Derek Jacobi has been an actor for over 60 years, first performing Hamlet in public at the Edinburgh Festival when he was 17 years old. He has performed Hamlet around the world nearly 600 times, from the LA Olympics, to Kronberg Castle. A multiple award winner, he was also knighted by the Queen of Denmark, making him the only living actor to be a double knight!

His interests are gardening and fine wines, both of which he thoroughly enjoys!

Tracey was born and grew up in the Cynon Valley in South East Wales. She graduated from the University of Buckingham in February 1987 with an LL.B. (Hons), attended the Inns of Court School of Law and was called to the Bar in 1988. After completing pupillage, she practised in general common law and then exclusively in crime at Mitre Court Chambers, London.  In 1994, Tracey moved to live in Shrewsbury and joined the West Mercia Crown Prosecution Service as a Senior Crown Prosecutor. In 1999, she joined St. Philips Chambers in Birmingham practising in criminal law. In 2005, Tracey returned home to Wales and joined chambers at 30 Park Place, Cardiff. In 2009, she became a Recorder sitting in crime on the Midland circuit. In 2016, Tracey was appointed as a Circuit Judge sitting in crime in Cardiff and Caernarfon. In 2021, she was appointed as a Senior Circuit Judge, the Resident Judge for Cardiff, Newport, and Merthyr Tydfil, and The Recorder of Cardiff. In her spare time, Tracey enjoys reading, dancing, gardening, and supporting Welsh rugby.

Charles read law at Clare College, Cambridge and is an Astbury Scholar of Middle Temple. Called in 1978, he practised for many years from chambers in Newcastle upon Tyne, initially in general common law and latterly in the work of the Business and Property Courts. Having become increasingly involved in environmental law whilst acting for the Environment Agency for 15 years as a member of the Attorney-General’s regional panel, he joined Six Pump Court Chambers in 2016. His practice is now entirely concerned with the use and management of water and wastewater and the regulation of the water industry. He has recently acted and continues to act in several significant cases concerning sewage discharges into rivers, private watercourses and the sea. He has since 1992 been a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

Charles still lives on the village green at Wallsend (his lifelong Tyneside home) whilst making frequent visits to Middle Temple, working, lodging and dining within the Inn. He is particularly interested in outreach by the Inn to practitioners and students in the regions. His interests include popular music (recorded and at the piano), gardening, and walking Henry, his Dalmatian dog.

Isabel Hitching KC is a commercial silk specialising in construction and insurance disputes.  She was the first woman to read for both the MA and BCL at Christ Church, Oxford, where she was a Scholar and Exhibitioner, and was the first to be appointed by the college to teach law.  She continued to teach for many years alongside full-time practice at the Bar, having been called in 1992.  She was awarded Sachs LJ and Queen Mother Scholarships and an Inns of Court Studentship.  She took silk in 2019 and practises from Crown Office Chambers. Drawing on her academic background she is frequently instructed in test cases from first instance to Supreme Court.  She regularly lectures for specialist bar and industry associations and is Editor of Emden on Construction.  She also acts as an adjudicator and arbitrator and serves on the Civil Procedure Rule Committee.  Throughout her career she has been keen to mentor and support others by serving on the BSB, Bar Council, specialist Bar Association and Inn committees to introduce policies to improve access, retention and progression. 

Justice Isa was called to the Bar of England and Wales (Middle Temple, 1982). Before Justice Isa’s elevation to the Bench, he was a founding partner and head of litigation at one of Pakistan’s leading law firms, which was repeatedly recognized as a top-tier firm in several practice areas by both the Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners.

On 5 August 2009, Justice Isa was directly elevated to the position of Chief Justice of the High Court of Balochistan where he served for over five years. He was then appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on 5 September 2014, and on 17 September 2023 took oath as the Chief Justice of Pakistan.

Justice Isa’s father, Qazi Mohammad Isa, was also called to the Bar from Middle Temple, as was his daughter, becoming the third generation in his family to be called from the Inn.

