Inns’ Conduct Committee

The Inns’ Conduct Committee (ICC) considers matters of general policy or process relating to the determination of whether an Inn of Court should refuse to admit an applicant for admission, or expel or refuse to Call a student to the Bar.

The ICC has delegated its powers and functions to hear such cases to the members of the BTAS Disciplinary Pool – a group of individuals selected, trained and regularly appraised to ensure their ability to consider and determine such matters is of the highest standards. Instead, the role of the members of the ICC is to:

  • Work to ensure that appropriate policies and processes are in place to determine whether persons are eligible for admission to an Inn or Call to the Bar by considering whether they are fit and proper persons to become practising barristers;
  • Serve as members of Screening Panels; considering documentation from the Inns about applicants/students to determine the appropriate subsequent handling of any case. In particular, to decide whether there is information that suggests that an individual may not be a fit and proper person to become a practising barrister;
  • Recognise that it is the intention of the four Inns of Court that membership of the Inns should reflect the diversity of society, and apply the principles of this in all their work;

 

The ICC’s membership is set out in Part III of the Inns Conduct Committee Rules – 2020, and is as follows:

  • A Chair
  • Two Vice-Chairs (one barrister and one lay representative)
  • Four barrister members, one selected from each of the four Inns of Court
  • Two lay members

The list below shows the details of the barrister and lay committee members of the Inns Conduct Committee:


Miss Janice Brennan

Barrister

ICC

Barrister; occasional work for Bar Pro Bono Unit; Bencher, Middle Temple; member, Western Circuit.

Mrs Helen Carter-Shaw MA (Cantab)

Lay

Disciplinary / ICC

Company Director, Jigsaw Management Services Ltd – offering consultancy and project management services to (mainly) public and 3rd sector organisations; member; Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) Disciplinary Committee; Chair, ACCA admissions and licensing, disciplinary and appeals committee; specialist lay member, Mental Health Tribunal.

Mr Ian Clarke QC [ICC Chair] LLB Hons, FCI Arb

Barrister (Lincoln’s Inn)

ICC

Self-employed barrister; Judge, First-tier Tribunal [Property Chamber]; member, Professional Negligence Bar Association; member, Chancery Bar Association; member, Association of Contentious Trust & Probate Specialists; member, member, Property Bar Association; member, Bar Pro Bono Unit; Bencher, Lincoln’s Inn; reviewer, Bar Pro Bono Unit; member, Conservative Party.

Ms Lyndsey de Mestre QC QC

Chairman

Disciplinary / ICC

Dr Howard Freeman JP, MA[Cantab], MB, BS, FRCGP

Lay

ICC

Clinical Director, NHS Partners Network – NHS Confederation; Chair, Interim Orders Panel – GMC; Chair, Fitness to Practise Panel – NMC AND GMC; Professional Member, Care Standard, Primary Health List, Crime Injury Compensation Authority, War Pension, Social Security; Justice of the Peace, central London Bench; member, National Liberal Club; member, BMA; member, Conservative Medical Society (former national chair);

Mr John Hamilton

Barrister

ICC

Barrister; First Tier Tribunal Judge [part time]; specialist lay member, Mental Health Review Tribunal; lay member, Parking Adjudictor [part time]; Associate Hospital Manager, East London Mental Health Trust; member, Family Law Bar Association; member, Anti Slavery International.

Ms Siobhan Heron

Barrister

Disciplinary / ICC

Employed Barrister, working within the Crown Prosecution Service as Head of the Complex Casework Unit; member Middle Temple

Mr Jonathan Holl-Allen QC

Chairman (Inner Temple)

Disciplinary / ICC

Member, Professional Negligence Bar Association [PNBA]; Member, London Common Law and Commercial Bar Association [LCLCBA].

Ms Jennifer Jones MA (Oxon)

Barrister (Lincoln's Inn)

ICC

Self-employed barrister; member, Atkin Chambers; member, Lincoln’s Inn; member, Technology & Construction Bar Association [TECBAR]; member, Commercial Bar Association [COMBAR]; member, Society of Construction Law; Recorder [Midlands Circuit].

Ms Claire Lindley [ICC Vice-Chair]

Barrister

ICC

Employed barrister of the Crown Prosecution Service; Bencher, Gray’s Inn; member, Scholarship Committee and Pension, Gray’s Inn

Miss Catherine Taskis MA (Oxon), BCL

Barrister (Inner Temple)

Disciplinary / ICC

Self-employed barrister; Deputy District Judge, South Eastern Circuit; part-time administrative assistant, Cleveland Scott York (Patent and Trademark Attorneys); member, Chancery Bar Association; member, Property Bar Association; member, Agricultural Law Association; member, Vesta Rowing Club; governor, Silchester Church of England Primary School; fellow, Chartered Institue of Arbitrators.

Mr Colin Wilby ICC Lay Vice-Chair, BA (Hons), MBA, FCIPD

Lay

Disciplinary / ICC

Chair, West Kent Housing Association; Lay Council Member, Council for Licensed Conveyancers; Lay Member, Employment Tribunals; Non-Executive Director, Taxation Disciplinary Board; Lay Member,  Financial Reporting Council; Independent Panel Member, Need to Sell Scheme, HS2 Ltd; Fellow, Chartered Institution of Personnel & Development.