Dear all
Please see below our latest Northern Circuit News Update
Any requests to include information for future Circuit News Updates - which will be sent to all members and judicial members of circuit (current and retired), pupils and chambers’ senior clerks for dissemination - should be sent to Clare Calder.
Please can you ensure requests are sent at least two weeks in advance so that we can keep Circuit emails to a minimum. Thank you.
Circuit events:
Manchester Grand Court - 2 April 2026
Venue: Midland Hotel Peter Street, Manchester, M60 2DS
The booking deadline for Manchester Grand Court has passed but a reserve list is in operation. Please contact Clare if you would like to be included on the reserve list.
MP Court visit - 10 April 2026
Venue: Chester Crown Court
Esther McVey MP (Con, Tatton) will be in the robing room at lunchtime to speak to barristers directly and find out more information about jury trials. Please attend if you are able to do so to ensure she is properly informed.
Northern Circuit v the Irish Bar hockey and rugby fixtures and mess – 9 May 2026
Venues:
(Fixtures) Broughton Park FC, 2 Houghend Crescent, Off Mauldeth Road West, Manchester, M21 7TL
(Mess) The Lowry Hotel, 50 Dearmans Place, Salford, Manchester, M3 5LH
The Northern Circuit is hosting the Irish Bar for the annual rugby and hockey fixtures. The rugby will kick off at approximately 11.00am and hockey will push back at approximately 2.00pm. Lunch for players and supporters will be laid on from approximately 1.00pm. There is a bar available on site that will be open all day. The games will be followed by a mess at The Lowry Hotel, 6.30pm for 7.15pm.
Please could all those wishing to play contact Holly Nelson (hockey) or Sam Watson (rugby). Please email them if you have any questions about the event.
Tickets can be booked at the following link . For those without access to the Northern Circuit Members’ Area, please contact Clare Calder. Tickets are priced at £50. Members under three years’ call pay only £25 and pupils are free.
Northern Circuit Advocacy Committee International Expert Witness Training Weekend – 15 to 17 May 2026
Venue: Lancaster House Hotel, Green Ln, Bailrigg, Lancaster LA1 4GJ
Places are still available, particularly for civil and family practitioners. Click here for further details of the course and costs. The event is open to non-members.
For all bookings for mess and the expert witness training weekend, please can members use the members area via the website. Retired or non-members should contact Clare Calder.
Liverpool Crown Court visit – 20 May 2026
Venue: QEII, Liverpool
Kate Green, the Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester will be visiting the QEII. She will be accompanied by members of her office and the Bar Council are also attending. They will be in the robing room in the morning before Court starts to speak to barristers directly and find out more information about jury trials. Please attend if you are able to do so to ensure our Northern Circuit politicians are properly informed.
Pupil Supervisor Training - 21 May 2026
Venue: By Zoom
This course is for first time pupil supervisors and those who require refresher training. Members should book on here and non-members should contact Clare.
*Save the date*
Pupillage Fair North 2026 – 21 November 2026
This year the Pupillage Fair North will be taking place at Leeds Becket Law School - please see poster attached. This is an important event on the Circuit calendar. It will be the third such event which is organised in conjunction with the North Eastern Circuit and is an excellent opportunity to showcase the Northern Circuit. All chambers on the Northern Circuit will be expected to take a stand and I would be very grateful if Heads of Chambers and Chambers Administrators could start planning now about how to ensure that as many of our wonderful Northern Circuit-trained former pupils as possible will be available on the day to speak to students and extol the virtues of life on the Northern Circuit. If any members of Circuit would be willing to be involved in a CV workshop or deliver a talk, I would be very grateful.
*Mess dates for next term*
Please put these in your diaries. Bookings will be open shortly. Further details will be circulated in due course.
Preston Combined Mess – 28 May 2026
Carlisle Combined Mess – 11 June 2026
Manchester Combined Mess – 25 June 2026
Liverpool Combined Mess – 16 July 2026
Other events:
S9(4) Deputy High Court Judge Seminar – 30 March 2026 5.00pm to 6.00pm
Venue: online via Teams
Please see attached a flyer for this event which is taking place on Monday. May I encourage all those who are considering applying to be a fee paid S9(4) Deputy High Court Judge to attend. The event aims to encourage applications from those in North of England and from underrepresented groups to sit in all divisions of the High Court. I apologise for the short notice in getting details of this event circulated but please do attend if you can. Contact Molly Yates by 27 March 2026 to register your attendance.
Lancashire Family Justice Board Conference - 16 April 2026
Venue: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/representing-child-clients-practical-skills-for-junior-lawyers-tickets-1984769579240?aff=oddtdtcreator
Please see the attached programme for this fabulous annual event. I have had the pleasure of attending the event on previous occasions and it is not one to be missed. This year has the usual raft of fabulous Northern Circuit speakers. It sells out quickly so use this link to book as soon as possible.
Informal farewell drinks for HH Smith - 24 April 2026 4.30pm to 7.00pm
Venue: Cornmarket Pub, Old Ropery, Liverpool L2 7NT
All are welcome to join Sophie in remembering her lovely dad, Adrian. Please RSVP to reception@hundredcourt.co.uk by 20th April so Sophie can take stock of numbers.
