Justice moves from the lightest pause to pace as we return to courts, chambers and offices across the country.

I step away from my barrister’s practice and step forward for the Bar. It is both an honour and a responsibility to serve my profession. Thank you for your trust. I carry it carefully.

Leadership is said to be about knowing the way, going the way, and showing the way. It also is about empowering others.

I know the way. I have led barristers and driven positive change from being a Young Bar spokesperson and on Bar Council committees in the 1990s to being Chair of the Bar Human Rights Committee in the 2000s, to being Chair of the Criminal Bar Association in the 2020s. My legal practice is cross-jurisdictional. It packs experience behind my focus on the whole of the Bar. And so, to an outline of my priorities.

Justice funding and reform

The cause of the 80,000 backlog before the Crown Courts is savage cuts to funding of the criminal justice system. Extending cuts to juries will have no or negligible effect. I will continue to lead the opposition to jury trial restrictions.

Barristers working in legal aid are delivering a public service. They are the NHS of the legal system. They deliver justice for the most vulnerable. A fair trial process is where the legal arms are equal.

Barristers need to be paid properly for the work they do. After all, legitimacy of the law is central to a liberal democracy.

I am asking detailed questions of the Ministry of Justice about implementation of the pledged increase to criminal legal aid fees, and I’ll return to work on further increasing prosecution fees where they are paid less then defence. Victim-centred policies are fundamentally flawed without investment in barristers that enable their voices to be heard in court.

I will pick up Bar Council representations on civil and family legal aid from the government review in February 2024 through to work by the Bar Council and Family Law Bar Association in 2025.

The year 2026 is where we examine how justice treats children. I have set up a working group to examine the age of criminal responsibility.

The government recently published its strategy for tackling violence against women and girls. I will input my modest successes of introducing preventative legal measures nationally and internationally, and we will partner further trainings and drive better data collection. Our policy and specialist committee doors are open to those of you working in this area. Shared expertise is advancement.

Law needs to be accessible to people and deliver for people. I will examine required reforms in our county courts, as well as the single justice procedure.

Promoting and supporting the Bar

The legal services sector contributed £37 billion, or 1.6%, to UK gross value added in 2023. I am a member of the Lord Chancellor’s new English Law Promotion Panel and I will explore expanding commercial work markets and arbitration. I am interested in opening up conflict resolution work for barristers. However, it should be recognised that confidence in our legal services is shaken by our failing criminal justice system. My ambition is to join thinking and so increase investment in the publicly funded legal system. Your ideas are welcome.

Protection of lawyers and judges remains acutely highlighted. I will drive for the ratification of the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of the Profession of Lawyers. Another priority that has emerged, after discussions with European colleagues, is protection of both freedom of expression and the European Convention on Human Rights.

I am alongside colleagues, within and outside the Bar Council, to implement the recommendations in the Harman Report and look forward to working with the first Commissioner for Conduct. I join colleagues to eliminate the gender and race earnings chasms.

Social mobility and access to the Bar for disabled people are issues close to my heart. I will support the Disability Panel, including addressing the implementation of reasonable adjustments in court. I wish to extend the reach of the Bar Council’s social mobility projects. I will go back to school to encourage our future barristers.

I am excited to develop links between WWF-UK, where I am a trustee, and the work of the Climate Crisis Working Group, including exploring legal work through the nature and climate lens.

Wellbeing, mental and physical, shadows all we do as barristers and I will draw from my previous work as I join with the Bar Council’s programmes.

And empowerment?

This is your Bar. It stands on the reputation of its barristers. It is never still. There are many roads to its heart. Come and walk with us.

Wishing you all a happy, healthy and successful 2026.