Jane Hartley was sworn in as the United States Ambassador in May 2022. She previously served as Ambassador to the French Republic and the Principality of Monaco. Hartley was Chief Executive Officer of Observatory Group, an international economic and political advisory firm, and Chief Executive Officer of the G7 Group, a research firm providing macroeconomic and political analysis to global clients.

Hartley serves as a member of the Visiting Committee of the Kennedy School at Harvard University. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and is a member of the Board of Overseers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Sesame Workshop (Sesame Street) and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Hartley also served at the White House in the Carter Administration. She earned a B.A. at Boston College (Newton College).

Richard Hedley is currently the Designated Civil Judge for Leicester and Northampton and also sits on a number of committees concerning Civil Business and the Reform Programme in Civil Work.

Richard read law at the University of Leicester, graduating in 1982 (followed later by a Post Graduate Diploma in Notarial Practice (Cantab)).  He was called in 1983.  He practiced in London until 1996, during which time he was a Revels performer from 1982 to 1995 (Musical Director in 1994 and 1995) and became an Advocacy Trainer.  After moving practice to Nottingham in 1996 he continued further occasional musical performance in the Inn including “The Prince of Love” in 1998 (a version of the Revels of 1598) and after-dinner entertainments.

His practice was in business and commercial litigation.  He was appointed as Recorder in 2002, District Judge in 2012, Circuit Judge and Deputy High Court Judge in 2018 before taking up his current role in February 2019. He has been a tutor for the Judicial College since 2014 .

He continues be involved in making music, playing golf badly and genealogy.

For more than 20 years, she has facilitated the American Inns of Court scholarship exchange programs and arranged educational amity visits between the American Inns of Court and our English counterparts both in the United States and “across the pond.”

She is a member of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, the leading organization perpetuating the memory of the 1620 Mayflower Pilgrims through excellence in research and family history.

She is also an officer of the Kate Waller Barrett Chapter National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, a volunteer women’s service organization dedicated to promoting historic preservation, education, and patriotism.

Her other activities include her non-profit organization, “On Purpose with Passion,” that offers small group discussion, educational events, and activities to help younger women unlock their personal and professional potential, raise their aspirations and gain inspiration from mentors, and seasoned women professionals.

Retired at 70 in 2015 as senior judge at the Central Criminal Court and Recorder of London.

Previously the Common Serjeant of London, appointed to the Old Bailey in 2000. Married to Dame Anne Rafferty DBE PC KC with three adult daughters

After a postgraduate degree at the University of Kansas called by Gray’s Inn 1969 and subsequently practiced from William Howard’s Chambers 3 Kings Bench Walk, becoming  Hollis Whiteman Chambers  Queen Elizabeth Building.

Silk in 1990 and cases included representing the Crown Prosecution Service in the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry.  Bencher of Gray’s.  Chairman Criminal Bar Association 1998-2000

Subsequently appointed as an Assistance Surveillance Commissioner; was for six years the Independent Reviewer for National Security in Northern Ireland and served two three-year terms as the Chairman of the British Horseracing Authority Judicial Panel.  Also conducted the first Deepcut Inquest and various inquiries in both this country and abroad.

Nick De Marco KC is ranked as one of leading lawyers in sports law. He acts for international and domestic sports-governing bodies, federations, players, clubs, sponsors, broadcasters and agents across all sports in both commercial and regulatory disputes.

He regularly lectures and writes on sports law, is author and editor of 'Football and the Law' (Bloomsbury 2018 & 2022), contributor to 'Lewis & Taylor: Sport and the Law' (Bloomsbury, 2021} member of the Editorial Board of Law In Sport, Football Legal and the Advisory Board of the Middle East Sports Law Platform, is a director of the British Association for Sport and the Law (BASL) and host of The Sports Law Podcast. Nick also sits as an arbitrator across a number of sports.