YJLC Essential Training for Junior Lawyers - 27 June 2026
Venue: The Bar Council, 289-293 High Holborn, London, WC1V 7HZ
Purchase your tickets here.
Tickets for the following events remain available
For information about booking, please follow the links in the Circuit Updates for 27 February 2026 and 13 March 2026
Mark George KC Memorial Lecture – 21 April 2026 5.30pm to 7.30pm
Venue: University of Manchester, Roscoe Building Theatre B
PIBA Conference for Junior Practitioners – 16th May 2026
Venue: Deans Court Chambers
Bereavement service for children training event – 2 July 2026
Venue: Manchester Civil Justice Centre
Manchester Legal Walk – 4 July 2026
Venue: Manchester/Salford Quays
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Other updates:
In Brief deadline for submissions – 7 April 2026
Please send any articles (and photos with captions where appropriate) to the Editor, Olivia Mukherjee or to the sub Editor, Jack Barber.
Olivia and Jack are still looking for someone to write an article for In Brief about the congratulatory dinner on 14 March 2026 to congratulate Sir Tim Holroyde, Edis LJ, Yip LJ, Dove LJ and Cawson J . Please contact Jack if you are willing to assist.
Advocate – ATP donations
It is not too late to support the work of Advocate, the Bar’s pro bono charity by ticking the box to donate £35 when renewing your Authorisation to Practise (ATP) on MyBar. Please do so if you can. Your donation will help Advocate connect litigants in person to expert representation that can change the course of their lives.
Vacancy for the Coroner for the County of Cheshire – closing date 12 April 2026
Click on the link . The closing date is 12 April 2026.
Community:
Our thoughts will be with the family and friends of Stephen Meadowcroft KC at his funeral this weekend. Please contact Clare if you missed details of the arrangements in the last Circuit News Update.
The Congratulatory Mess at St George’s Hall in Liverpool on 14 March 2026 was a triumph, thanks to the superb organising skills of your Junior Issy Denn White and her crack team of helpers. Despite the poor acoustics, it was wonderful to hear from such legends of the Northern Circuit and to celebrate their achievements in such historic surroundings. Lots of those present could remember plying their trade at St George’s Hall until the QEII opened in 1984. It was a truly special evening and one which will go down as one of the real highlights of my time as Leader. Our photographer for the evening, Ray, has provided a great selection of photographs of the evening. Clare has uploaded them to the Northern Circuit website within the member's area for you to download. Retired members and judiciary to contact Clare for the link.
May I thank all of those who assisted me greatly with advice for how to conduct myself on the night (mostly ignored) and with content for the speeches about our esteemed honourands (all taken on board).
Members of your Executive Committee enjoyed a wonderful night at the Women in the Law UK annual dinner in Manchester on 19 March 2026, hearing from Lady Justice Philippa Whipple about her inspiring efforts to improve diversity amongst our judiciary. It was worth having my car towed from outside the hotel (note to self: read the parking notices properly).
Monday 23 March 2026 saw Circuit’s Phil Barnes (Nine), Martin Carter (Kings), Simon Gurney (Lincoln House), Anna Pope (Linenhall), Vanessa Thomson (Nine) and Thomas Williams (Kings) receive their Letters Patent at Westminster Hall. Huge congratulations to them all.
Circuit is very proud of our new silks as well as our silks in the making. To that end, I remind you that applications for the 2026 KC Competition are now open and will close on 24 April 2026. If any juniors are thinking of applying, we have a great bunch of silks on Circuit who would be willing to speak to you about the process. Please email me and I will put you in touch with them.
I also want to thank all of those who provided advice and assistance to me in advance of giving evidence to the Public Scrutiny Committee at the House of Commons yesterday. As a family barrister, it has been a steep learning curve indeed immersing myself in the issues surrounding the curtailment of the right to trial by jury and the other proposed clauses of the Courts and Tribunals Bill. I may not quite be there yet but I hope I gave a good account of the issues the Bill presents and can assure you all that my fellow witnesses Claire Davies KC (South Eastern Circuit Leader) and Caroline Goodwin KC (North Eastern Circuit Leader) more than made up for my shortcomings. I feel I must share with you a photograph which was sent to me. I suspect from the smile on my face it was around the time Caroline Goodwin KC was laying bare some hard truths to the questioning MPs about the deficiencies in the system which are not the making of the criminal Bar – it was a pleasure and a privil ege to observe.
I hope – save for any urgent issues arising - to now leave you in peace until after the bank holiday next weekend. It has been a long time coming for many of us. When we get there, enjoy the chocolate. If you are not going on holiday then at least enjoy (fingers crossed) some fine Spring sunshine in your garden if you have one or in someone else’s if you don’t. Enjoy time with your families and friends: they see far too little of us, so please put your papers, laptops and mobile phones down and take advantage of the break. Next term will be here soon enough.
Speaking of which, we have included the dates for next term’s mess in the Circuit Events calendar above. Please do come along to mess. It is always lovely to see new and returning faces. I promise you good food, company, and speeches short enough for you to catch the last bus home.
Finally, as ever, please feel free to get in touch with me if there are any matters of which you think I should be made aware.
My very best wishes to you all
Sam Hillas KC
Leader of the Northern Circuit
PS. in addition to the photo of the panel from yesterday, please find attached some photos of our fabulous new silks and one each from the congratulatory mess and the WIL dinner.