(Virtual) Success Legal Wales

Legal Wales 2021 Hailed a (Virtual) Success

The chair of Legal Wales, Huw Williams, has congratulated the organising committee on the success of the Legal Wales Conference 2021 held on the 8th October.

The conference was live-streamed from a “hub” at the historic Solicitors’ Law Library at the Law Courts, Cathays Park, Cardiff. A number of the twenty-eight invited speakers attended in person and delivered their addresses from the hub, thereby achieving a “look and feel” more closely resembling a traditional Legal Wales Conference than was possible with the 2020 event. Over 150 delegates logged on to the Conference.

Plenary sessions included live addresses by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Burnett of Maldon, the Counsel General Mick Antoniw MS, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Lord Wolfson of Tredegar QC) and Sir Nicholas Green and Nicholas Paines QC of the Law Commission. There was also a presentation by Liz Withers, Head of Welsh Affairs at the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority. Lord Justice Lewis closed the Conference with thanks to the participants. 

There were six specialist breakout sessions, organised into three streams, including one in Welsh with simultaneous interpretation. Sessions were organised by Bangor, Swansea and Cardiff Universities, the Welsh Legal History Society, Public Law Wales and the Wales Commercial Law Association.

The winners of the 2020 and 2021 Sir Samuel Evans Prizes also attended in person to receive prize certificates from the Lord Chief Justice.

All Conference sessions were recorded and will be made available on the Legal Wales website in due course.

Huw Williams said “Legal Wales is indebted once again to Keith Bush QC, our long-standing Conference Director and his team of Huw Pritchard of Cardiff University and Josephine Olivari-Hebestreit of the Welsh Government’s Legal Services. Particular thanks are also due to Richard Jones of the Law Society Wales Office and Emma Waddingham of Legal News Wales for their invaluable assistance and to HM Courts and Tribunals Service for making the Law Library available.”