Nick came to the Bar later in life, having worked in retail, catering and nightclubs, and for a while as a film & video editor. He is committed to diversity at the Bar and encouraging those from less 'conventional' barrister backgrounds. Outside of work his interests include photography, art, cooking, wine-making and QPR

Aparna Nathan KC attended schools in London (Cavendish School for Girls; Queens College) and in Singapore (United World College of S.E. Asia; Raffles Junior College) before returning to London to study Law at the London School of Economics at undergraduate and Masters level.

She is a member of Devereux Chambers, having moved there from her previous set, Gray’s Inn Tax Chambers, in August 2014.

Aparna was called to the Bar in November 1994. She was appointed to the Attorney General’s Panel of Civil Counsel in 2010 progressing to A Panel by 2017 before taking silk in 2019.

Aparna specialises in Tax Law with a particular focus on residence, domicile, offshore trust and corporate structures, limited liability partnerships and estate planning. Aparna is a committee member of sub-committees at the Chartered Institute of Taxation and of the Addington Society. Aparna is a member of the Worshipful Company of Tax Advisers, the Chancery Bar Association and the Revenue Bar Association.

Aparna has taught ethics for the Inn for several years and has also given talks to introduce Tax law to current and prospective pupils.  Aparna is committed to furthering diversity and inclusion in the Inn.

Aparna trained in Bharatanatyam (South Indian classical dance) for 6 years. She is on the Education Committee of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, London (Centre for Indian Arts and Culture) with whom she has had a long and close involvement since her childhood.

A graduate of the University of Edinburgh, Keele University and the University of Kent, Rosie Harding is Associate Dean and Professor of Law and Society at Birmingham Law School, the University of Birmingham. Her research focuses on the place of law in everyday life, with particular interests in capacity law, disability law, gender sexuality and law, health and social care law and human rights. She is general editor of the Law, Society, Policy book series for Bristol University Press. She has held visiting positions at Lund University, Sweden, Flinders University, the University of Adelaide, and the University of Edinburgh. She was Chair of the Socio-Legal Studies Association from 2017 – 2022, and is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. She was awarded a Philip Leverhulme Prize for Law in 2017.

Rosie is also a trustee of Changing Our Lives, a west midlands based charity.

Currently Chair of the Honorable Society of King’s Inns, Dublin, Ireland (2020 – to date).  He is the former Chair of the Council of the Bar of Ireland (2004 – 2006).  He is a former Co-Chair of the International Council of Advocates and Barristers (ICAB) (2009 – 2011).

In the past, he has also Chaired the National Audit Committee of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) (2008 – 2011) (Irish National Sporting Organisation), and Chair of the Remuneration Committee of the GAA (2016 – 2019).  He is a former Chair of the Electronic Communication Appeals Panel (2005 – 2008).

In the past, he has been a member of the Court Services Board and the Judicial Advisory Board in Ireland.

He is a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, (induction March 2024). 

He was educated at St McCartan’s College, Monaghan, UCD and the Honorable Society of King’s Inns.  He was called to the Bar in 1985 and became a Senior Counsel in 2000.  He has been a Bencher of the Honorable Society of King’s Inns since 2005 and is currently a trustee of same.  He became a member of the Bar of England Wales (Middle Temple) in 2019.  He is an Accredited Mediator (CEDR 2007 and Harvard University 2019).  He is also a Trustee of the estate of Patrick Kavanagh (Irish Poet) (2021 – to date).

Benet Brandreth was called to the Bar in 1999 and took Silk in 2018. He specialises in Intellectual Property Rights but enjoys trespassing in other areas of the law and served on the Attorney-General's C and A Panels of Counsel and as a Recorder on the Midland’s Circuit, sitting in Crime. He was Chair of the Camden Citizens Advice Bureau for many years.

