Advocacy for Children in Conflict with the Law

The Inns of Court College of Advocacy (ICCA) has created a new training course, ‘Advocacy for Children in Conflict with the Law’, for pupils and practitioners who prosecute or defend children and young people in the Youth Court and the Crown Court.

It is hoped that Heads of Pupillage in chambers or their colleagues will volunteer to train to become a Facilitator to assist with training those in chambers and a national rollout of training.

The aim is for the course to be offered to any advocate who works with children and young people. The BSB requires advocates to declare their competency in line with their Youth Proceedings Competences – https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/uploads/assets/197b7604-ac56-4175-b09476ec43ef188c/bsbyouthcompetencies2017forwebsite.pdf 

The standard of advocacy in this field has been identified as an area of risk; the consequences for children and young people not suitably supported or represented at this stage can be catastrophic.  The legal landscape is complex and should be a clear area of specialism. The course touches on all key areas and once completed will attract a kitemark from the Bar Council on an advocate’s ‘MyBar’ profile. 

We are arranging to train Facilitators on Saturday 25 June 2022.  This will be held in London at one of the Inns and is likely to run from 9.30am-4.30pm. 

We hope the facilitators will then train large numbers of criminal pupils on Saturday 9 July.  There will be a session in London at one of the Inns and also at a set of Chambers in Birmingham.  This will be a full day from 9.30am-4.30pm.

For more information please contact Beth Phillips at the ICCA at [email protected]