Evening Talks from Criminal Law Week and the CBA

Criminal Law Week and the Criminal Bar Association will be holding an online series of evening talks in January 2024, given by leading experts on topics pertinent to the everyday practice of junior barristers.

All talks take place at 18.00hrs on Zoom.

Please email the administrator to book.

Confirmed dates, speakers and topics include:

Thursday 11th January 2024 – David Wurtzel and Dr Max Lowenstein

Best barristers, best evidence: making the most of intermediaries

David Wurtzel practised at the Bar for 27 years before joining City, University of London in 2003. There he helped to devise and deliver all the training for registered intermediaries on behalf of the Ministry of Justice and in Northern Ireland. He has contributed to Criminal Law Review, and is a co-author of Vulnerable People and the Criminal Justice System (OUP) and of the 2015 Registered Intermediary Procedural Guidance Manual. He also lectures to the Bar and the judiciary. For six years he was consultant editor of Counsel, the magazine of the Bar. He is now Fellow Emeritus of City, University of London, a Bencher of Middle Temple and a Door Tenant of Red Lion Chambers.  In 2023 he published his novel, The Chosen City:  Hollywood in the 1930s. 

Youth Court communication best practice – an introduction

Dr Max Lowenstein

Principal Lecturer in Law, Department of Humanities & Law, Bournemouth University, UK.  (Barrister-non practicing*) LLB, LLM, PG.  Dip Legal Skills (Bar Vocational Course), PG Dip Research Methods, PhD in Law, Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Dr Max Lowenstein is a Barrister (non-practicing) and Principal academic in law at Bournemouth University.  He is chairman trustee at Action for Neurodiversity, a charity that seeks to offer counselling support to those with neurodiverse mental health conditions, particularly autism.  Max teaches and publishes in criminal justice, sentencing and comparative law.  He also provides gratis equality and disability law talks for his charity.

Wednesday 17th January 2024 – Daniel Greenberg CB and Andrew Campbell-Tiech KC

How to read legislation and how to avoid common mistakes

Daniel Greenberg CB is a lawyer specialising in legislation and the legislative process. He served in the Lord Chancellor’s Department (1988–1991), as Parliamentary Counsel (1991–2010), as a consultant at Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP (2010–2016) and as Counsel for Domestic Legislation in the House of Commons (2016–2022). He takes up appointment as Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards on 1 January 2023. He was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the New Year Honours List 2021, for services to Parliament. He also serves as the General Editor of Westlaw UK Annotated Statutes and Topics Encyclopaedia. He provides drafting and training services on legislation around the world. He is the Editor of Craies on Legislation, Stroud’s Judicial Dictionary and Jowitt’s Dictionary of English Law. His book Laying Down the Law was published by Thomson Reuters in 2011. He holds a number of academic appointments and interests.

Theory vs practice: the point not taken

Andrew Campbell-Tiech KC primarily practises in crime, regulatory and professional discipline, and considers each area to be in urgent need of reform. He is a recorder (criminal and civil), arbitrator, former part-time coroner and former head of Dyers Chambers and Drystone Chambers. Widely published in his chosen fields, he is also the editor of Butterworth’s Money Laundering Law.

Wednesday 24th January 2024 – Nicola Padfield KC and Sebastian Walker

Sentencing vulnerable defendants: crafting a plea and mitigation

Nicola Padfield KC (Hon) is a Professor in Criminal and Penal Justice at the Law Faculty, University of Cambridge, where she has worked for more than 30 years. She was Master of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge from 2013 to 2019 and is now a Life and Honorary Fellow. She was called to the Bar in 1978, sat as a recorder in the Crown Court from 2002 to 2014, and is a Bencher of the Middle Temple.

Sebastian Walker co-authors the sentencing chapter for Archbold Criminal Pleading, Evidence & Practice and Sentencing Principles, Procedure and Practice. He is also an editor of the Criminal Appeal Reports (Sentencing) and Current Sentencing Practice and was a contributing author to Miller on Contempt. He is a barrister at 36 Crime and a teaching associate of the Faculty of Law at the University of Cambridge. He previously taught criminal law at the London School of Economics and worked at the Law Commission and the Attorney General’s Office.

Special Offer for Pupils and newly qualified barristers on Criminal Law Week Online – Save 45%

*This offer is open to all pupil barristers and those within 3 years of call and orders must be countersigned by Head of Chambers.

Please email [email protected] for further details.