Conference Skills

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Conference Skills

• Bar Vocational Course
• Lisa Down
• (Subject Tutor)
• l.down_at_unn.ac.uk
• Room 311
• Ext.3817

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Conference Team

• Andrew Hutchinson
• Ross Fletcher
• Kevin Crawley
• Lisa Down

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Reading?

• A Practical Guide to Lawyering Skills
• Published by Cavendish
• Authors
• Fiona Boyle
• Deveral Capps
• Philip Plowden
• Clare Sandford

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What is a conference?

• A conference is a meeting between you and your
  lay client.

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Important Terminology

• Lay Client
• This is the member of the public you are
  representing

• Professional Client
• This is the person who instructed you the
  solicitor?

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Who will be present at a conference?

• In reality there should always be
• You, the barrister
• The lay client
• The professional client

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Conference Skills

• At Northumbria conferences will take place
  between
• You, the barrister and
• The lay client (played by a BPTC student)
• Imaginary professional client

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Where can conferences occur?

• A conference can occur anywhere!
• They might occur
• In Chambers
• In Prison
• In Court

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What is the purpose of a conference?

• A conference is an opportunity for you as a
  barrister to
• meet your client
• hear your clients version of events
• advise your client
• take instructions

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Will you always have a conference with a client?

• The simple answer is no.
• You may deal with a client only on paper
• Your solicitor may answer any questions that you
  have.

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How should a conference be structured?

• When you are in practice, you will adopt your own
  style of conferences.
• However, at Northumbria we will show you a
  standard method of conducting a conference.

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How should a conference be structured?

• A conference can be broken up into various
  separate parts.
• This is just like any law essay.

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Conference Structure

• You should have therefore
• 1. An introduction
• 2. A main body and
• 3. A conclusion

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Introduction (Preliminaries)

• -Name / Role
• -Confidentiality
• -Purpose of Conference
• -Agenda
• -Questions at end
• -10mins to get through everything

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Agenda/ Timetable for Conference

• Q. Why have an agenda?
• A. 1. Professionalism
• 2. So that the client knows what is
  going to happen and when.

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Your agenda should include

• Purpose of the conference
• Question and answer section about the case
• Advice for the client
• Answer session for any queries that the client
  might have.
• Taking instructions
• Next steps

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The Main body

• What do you do in the main body?
• The facts of the problem at hand.
• Overview of the case

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Conclusion

• What would you do in the conclusion?
• Give advice
• Check understanding
• Take instructions
• Confirm instructions

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Farewell

• Advise on next steps
• Put the client at ease
• Tell the client that they can contact you through
  the solicitor should they wish to
• Say goodbye

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Teaching Structure?

• INITIALLY no group divisions. All students will
• have the same papers. First session split into 2
  groups-remain in same group for subsequent
  sessions. In each session you will be given some
  questions to put to the barrister when playing
  the client.
• THEREAFTER-You will be divided into X students
  and Y students. (Pink / yellow- Variation of
  client details/ questions).
• This is so that when one person is playing the
  role of the barrister (X) the other person (Y)
  will play the role of the client.

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SPSs

• Start next week- SUITS
• 4 x SPSs and 1 x Mock
• You will receive feedback on all performances.
• You will receive detailed feedback on 3 complete
  performances- DVD

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SELF ASSESSMENT

• Self Assessment forms
• Feedback sheets
• Peer Review forms
• ELP

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Assessment

• You will get one conference assessment
• This is worth 7.5 of you final mark
• This is a seen assessment
• For the purposes of the assessment your client
  will be played by an actor/actress

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Assessment Criteria

• ELP
• Very important
• Skills assessed using this criteria

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Conference skills Assessment Criteria

1. Preparation
2. Conduct
3. Interpersonal skills
4. Questioning
5. Advice
6. Knowledge and comprehension
7. Professional conduct

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In order to be graded competent or above you must
show your ability to

• 1. Preparation (10). In order to satisfy this
  criterion you should
• Show an understanding of the objectives of
  the conference.
• Illustrate your knowledge of the facts of the
  case. (case analysis)
• Illustrate your knowledge of the legal
  issues that are relevant to the case. (legal
  research)
• Your plan will be used to determine the extent
  that you have fulfilled this criterion

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Plans

• Very important- Will be looked at in your
  assessment
• No longer than 4 sides of A4 (rest discarded)
• Possible score of 10 before even enter
  conference!

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What is a plan?

• No standard layout
• Personal style Start now
• Not a script!!

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Your plan should include

• Introduction -Preliminaries
• Main Body-Dealing with the matter Research of
  offence / sentence / procedure
• Conclusion Conclude conference and advise on
  next steps. Any procedural issues?

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Why do a plan?

• Nerves
• Do not finish
• Demonstrate knowledge / research

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QUERIES

• Any queries, please dont hesitate to contact me
  or
• Conference Tutor
• I look forward to meeting some of you next week
  and hope that you enjoy the conference course.