Annual Conference 2024

As Expert Witnesses come under continual scrutiny in the courts, this year’s conference will provide essential insight and practical advice to help you further develop your knowledge and skills, get instructed, and win repeat business. We will hear from senior members of the judiciary, solicitors, and experienced experts as we reflect on important legal updates and ethical issues and consider what instructing parties are looking for. You will also be able to participate in a range of practical interactive sessions and discussions which will enable you to reflect on your practice.

The Rt. Hon. Sir Keith Lindblom

The Rt. Hon. Sir Keith John Lindblom was called to the Bar in 1980 and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1996, a recorder in 2001 and a deputy High Court judge in 2009.

He was appointed as a judge of the High Court in 2010. In January 2013 he was appointed President of the Upper Tribunal Lands Chamber, in April 2014 he was appointed as lead judge of the Planning Court.

In November 2015 he was appointed a judge of the Court of Appeal, where he is the Supervising Lord Justice for Planning.

He was appointed as Vice-Senior President of Tribunals on 23 March 2018 and as Senior President of Tribunals on 19th September 2020

The Hon. Mrs. Justice Bacon DBE

The Hon. Mrs. Justice Bacon DBE was called to the Bar in 1998. She became a Deputy High Court Judge in 2017. She was appointed as a High Court Judge in the Chancery Division in October 2020. She is the youngest woman ever to be appointed as a full time High Court Judge. In February 2022, she was appointed as the President of the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber). She also hears cases in the Patents Court.

Kitty St Aubyn

Kitty was called to the Bar in 2010 and has over 12 years’ experience as a Barrister in trials and senior appellate courts, professional disciplinary tribunals, inquests, and public inquiries. From 2011-2022 she practiced at the leading set 3 Raymond Buildings, acting both as sole and led counsel. Kitty now practices as an employed barrister at CMS, a multinational law firm, where she specialises in criminal law, financial sanctions, investigations, and compliance, representing businesses and individuals in contentious and non-contentious matters.

Professor Penny Cooper

Penny was called to the Bar in 1990. In 2002 she moved into academia and became a professor in 2009. She co-founded and chaired The Advocate's Gateway – this free online resource is endorsed by the senior judiciary and contains best practice guides for cross-examination of vulnerable witnesses and parties. Penny devised ‘the ground rules approach’ for witness evidence, a system now used around the globe.

Penny is a visiting Professor at the University of London, and an academic associate at 39 Essex Chambers, London. She works with international law firms, governments and judicial training organisations in many jurisdictions on a variety of projects; at the heart of everyone is the aim of supporting witness participation. And when she is not doing that, she loves nothing more than cycling to the Devon coast with a flask of tea in her pannier and having a dip in the sea with her friends.

The Honourable Mrs Justice Cockerill DBE

Mrs Justice Cockerill was educated at her local state primary school and then Lady Eleanor Holles School (on the Assisted Places Scheme) before reading Jurisprudence at Oxford. She was called to the Bar by Lincoln’s Inn in 1990 and joined Essex Court Chambers (then 4 Essex Court) in 1991. She practised as a Barrister from those chambers until 2017, specialising in commercial cases and in compelled evidence.

She was appointed a QC (now KC) in 2011. She was appointed as a Deputy High Court Judge in 2015, sitting in the Queen’s Bench Division (now King’s Bench Division), specifically in the Administrative Court and the Commercial Court. She became a High Court Judge in 2017, assigned to the Queen’s Bench Division (now King’s Bench Division) as one of the Judges of the Commercial Court. She is also authorised to sit in cases in the Financial List, the Competition Appeal Tribunal, Chancery Division, Technology and Construction Court as well as in other King’s Bench work, including crime.

She was Judge in Charge of the Commercial Court from August 2020 until 31 July 2022.

She is the author of ‘Compelled Evidence in Civil Proceedings’ (2012 OUP), Eleanor of Castile – The Shadow Queen (2014 Amberley) and Eleanor of Aquitaine – Queen of France and England, Mother of Empires (2019 Amberley).

Sir Max Hill KC

Sir Max Hill KC is one of the UK’s preeminent barristers, having been lead counsel on many of the country’s most high-profile cases and also spending five years as the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the most senior non-political public prosecutor in England and Wales.

Max has more than three decades of experience defending and prosecuting some of the most complex financial crime, high-value fraud and criminal cases to arise out of the UK, covering issues such as cartel investigations, corruption, corporate criminal liability and terrorism funding. He has held a number of prominent positions, including serving as the UK Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, Leader of the South Eastern Circuit, Chairman of the Criminal Bar Association and Chairman of the Kalisher Trust. From 2018 to late 2023, Max served as the UK DPP, the most senior non-political public prosecutor in England and Wales after the attorney general and solicitor general.

Her Honour Judge Tayton KC

HHJ Tayton KC is a Senior Circuit Judge at the Central Criminal Court, better known as the Old Bailey, and has been a judge since 2011. She is authorised to sit in the Court of Appeal Criminal Division and is a Course Director for the Judicial College. In her practice at the Bar, she specialised mainly in serious criminal cases and regularly used the services of experts from diverse disciplines. As a judge she has dealt with a wide range of offences including those involving Class A drug importation and supply, firearms, fraud, confiscation, health and safety issues and road traffic deaths that have required the admission of expert evidence. In addition, particularly when sentencing, she has to consider psychiatric and psychological reports on the mental health of defendants. In her current role in the main she presides over a variety of homicide cases in which experts typically play a crucial role

Dr Richard Brown

Richard is a chartered safety practitioner and chartered building engineer, with over 30 years of industrial experience in heavy industry, construction, the power industry, and logistics. He holds a doctorate in organisational culture and MSc in safety management.

Whilst Richard acts in criminal, civil and arbitration matters, he mostly works as an expert in criminal cases for both the defence and prosecution. His expertise covers work at height, workplace transport, construction safety management and safety management systems.

Annual Conference 2024

Speakers

The Rt. Hon. Sir Keith Lindblom

The Hon. Mrs. Justice Bacon DBE

Sponsors