the Bar whether that be sexual abuse, judicial bullying, its lack of diversity and the health and wealth divide between the privately funded and legal aid Bar. 

In 2025 Jo won the Family Silk of the Year award and was voted the ‘Advocate you Most want to be.’ And in 2026 published two books “We set the Bar- Fighting for Equality, Empowerment and Change’ and “Domestic Abuse in the Family Justice System. 

Jo is ranked as a ‘Star Individual’ by Chambers & Partners and a Tier 1 Leading Silk by Legal 500. She was made a Freeman of City of London for her contribution to the law , is a Recorder, a Bencher of Middle Temple and a Reader for the Queen Elizabeth II Prize for Education. 

Venetia is Counsel in Dentons' London office, practising as an employed barrister. She is an expert in financial services regulation, with insights and experience drawing on nine years in the FCA's General Counsel's Division and before that several years in the Government Legal Department including time at HM Treasury. Venetia's practice focuses on consumer finance, insurance regulation, redress issues and the application of the Consumer Duty and draws on significant drafting experience whilst at the FCA, including on the Consumer Duty. 

When not practising in financial services regulation, Venetia sits as a fee paid judge.  She was originally appointed to the First Tier Tribunal, Social Entitlement Chamber in 2019 and was subsequently appointed as a Recorder in the Family Court in 2023.

Hugh Mercer is a distinguished barrister and judge with an extensive career spanning the UK and Europe. Called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1985 and appointed King’s Counsel in 2008, he has held numerous senior roles, including Attorney General A Panel Counsel and Deputy High Court Judge. 

A specialist in international and European law, Hugh has been an active member of multiple Bars across the UK, Belgium and Northern Ireland, and has long represented the UK within the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe. He also chaired the International Committee of the Bar of England and Wales from 2022 to 2025. 

In September 2025, he was appointed as a Judge of the European Court of Human Rights.

The Rt Hon Dame Maria Miller DBE is nationally recognised as a leader on equality matters, through the award of her damehood in 2022. A long serving, senior politician, Dame Maria held ministerial posts in the coalition government, including in the Cabinet as Culture Secretary. Known for her effective, collaborative working style, Dame Maria also chaired the Women and Equalities Select Committee, producing evidence-based inquiry reports on issues, including tackling sexual harassment and bullying.

Before being elected to Parliament, Maria’s business career spanned 20 years, including company director posts in two UK communication agencies. Since leaving Parliament in 2024, Maria has been appointed to Chair the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, LHC Procurement Group and the UK charity SafeLives, dedicated to eradicating domestic abuse. Maria was appointed Commissioner for Conduct at the Bar Council in January 2026.

Ben specialises in corporate and financial crime, murder and serious organised crime, regulatory law, and professional discipline and inquests. He was called to the Bar in 1994 and took Silk in 2014.  Notable cases include the defence of David Duckenfield, the defence of Lucy Letby and the prosecution of David Barton.  He has a wide experience of expert evidence and cross-examining experts.  He has been a member of the Bar Council and is a member of JUSTICE, the Fraud Lawyers Association, and the Criminal Bar Association.  He is Deputy Head of Chambers at Exchange Chambers and is a Governing Bencher of the Inner Temple.  In addition to his practice at the Bar, he sits as an Assistant Coroner. 

Konstantina Nouka is a barrister at Nexus Chambers, specialising in criminal defence and family law. Konstantina has been diagnosed with a rare and progressive muscle-wasting condition known as Ulrich Congenital Muscular Dystrophy.

She is the Founder of Bringing [Dis]Ability to the Bar (BDABar), an organisation that supports disabled individuals who wish to pursue a career at the Bar. Through her work, Konstantina aims to dismantle the stereotypes and prejudices that affect disabled people and raise awareness of disabilities and accessibility.

Deshpal Panesar KC is a leading employment silk, specialising in complex employment disputes and high‑stakes investigations, with a particularly strong and successful appellate practice. He is widely recognised for his incisive cross‑examination, exceptional work ethic, and calm, authoritative handling of the most challenging cases. 

