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First speakers announced for Future of Legal Education and Training Conference London 2020

Sales of Super Early Bird Tickets end this Friday

Clockwise, from top left: Julie Brannan (SRA), Joanne Gubbay (Slaughter and May), Tiernan Brady (Clifford Chance), Chris Fowler (BT Group), Professor Andrew Sanders (Warwick), Nishant Prasad (Nivaura), Eloise Skinner (Cleary Gottlieb), Paul Gascoyne (Shearman & Sterling), Jeremy Coleman (Norton Rose Fulbright) and Richard Crabb (HSBC),

The first batch of speakers for Legal Cheek’s Future of Legal Education and Training Conference London 2020 are unveiled today, days before Super Early Bird ticket sales close this Friday at midnight.

The speakers (first batch)

Julie Brannan, head of education and training at the Solicitors Regulation Authority
Joanne Gubbay, head of learning & development at Slaughter and May
Tiernan Brady, global head of diversity & inclusion at Clifford Chance
Chris Fowler, general counsel for technology and transformation at BT Group
• Professor Andrew Sanders, head of University of Warwick School of Law
Paul Gascoyne, head of graduate recruitment at Shearman & Sterling
Richard Crabb, global legal, head of commercial management at HSBC
Jeremy Coleman, head of innovation at Norton Rose Fulbright
Eloise Skinner, associate at Cleary Gottlieb, author of ‘The Junior Lawyers’ Handbook’ and wellbeing blogger
Nishant Prasad, associate at Nivaura and future trainee at Allen & Overy
The second batch of speakers will be announced in the New Year

The day-long event takes place on 14 May 2020 at Kings Place, Kings Cross, London, spread across the 400-person capacity Hall One, Gallery Mezzanine and two further new breakout spaces. It is headline sponsored by BPP University Law School, The University of Law and BARBRI, with Nottingham Law School and The College of Legal Practice as silver sponsors.

Sales of Super Early Bird Tickets end this Friday: Secure your place

After a networking breakfast the Conference will commence with TED-style talks on diversity, inclusion and social mobility, featuring among others Clifford Chance’s Tiernan Brady, the high profile political and LGBT rights campaigner. A session on technology will follow, with a particular focus on the level of tech-savvy clients expect from their junior lawyers.

The networking lunch, on the Kings Place Gallery Mezzanine.

After a networking lunch it’s the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) session. We’ll be hearing how the City Consortium of law firms are preparing for the introduction of the SQE, and also getting a perspective on US firms’ plans.

The two leading England & Wales vocational law schools, BPP and ULaw, will share how their new SQE programmes are developing, while global legal education giant BARBRI, which is preparing to enter the SQE market, will showcase its new offering. We’ll be hearing, too, from Nottingham Law School, one of the best known university vocational law school providers, about its SQE strategy, and from new entrant, The College of Legal Practice, about its plan to disrupt legal education and training.

SRA education and training chief Julie Brannan, one of the driving forces behind the SQE, will be providing some much anticipated further insight as the legal profession prepares for the introduction of the super-exam in 2021. A parallel session will consider similar changes taking place at the Bar as a host of more flexible Bar courses replace the outgoing Bar Professional Training Course.

We’ll also be devoting time to explore wider themes such as the politically uncertain end-of-cycle economy that the SQE will be launched into. And we’ll be looking ahead to the new decade to discuss how legal education and training can anticipate new forces within society, such as The Green Economy, greater openness around mental health and new methods of agile working.

After splitting into different streams, delegates will then come together again for a closing keynote speech, which last year was delivered by Professor Richard Susskind, followed by post-event drinks in the adjoining Rotunda Bar overlooking the Regent’s Canal and Kings Cross Marina.

Professor Richard Susskind delivering the keynote speech at The Future of Legal Education and Training Conference 2019

Sales of Super Early Bird Tickets end this Friday. Secure your place now.

Don’t want to travel to London? Attend our LegalEdCon North event on 30 January in Manchester.


We do not charge students for attending our events. Students interested in attending should contact us about becoming part of Legal Cheek‘s campus ambassador programme.

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