Beyond his legal work, Benet is fascinated by language, evidenced by his being a two-time World Student Public Speaking Champion, recipient of the Richard Du Cann Memorial Award for Excellence in Advocacy and an award-winning comedian.  He is also an author, having written critically acclaimed historical novels featuring William Shakespeare as a central character, plays, and scripts for radio and television. He is particularly interested in Classical Rhetoric.  He is an advocacy trainer for Middle Temple. He has trained actors’ companies from the RSC, the Donmar and others on rhetoric and verse for many years and is the author of "Shakespearean Rhetoric," part of the Arden Performance Companion series.

Benet’s diverse interests extend to martial arts, where he holds a black belt in Filipino Martial Arts, and powerlifting. He lives in London, is married to actress Kosha Engler and is father to two sons.

William Godwin specialises in commercial and construction cases, often with a cross-border element, and sits as an arbitrator and adjudicator. He is a panel member of a number of arbitration institutions and has written and spoken widely on arbitration, commercial and construction law.
Before coming to the Bar, William read philosophy at UCL and at Oxford where he taught at two of the colleges. In 2021 he was appointed to a visiting senior research fellowship in philosophy at King’s College London. Later that year, and with the Inn’s great support, he started a group to organise discussions (which are qualifying sessions) of broadly philosophical questions that arise from the study and practice of law.
Between 2014 and 2021 William served on the board of the Great Britain-China Centre, a non-departmental public body established by the FCDO in 1974 to develop UK-China relations. Much of its focus is in the areas of legal reform, rule of law and good governance. An achievement of which the Centre is most proud is its contribution to reducing the use of the death penalty in China.

A law graduate of the University of Malaya in 1982, the Right Honourable Tun Tengku Maimun binti Tuan Mat was born on the 2nd of July 1959 in Kota Bharu Kelantan. Her Ladyship then served in the Judicial and Legal Service and was the Chief Registrar of the Federal Court before being appointed as a Judicial Commissioner of the High Court of Malaya in 2006. Her Ladyship was later elevated as a Judge of the High Court of Malaya, and thereafter promoted to the Court of Appeal, and finally to the Federal Court, before becoming the Chief Justice of Malaysia in 2019.

Professor Martin Chalkley is an economist who trained at Southampton and Warwick Universities obtaining a PhD in 1985. He specialises in the economics of incentives and payment systems and began working with the legal profession in 1996, assisting in the design and evaluation of graduated fees schemes. He has continued to advise the Bar Council, specialist Bar associations and the Ministry of Justice since then until the present. He was head of economics at the University of Dundee from 2004 until 2008 and was President of the Scottish Economic Society from 2005 to 2007. As an academic economist he has published widely on the issues surrounding how fee payment systems affect the effectiveness of public service delivery. He is currently a professor economics at the University of York. He is married to Heather and together they have a son and daughter.

Laurie-Anne is a leading criminal barrister, media consultant and mentor. Her practice includes murder, sexual offences, terrorism and complex fraud. She has appeared before the Court of Appeal, Courts Martial and worked on the International Criminal Trials in Sierra Leone. She has a reputation for being fearless.

Laurie-Anne was a former part-time lecturer in criminal evidence, and taught advocacy and ethics on the bar practice course. Laurie-Anne was the treasurer of the Criminal Bar Association between 2020 and 2023 and was instrumental in the government negotiations on renumeration for the criminal bar, she is a member of the Bar Council’s working group on race, a member of the Bar Standards Board (Race Equality Taskforce), chair of Women in Criminal Law (Race Equality Committee) and former Chair of Pupillage at 25 Bedford Row. She acts as a mentor and volunteer for various charities and schools that are committed to improving the career development and social mobility of young people from diverse and marginalised backgrounds. She was the Winner of the 2019 UK Diversity Legal Awards “Lawyer of the Year” and in 2020 she was nominated “Barrister of the Year” at the Women in Law Awards.

Steven F. Molo is one of America's leading advocates. Chambers and Partners calls him a "fabulous courtroom litigator" who "lights up the room with his presence." Based in New York, he is a founding partner of the distinguished litigation boutique, MoloLamken LLP. Mr. Molo is a past Trustee of the American Inns of Court Foundation. He is also a Solicitor on the Roll of Attorneys.