Deshpal is instructed across the full spectrum of employment law, acting for major corporates, trade unions, and local authorities, as well as representing claimants in matters ranging from large‑scale, multi‑claimant actions to individual cases of significant personal and legal importance. 

Beyond his practice, Deshpal plays a prominent role in the profession. He is a member of the Bar Council, former Chair of the Employment Law Bar Association (ELBA), Chair of the EAT Users Group, and a member of both the Industrial Law Society and the Employment Lawyers Association. He also writes and speaks thoughtfully on the wider realities of life at the Bar. In Counsel Magazine, Deshpal has addressed the impact of barristers’ work on physical health, advocating for practical, profession‑wide steps to support wellbeing and to help barristers build long, sustainable, and healthy careers.

Charlotte is a leading and award-winning barrister, called to the Bar in England and Wales, and in St Vincent and the Grenadines, with a diverse practice spanning commercial and chancery litigation and international arbitration.  Charlotte’s varied practice has involved acting for a range of parties from corporates to high-net-worth individuals.   

She particularly specialises in financial services disputes, acting for banks, pension funds, asset managers and insurers in commercial litigation and in both contentious and non-contentious regulatory matters involving regulators such as the Bank of England, the Prudential Regulation Authority ("PRA"), the Financial Conduct Authority, the Financial Ombudsman Service, the Pensions Ombudsman and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. She is ranked as a Leading Junior in Banking and Financial Services (including consumer credit) in Legal 500 2025 and 2026. 

Charlotte regularly acts as sole counsel and as part of large, multi-disciplinary teams, drawing on her experience as an employed barrister at the Bank of England, the UK's central bank, and at Pinsent Masons LLP, a multinational, award-winning law firm. 

She is proud of her Vincentian heritage, often working on matters arising from the Caribbean, particularly the Bahamas, Bermuda, Antigua, the Cayman Islands and St Vincent and the Grenadines, notably her Appellate practice before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and she is keen to continue developing her practice in this area. 

The immediate past Chair of the Bar of England and Wales, Samuel is an enormously respected Silk with a heavy practice across the spread of Chambers’ work, domestic and international.  

Along with mainstream construction, international arbitration, energy and professional negligence work, he specialises in offshore construction and marine engineering including dredging, together with infrastructure and utilities. In all he is cited as a Leading Silk in eight categories across the two main legal directories.  

Samuel regularly acts for clients in the courts of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and he has a thriving practice in international and domestic arbitration (recently acting in arbitrations to final hearing in Australia, Singapore, Paris, the IDRC and, most recently, a fully remote ICC arbitration), along with all forms of alternative dispute resolution. Samuel is also one of only a few international lawyers to be on the list of international arbitrators for the Indian International Arbitration Centre. 

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

Colin Wells specialises in advising advocates, litigators, solicitors, and direct access clients on a range of criminal law matters. His practice focuses on pre-charge investigations, criminal procedure (including abuse of process, disclosure, and private prosecutions) and the preparation and merits of criminal costs applications, including cases before the Senior Courts Costs Office and the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division). He also advises on criminal liability for individuals and corporate defendants, particularly in cases involving fraud, money laundering, confiscation, and related regulatory proceedings, alongside associated advocacy. 

Colin has significant experience in criminal defence work, with particular expertise in complex financial crime and criminal costs appeals. He was a Licensed Advocate on the Isle of Man from 2002 to 2008 and has undertaken Direct Access work since 2009. 

He has published through Oxford University Press "Abuse of process" 4th edition, the fifth edition is due out late this year, and has delivered training seminars for practitioners and law enforcement bodies both in the UK and internationally, including for the European Criminal Bar Association and institutions in New Zealand, Australia, the Caribbean, and the British Virgin Islands. 

In 2017 Colin was diagnosed with Parkinson’s and wrote candidly about its impact on his professional life in a February 2026 blog for the Bar Council, highlighting how he continues to practise and adapt successfully.