Speakers: Clare Strickland (Partner at Blake Morgan), Leanne Silvestro (Senior Lawyer at the Nursing and Midwifery Council), Tim Grey (Barrister at Old Square Chambers) and Tope Adeyemi (Barrister at 33 Bedford Row)
Chair: Laura Short (Capsticks Solicitors LLP)
Description: Join us for an evening of round-table discussion and networking as Junior ARDL hosts this in-person event in London. The session is aimed at junior members of the Association (0-9 years PQE) to help develop essential skills in regulatory and disciplinary law. The speakers will be speaking and hosting discussion on a wide range of practical and skills based topics, followed by drinks and an opportunity to network.
Clare Strickland will provide an overview of hearsay in regulatory proceedings.
Leanne Silvestro will talk about how to prepare yourself for a transition from a legal adviser position into a leadership position.
Tim Grey will speak about anonymity and privacy in first instance proceedings.
Tope Adeyemi will discuss preparation and advocacy in regulatory proceedings, with a particular focus on case management hearings and substantive hearings.
The Chair
Laura Short is an Associate within the Regulatory team at Capsticks Solicitors LLP. Laura works for a variety of healthcare and non-healthcare regulators. Laura joined the ARDL Committee in 2022 and focusses on leading the Association’s offering to its junior members (0-9 years PQE), including the coordination of the ARDL Mentoring Scheme.
The Speakers
Clare Strickland is a barrister and partner in the Regulatory group at Blake Morgan. She supports professional regulators with advice across the full range of their regulatory functions, including advising on regulatory reform and policy/process development. She has many years’ experience of leading large scale fitness to practise casework operations. Clare conducts her own complex case management and High Court advocacy, as well as acting as legal adviser to professional panels. She is also a lead advocacy tutor at Lincoln’s Inn. Before moving to Blake Morgan she was deputy director of professional regulation at the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), where she was the operational lead for fitness to practise teams. She also led the policy and change teams responsible for the NMC’s fitness to practise strategy, and the formation of the NMC’s Public Support Service. Before joining the NMC in 2004, Clare spent nine years in self-employed practice at 23 Essex Street, specialising in crime, regulation, and licensing. Clare is a member of the Blake Morgan Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, the firm’s champion for disability and neurodiversity, and a menopause mentor.
Leanne Silvestro qualified as a solicitor in 2012. She’s been in her current role as a senior lawyer at the Nursing and Midwifery Council for 5 years. In that role, she sits on a senior management team responsible for a caseload of 1700 investigations. Her role involves supervising legal advisers and providing senior legal advice, as required on individual cases, areas of risk and operational issues. She also supports the external legal providers who do NMC work. Before she moved to work in-house, Leanne worked in private practice investigating and preparing fitness to practise cases for a range of regulators. In addition to her full-time legal role, Leanne sits on the Investigating Committee for the General Chiropractic Council.
Tim Grey practises at Old Square Chambers and is a long standing practitioner in the field of Regulatory and Professional Disciplinary Law. He is recognised by the Legal Directories as a leading practitioner in professional discipline and has appeared in a number of the leading cases concerning the regulation of solicitors, particularly in contempt proceedings including most recently: Frain v Reeves & Curnock [2023] EWHC 73 (Ch) Solicitors Regulation Authority v Soophia Khan & Ors [2022] EWHC 45 (Ch) Lu v SRA [2022] EWHC 1729 (Admin). Tim’s breadth of work in the sector includes accountancy and financial services, healthcare, sports, legal services, education, data protection and tax. Tim is the Chair of the BSB’s Independent Decision-making Body, sits as a Chair of the British Horseracing Association, British Cycling, is a Judicial Panel Member of the Rugby Football Union and a Member of the ICAEW Conduct Committee. He sits as a Legal advisor to RICS, GOsC, GOC, and IPReg.
Tope Adeyemi is a Barrister at 33 Bedford Row. She regularly acts for professionals and regulators in professional disciplinary matters. Tope is also a Legal Adviser to the ACCA’s Disciplinary and Regulatory Committees and Vice Chair of the Institute of the ICAEW’s Appeals Committee.
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