Chi-chi Nwanoku is a British-born double bassist, professor, and broadcaster of Nigerian and Irish descent. Throughout childhood, she played the piano and pursued a sprinting career. When a knee injury ended her Olympic aspirations her focus shifted to the double bass. Her studies took her to the Royal Academy of Music in London and to Franco Petracchi in Rome.

Her commitment to diversity in classical music led her to establish the Chineke! Foundation. She has spoken globally on this subject. As a broadcaster, Chi-chi worked with BBC Radio 3, 4, Classic FM, presented a Sky-Arts documentary on Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and BBC's 'BEING BEETHOVEN'.

Chi-chi teaches at the Royal Academy and is a Visiting Fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge. She received a CBE in 2022, after an OBE and MBE. She holds honorary titles from Trinity Laban Conservatoire, Universities of Kent, Open, Cambridge and is an Honorary Bencher at Middle Temple.

Veronique was educated at St Andrews where she read French and International relations before reading law at City University and being called to the Bar in 1991. She was awarded the Queen Mother’s Scholarship in 1989 and went on to become the Inn’s Bristow Scholar in 1992 which took her to work at the Legal Service of the EU Commission and on to the EU Court in Luxembourg before taking up her tenancy at Fountain Court in 1993.  Veronique took Silk in 2010 and in 2011 she moved to Keating where she specialises in energy and construction work.  Veronique was appointed a section 9(4) Deputy High Court Judge in 2017 and has sat regularly in the TCC.  Much of Veronique’s work is now as an international arbitrator dealing with dispute arising out of major infrastructure projects.

Veronique lives in Kent.  She is married to a retired barrister himself a member of the Inn.  She has two children and a love of gardening and Italy where she and her husband have a small olive farm.

James Mellor read engineering and then production engineering at King’s College Cambridge, with spells of work in Somalia, the Congo, Germany, France and Iraq before returning to King’s in 1984/5 to do the six core subjects in law.  He was called to the Bar by Middle Temple in June 1986.  After pupillage with Michael Briggs and John Baldwin, he secured a tenancy in the IP Chambers of Thomas Blanco-White QC, then at Francis Taylor Building.  Chambers moved to 8, New Square, Lincoln’s Inn in 1992.  James took silk in 2006 and became Head of Chambers in March 2018.  He was appointed an Appointed Person for Trade Marks and Designs in 2015, a Deputy High Court Judge in 2020 and to the High Court bench on 8th February 2021, being sworn in online, as one of the specialist Judges in the Patents Court.  James is currently the Judge in charge of the Shorter Trials Scheme.

Outside work, James is a keen windsurfer, skier and mountain biker, with his three sons only being interested in the latter two sports.  He commutes to work by bike.  His better half, Jenny (M, 1987) is a cabinet maker.

Lord Parker grew up in Newcastle on Tyne, attended a local comprehensive school, then Churchill College, Cambridge. He served in the Security Service (MI5) from 1983 to 2020, latterly as the Director General, leading MI5 through a period of intense terrorism and state threats. Lord Parker was appointed Lord Chamberlain in 2021 and has led the Royal Household through the death and funeral of Prince Philip, the Platinum Jubilee, the death and funeral of The Late Queen Elizabeth, the Accession of HM King Charles III, and Coronation in 2023. Lord Parker is a Life Peer (Cross Bench), member of the Privy Council, a Non Executive Director on the board of Babcock International Group, Visiting Professor at Northumbria University's Law School, Board Adviser to a small technology company, Distinguished Fellow of RUSI, and Honorary Bencher at Middle Temple. Decorations: GCVO, KCB, Legion d'Honneur, Grand Cross of Order of Merit (Portugal), Medal of Honour (Estonia).

Oliver Glasgow was called to the Bar in 1995 and was appointed King’s Counsel in 2016. He is First Senior Treasury Counsel – the leader of the team of specialist advocates, based at the Central Criminal Court, who prosecute the most serious and complex cases in the country.

