Major legal conference makes Scottish ‘homecoming’

James Wolffe QC

Delegates from near and far are heading to Scotland for the “homecoming” of the World Bar Conference, a major event of the international legal calendar.

The conference is staged by the International Council of Advocates and Barristers (ICAB) every two years, and the inaugural event was held in Edinburgh in 2002.

The Faculty of Advocates is again hosting the 2016 conference, which has attracted an array of prestigious speakers, including the senior judges, Lord Neuberger, President of the UK Supreme Court, and Lord Carloway, Lord President of the Court of Session.

James Wolffe QC, Dean of Faculty and co-chair of ICAB said: “I am delighted that the conference is returning to Scotland. Although we practise in different parts of the world, all members of ICAB have a common commitment to the responsibility of the independent advocate in maintaining the rule of law and promoting access to justice.

“The conference will touch on various subjects relating to the role which the bar plays in underpinning democracy – through the bar’s work in supporting the independence of the judiciary, in providing access to justice and in promoting human rights.”

Up to 200 delegates will attend the three-day conference in Edinburgh, starting on Thursday (14 April). Most of the sessions will be in the Royal Museum of Scotland, but the Scottish Parliament’s debating chamber will provide another venue. Receptions are to be held in Parliament House and Edinburgh Castle’s Great Hall, while the Scottish National Gallery will host a gala dinner.

The theme of the conference is The Independent Referral Bar: Retrospective and Prospective, examining challenges faced by bars since ICAB’s foundation in 2002 and how those have been tackled, and the challenges ahead.

The subjects to be covered include the Rule of Law, confidentiality and surveillance, core professional values, technological change, and gender and diversity issues.

ICAB is the collective organisation of independent referral bars, and its members are the bars of Scotland, England and Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

Advocates and barristers who belong to a referral bar specialise in the oral presentation of cases and in related advice and drafting work. Independence is a fundamental tenet of membership, and the “cab-rank” rule means that members are precluded from refusing instructions on the ground that the nature of the case, or the conduct, opinions or beliefs of a client are publicly controversial or unacceptable to the advocate/barrister.

At the first conference in 2002, ICAB issued “The Edinburgh Declaration”, its founding document, where the first principle is stated to be that the independence of courts is essential to the functioning of democracies, and that the independence of the legal profession in turn is essential to the independence of the courts.

Anna Poole QC, chair of the 2016 conference’s organising committee, said: “An international conference like this is important because it keeps independent referral bars from around the world in touch with each other. Over time, more and more countries fuse their legal profession. The referral bars which remain have in common many challenges and opportunities, and are strengthened by sharing their experiences.

“We’ve been working on putting together the 2016 Conference since January 2015, and I’m delighted by how it has come together. I can’t think of any other 3-day legal conference taking place in such spectacular venues. We have been honoured by the calibre of speakers agreeing to present. Throughout, we’ve been enormously encouraged by the level of support we’ve experienced including from the Lord Advocate, Lord President and Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament.”

The conference website is at http://wbc.advocates.org.uk/.

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