Speakers

Dr Natalie Byrom, Researcher and Policy Advisor

Dr Natalie Byrom is a researcher and policy adviser with expertise in justice system reform, AI, data-driven technologies and justice data governance. She has a track record of leading high-quality research and translating this into policy impact.  

Between 2018 and 2020 Dr Byrom was seconded to the UK Ministry of Justice as expert adviser on data in the context of an ongoing £1bn programme of digital court reform. She has also completed projects for the OECD on justice data and AI. In 2024 Natalie was commissioned by the Nuffield Foundation to lead a review of current challenges in access to justice across England and Wales.  

Dr Byrom has given evidence to a number of parliamentary committees including the Justice Select Committee and the House of Lords Constitution Committee on issues relating to justice system reform, data collection and governance. Her writing on these issues has been published in the legal and national press.  

She is part of the BBC Expert Women Network, is a member of the Civil Justice Council for England and Wales, the MoJ Senior Data Governance Panel and the OPRC Sub Committee. She is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at UCL Laws.  

Natalie is speaking at Justice under review: challenges, reform and renewal in the system

Brian Cahill, barrister and member of the Bar Council's Ethics Committee

Called to the Bar in 1977, Brian joined ICL as an in-house lawyer before joining Glaxo (now GSK) to lead their legal department. He remained there for 28 years, working in European and international roles leading teams of lawyers in many countries. 

After retiring from GSK Brian now works part-time as an employed lawyer, legal adviser and director for start-up companies including holding a non-executive director role at Cambridge Dream Limited which provides summer and winter camps at UK universities for foreign pupils and students aspiring to attend university in the UK.  

Brian has previously been an elected member of the Bar Council and is currently a member of the Ethics Committee with particular interest in ethical issues faced by employed barristers in industry. 

Brian is speaking at Navigating ethical dilemmas at the Bar 

Lady Chief Justice Carr of England and Wales  

The Rt Hon the Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill became Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales on 1 October 2023. As Lady Chief Justice, she is the first female President of the Courts of England and Wales and Head of the Judiciary of England and Wales. Her judicial career began in 2009 in crime. She was appointed to the High Court, Queen’s Bench Division in 2013, and became the second female High Court Judge to sit in the Commercial Court and the first female High Court Judge to sit in the Technology and Construction Court in 2014. She was elevated to the Court of Appeal in 2020. She was appointed as the Senior Judicial Commissioner and Vice Chair of the Judicial Appointments Commission shortly thereafter, remaining in that role until January 2023. She was a temporary Investigatory Powers Commissioner during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The Lady Chief Justice will be delivering a keynote address and presenting the Lifetime Achievement in Pro-bono: the Sydney Elland Goldsmith Award

Alistair Gray, Financial Times

Alistair Gray is law courts correspondent at the Financial Times, covering the cases of greatest interest to FT readers as well as broader legal and justice themes. 

Alistair is speaking at Justice under review: challenges, reform and renewal in the system

The Rt Hon the Baroness Harman KC 

Harriet Harman KC was MP for the diverse inner-city constituency of Camberwell and Peckham from 1982 to 2024. Joining a House of Commons which was 97% male, she has been politics’ most prominent champion for women’s rights, in a parliamentary career which spanned more than four decades. She had three children while an MP.   

Harriet was the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2015 and was the Shadow Deputy Prime Minister in 2010 to 2015. She has twice served as Interim Leader of the Labour Party in 2010 and 2015. She was the first woman Labour politician to answer Prime Minister’s Questions.  

In 2017, Harriet became the Mother of the House of Commons, the UK’s longest serving woman MP.  

Harriet chaired the House of Commons Privileges Committee inquiry which found in 2023 that the former Prime Minister Boris Johnson misled Parliament over “party gate”. 

In 2024 she was appointed to the House of Lords as a life Peer.  

She is Chair of The Fawcett Society, the UK's leading charity campaigning for women's rights. 

In 2024, Harriet was appointed by the Chair of the Bar to lead the independent review of bullying, harassment and sexual harassment in the barristers’ profession. 

The Rt Hon. the Baroness Harman KC is speaking at All change please: evolving the culture at the Bar 

Leon Kazakos KC, Former Leader of the South Eastern Circuit

Leon Kazakos KC is a barrister in practice at 2 Hare Court, Chambers of Jonathan Laidlaw KC. Called in 1999 at Lincoln’s Inn he took silk in 2020. He has a wide ranging and diverse defence practice; representing individuals and companies across England and Wales who face serious criminal and regulatory allegations.  

In 2022 he was elected Leader of the South Eastern Circuit, serving until the end of last year. He is committed to the efforts across the Bar to improve diversity and inclusion and to achieve equality in the profession.  He is an advocacy tutor, a trainer of pupillage supervisors and mentors both within the profession and to aspiring barristers through a variety of Bar related organisations.  

In 2024 he was appointed Vice Chair of the Kalisher Trust, a charity that has, over the last three decades transformed lives by encouraging and inspiring young people of ability, commitment and ambition to achieve their potential through the development of advocacy skills and participation in other programmes and thus develop a career at the criminal bar. He is a contributing author in corporate crime to LexisNexis and a contributor to Banks on Sentence. 

Leon is speaking at All change please: evolving the culture at the Bar 

The Rt Hon Shabana Mahmood KC MP, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice

Shabana Mahmood was appointed Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice on 5 July 2024. She was elected as the MP for Birmingham Ladywood in July 2024. 

The Lord Chancellor will be delivering a keynote address

Sam Mercer, Head of Policy: Equality & Diversity and Corporate Social Responsibility, Bar Council

Sam joined the Bar Council in June 2013 and is responsible for the design and delivery of equality, diversity, and inclusion support for the profession. This includes equality and diversity training and good practice guidance, as well as the provision of direct advice and support to chambers and individuals.  

Sam has been responsible for high-profile programmes, such as Wellbeing at the Bar, the Bar Council’s work on Bullying and Harassment (Talk to Spot) and Earnings Inequality. She co-authored the first Race Report (2021) and latest Report (2024). Sam has a keen interest in modernising working practices at the Bar.  

With a team of 4, her remit extents to wider CSR issues including education and careers outreach; sustainability and pro bono/volunteering, the young and employed Bars. 

Prior to joining the Bar Council, Sam set-up and ran the leading diversity and inclusion charity on age and employment and led the workplace division in Business in the Community. She is an award-winning communicator on diversity and inclusion issues and has worked on this agenda across a wide range of private and public sector organisations and charities (both in the UK and overseas). Sam has a Masters in Corporate Social Responsibility. 

Sam is chairing Reflective practice: a powerful tool for barrister wellbeing