Our first event outside London with morning sessions focussing on Police Station representation, Magistrates’ Court advocacy and defences. The afternoon continued with engaging lectures on sentencing, forensic evidence and a rallying call for Unity Within the Profession from Mark George QC of Garden Court North Chambers. 330 Attended.
Forensic Equity, our sponsors for this event, provided three short sessions on forensic evidence, discussing how such evidence could adversely impact your client’s right to a fair trial while Garden Court North presented the rest of the day’s superb CPD training sessions.
This course was specifically aimed at criminal defence solicitors, duty solicitors, trainee solicitors, police station representatives, crime teams and their support staff and was positioned in the calendar at an optimum time for SRA and BSB compliance for all practitioners’ annual CPD requirements.
- Magistrates Court Advocacy Skills. Richard Brigden. Recent Manchester fracking protest cases prove that good advocacy and an insistence on the proper observance of the rules of evidence achieve great things in an arena where evidential principles are often sidelined
- Police Station Update/Advice – The Long View. Nina Grahame. A short section on the unhelpful consequences of no comment interviews and prepared statements at trial with ways to mitigate any damage
- Defences Update with Q and A. Brigid Baillie/Clare Ashcroft
- Sentencing Update with Q and A. Brigid Baillie/Clare Ashcroft
- Forensic Evidence. Fact or Opinion? Simon Franc, Philip Boyce, John Page. Senior scientists from Forensic Equity provide a lecture on forensic evidence and how it may adversely impact your client – Recent trends and prosecution errors, how to instruct and the do’s and don’ts of accessing evidence for re-examination.
- The Complexities of Disclosure in Concurrent Criminal and Civil Proceedings. Nina Grahame. Straightforward disclosure throws up enough problems. This session examines the additional difficulties arising in third party disclosure and criminal cases linked to concurrent family and Court of Protection proceedings
- Legal Aid and Unity Within The Profession. Mark George QC. Future implications on public funding and a dynamic call for Unity within the Profession from defence lawyers across the board. Mark recently received a standing ovation when addressing 350 members of the criminal bar on this topic.
- Unity,Judicial Review Win against MOJ and the future.Patrick Harris of Clifford Johnston Solicitors will give a talk on the London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association and the Criminal LawSolicitors Association WIN at Judicial Review against Lord Chancellor Chris Grayling’s proposed closure of 1100 legal aid crime firms.