In that role he has undertaken some of the most sensitive, difficult, and high-profile criminal cases on behalf of the principal prosecuting authorities and government departments.

He regularly appears in the Court of Appeal on behalf of the AG and the DPP in cases of significant public interest, and he advises the government and the security services (both here and abroad) in connection with matters of the utmost gravity.

He has carried out a number of reviews into the operation of military justice and has appeared in inquests and public inquiries involving the military, the police and the government.

Louise was Called to the Bar in July 1976 and, after completing her pupillage, she spent 20 years as a member of the Government Legal Service, first in the Treasury Solicitor’s Department and then the Lord Chancellor’s Department. In 1997, Louise joined the court staff in the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal and was appointed as a Deputy Master. Years later, she became Deputy Head of the Judicial Office of the House of Lords before becoming the first Registrar of the UK Supreme Court when it was established in 2009. She was also appointed as the Registrar of the Privy Council. She is now a consultant with Blake Morgan LLP undertaking cases in the Privy Council. She is a member of the Steering Committee of the Society of Caribbean Lawyers which supports the work of Caribbean lawyers.

Louise received an OBE in 2021 for services to the administration of justice.

Louise was married for almost 45 years to David di Mambro, a barrister in Radcliffe Chambers. With her late husband, she contributed to many legal textbooks: the Civil Court Practice (the “Green Book”), the Caribbean Civil Court Practice and Atkin’s Court Forms.

She has a son and two granddaughters.

Rebecca has worked and volunteered in access to justice for more than 20 years, as chief executive of Advocate since 2020 and from 2007-2015. Advocate is the Bar’s pro bono charity providing legal help in every area of law, in all courts and tribunals, for people unable to obtain legal aid and who cannot afford to pay. Previously Rebecca was programme director of the Litigant in Person Support Strategy at the Access to Justice Foundation. 

Rebecca began her career as a solicitor at Hogan Lovells before moving to the charity LawWorks, leading a project establishing free legal advice sessions in low income neighbourhoods. She has an MSc in charity management from Bayes Business School.

Rebecca has held number of trustee and non-executive roles including at the Advice Services Alliance and Blackfriars Settlement and is currently Vice Chair of Money Advice Trust and an adviser to the HMCTS Reform Programme.

Deborah is Senior Advisor to the International Dispute Resolution Group, and a member of the Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council at Debevoise & Plimpton. She previously served as a Senior Legal Officer of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Arbitration and Mediation Center in Geneva, Switzerland, and as the American representative to the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) International Court of Arbitration. The U.S. Departments of Commerce and State appointed her as one of the original eight U.S. members of the trilateral NAFTA Advisory Committee on Private Commercial Disputes. Deborah is a member of the Advisory Committee of the New York Law School ADR Skills Program.  She is President of the American Bar Association (ABA).   Deborah  was named on the 2022 Forbes 50 Over 50: Impact list,  recognized for being “a change maker who uses her empathy, insight and savvy to make the world a better, more equitable place.”

Professor Michael Mainelli

MStJ PhD BA FCCA FCSI(Hon) FBCS FRSA CITP FIC CMC MEI

A scientist and economist promoting societal advance through better finance and technology, Michael founded Z/Yen, the City of London’s leading think-tank and venture firm, in 1994.  Educated at Harvard, Trinity College Dublin, and LSE, where he was also Visiting Professor, he became a senior partner with BDO Binder Hamlyn, and Corporate Development Director for the Ministry of Defence’s Defence Evaluation & Research Agency.  Michael is a fellow of Gresham College, Kings College London, Birkbeck, and Goodenough College, visiting professor at UCL’s Bartlett School, non-executive director of the United Kingdom Accreditation Service and a listed mining company.  He is active in eleven livery companies, past Master of the World Traders, an Alderman of the City of London for Broad Street, and late Sheriff of the City of London 2019-2021, with charity interests in the environment, education, and care.