Seminars & Training

At Citadel Chambers, with the combined experience of more than 50 members at all levels of seniority, we are able to offer more than just advocacy.  We have the expertise to provide first class lectures and seminars in various areas of law and in court procedure, or training sessions dealing with the process of attending court.   If you need to organise tuition for members of your firm or organisation, we have the barristers who can help you.   

Lectures and seminars

Each spring and autumn, we arrange a series of lectures in Chambers, dealing with developments in the law and procedure.      These are accredited by the Bar Council and the Law Society as providing Continuing Professional Development for barristers and solicitors.     Occasionally a lecture is provided by a guest speaker, but the vast majority are delivered by members of Citadel.  

In addition to the wide range of subjects covered by those in-house lectures, members of Chambers have experience in the provision of lectures and training services for organisations such as the Crown Prosecution Service, Criminal Cases Review Commission, Department of Work and Pensions, and for individual firms of solicitors, whilst others teach advocacy at the College of Law or within the Midland Circuit, and some have lectured at Universities.

We can organise lectures and seminars to meet your needs, either in Chambers or at your offices, whether they be short evening talks on particular subjects, or more comprehensive half-day or full day events.    Contact us to discuss your requirements.  

Witness familiarisation 

Witness familiarisation gives people who are likely to be witnesses in court the opportunity to practice giving evidence in a controlled but realistic environment.  Usually, the participants of the course conduct a ‘mock trial’, and our barristers question those ‘witnesses’, adducing and testing their evidence in exactly the same way as in a real case.    These are a few examples of courses in which our members have been involved :

• Witness familiarisation with trainee police officers and special constables from Northamptonshire Police, where the officers were questioned regarding their statements about ‘mock’ arrest exercises
• Similar exercises with detectives from the West Midlands Police
• Witness familiarisation with officers of the Northamptonshire Probation Service.  These officers were given training on the process of giving evidence in sentencing hearings in the Magistrates Court and Crown Court
• Expert witness familiarisation and training, with expert witnesses such as independent Forensic Scientists,  and officers of the Health and Safety Executive.   The exercises involved questioning regarding expert reports prepared by the participants

If you are a police force, probation service, prosecuting authority or any other organisation with employees who are likely to be called to court to give evidence, witness familiarisation courses can improve the confidence and presentation of those employees when they are called at court.  

Whether you have an existing course and require our barristers as tutors, or if you would like our help in designing and conducting a course, please contact us to discuss your needs.  

To discuss the services we can offer : 

Contact Laura Culley, by e-mail to  clerks@citadelchambers.com

or our Practice Manager Bill Maynard on 0121 233 8500