This year’s prizegiving and reception for the Gide and Gray’s Inn French English Prize will be held at Gray’s Inn.
The event will also include a lecture on Legal Knowledge, Justice and the Rule of Law by the Rt Hon Lady Arden of Heswall DBE.
Lady Arden served as a Justice of the UK Supreme Court from October 2018 to January 2022. Prior to that she was a Judge of the High Court of Justice (1993 to 2000) and a Lady Justice of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales (2000 to 2018).
Legal knowledge, justice and the Rule of Law are pillars of any well-functioning legal system in a democracy. But their boundaries are not always clear. For instance, the objective of law is to achieve justice but we can debate whether on occasions this aim is always achieved. We can also debate whether the Rule of Law is satisfied by the provision of a fair trial or whether it also requires laws to meet certain standards and what those standards are.
Franz Kafka’s classic work The Trial graphically describes what happens if a legal system falls short of complying with the Rule of Law. The third concept is legal knowledge. This is a prerequisite to giving good advice but a good lawyer also needs judgment and an ability to reason and to articulate reasons for a new application of the law. Comparative legal study can also enhance a lawyer’s skills. We can observe different approaches and we can consider why judges in different jurisdictions sometimes take different views of common problems.
Event details
Registration Location: Large Pension Room
Date and registration time: Monday 25 November, 5.30pm registration, 6pm event starts
Who can attend: Open to all members of the Inn. For student members of the Inn and transferring qualified lawyers this is a Qualifying Session
Dress Code: Dark suits
Cost: Students and barristers less than three years of Call (Gray’s Inn student members only) £12
Barristers £15
Benchers £18
How to book
Book online via the Gray’s Inn Online System (GIOS).
Qualifying Session
Qualifying Session (QS): 1QS
Theme: Legal, knowledge, justice and the Rule of Law
Learning aims:
1. Consider the concepts of legal knowledge, justice and the rule of law within a democracy.
2. Consider how these concepts are applied within other jurisdictions.
This QS relates to the following elements of the Professional Statement for Barristers: 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 4.1, 4.4
Preparation required: No
Interactive: No
To be awarded the QS for this event you are required to join the event on time and stay for the full duration of the event. Please enter your full name when joining the event so that we can record attendance and update the QS records accordingly. This can take up to two weeks.
Please see Qualifying Sessions for further information.