Clock running down on World Bar Conference offer

 

Time is rapidly running out on an Early Bird Offer on booking for the World Bar Conference’s “homecoming” to Edinburgh next spring.

The conference is staged by the International Council of Advocates and Barristers (ICAB) every two years, and the inaugural event was hosted by the Faculty in 2002.

The 2016 Conference will again be hosted by the Faculty, and a special website - http://wbc.advocates.org.uk/ - has been set up to provide up-to-the-minute information and booking details. Those wishing to attend from 14 to 16 April have until the end of this month to take advantage of a 10 per cent discount on the full registration fee.

ICAB is the collective organisation of independent referral bars, and its members are the Bars of Scotland, England and Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

At the first conference in 2002, ICAB issued the “Edinburgh Declaration”, its founding document, where the first principle is stated to be that the independence of courts is essential to the functioning of democracies, and that the independence of the legal profession is essential to the independence of the courts.

The document commits members to supporting, in all ways open to them, legal practitioners in countries where the capacity to practise and organise themselves freely and independently is under threat. Also, they “shall take practical steps to co-ordinate and advance the work of the Bars around the world for the protection of human rights and for the enhancement of pro bono services for the poor and the vulnerable.”

The most recent conferences were in Sydney, London and Queenstown, New Zealand. Next year’s conference will be held in venues including the National Museum of Scotland and the National Gallery of Scotland.