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Bar Conference 2024
Our programme featured keynote addresses from the Lady Chief Justice, 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.
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).
Sir David Calvert-Smith, retired High Court judge
Sir David Calvert-Smith is a retired High Court Judge and former Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). He no longer practises at the Bar but provides bespoke and often high-profile advisory and consultancy services as an independent investigator, expert witness, trainer and advisor. His work often involves an international element and is invariably highly confidential, involving public bodies and high-profile corporates.
As DPP, Sir David implemented the biggest structural change ever in a government department, following the recommendations of the Glidewell Report. During his career at the Bar he was 1st Senior Treasury Counsel, Panelled Counsel to the SFO, and Chair of the Criminal Bar Association.
Sir David headed the Formal Investigation of the Commission for Racial Equality into racism within the Police Service of England and Wales and was appointed Solicitor of Customs and Excise.
As a High Court Judge, Sir David was appointed significant responsibilities. He was in charge of the Terrorism List and also held the position of Presiding Judge of the South Eastern Circuit.
Sir David rejoined the Parole Board as a member and continues to sit as a judicial member of the Board. Sir David has recently been appointed as an arbitrator by Sport Resolutions.
Lord Clement-Jones CBE, Member of the House of Lords
Lord Clement-Jones was made CBE for political services in 1988 and a life peer in 1998. He is the Liberal Democrat House of Lords spokesperson for Science, Innovation and Technology; former Chair of the House of Lords Select Committee on AI; former member of AI in Weapons Systems Select Committee; member of Industry and Regulators Committee; Co-founder and Co-Chair of APPG on AI; founding member of OECD’s Parliamentary Group on AI; Consultant on AI Policy and Regulation to global law firm, DLA Piper; Chair of Trust Alliance Group (formerly Ombudsman Services); Chair of Council of Queen Mary University London.
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.
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.
The Rt Hon the Lord Falconer of Thoroton, Labour Peer
Lord Falconer was called to the Bar in 1974. He practiced in Fountain Court, commercial chambers, first as a pupil then as a tenant for 23 years. He took silk in 1991, became the Solicitor General in 1997, Housing Minister in 2001, and Lord Chancellor in 2003. He was responsible for the creation of the Supreme Court, the Judicial Appointments Commission, the transformation of the role of Lord Chancellor and the passage of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. He has been a partner in Gibson Dunn for 16 years. He is the past chair of Amicus Horizon Housing Association, the Globe Theatre and the Sage, Gateshead. He is a Labour Peer.
Lord Falconer will be speaking in the Justice at the Polls session.
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.
Baroness 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.
Baroness 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.
HH 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.
