Tuesday 23 January 6pm – 7pm via MS Teams
Speakers:
Professor Richard Moorhead (University of Exeter) Professor of Law and Professional Ethics
Dr Alan Brener (UCL) Associate Professor (Teaching) and Deputy Director for the UCL Centre for Ethics and Law
Flora Page (23ES Chambers), barrister currently representing wronged subpostmasters in the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry
Chaired by:
James Kitching (Fried Frank and Junior Vice Chair of BACFI)
The Post Office IT scandal is the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British legal history. It spans a period of over twenty years and implicates its senior management, board and legal advisors. Following group litigation brought by 555 victims of the scandal, and successful referrals from the Criminal Cases Review Commission, a public inquiry began hearing evidence in 2022. The possible conclusions include:
- that internal and external lawyers failed in their professional duties,
- that the Board failed to take appropriate, ethical action following robust legal advice,
- that both lawyers and directors failed to engage properly with IT, which led to Fujitsu having undue influence over the board and legal decisions.
Our panel of specialists will discuss the ethical aspects of the scandal and the subsequent consequences for those employed in-house.
What we know went wrong among the lawyers
The role of General Counsel and the Board
The role of the in-house lawyer
Encouraging and protecting ‘whistleblowers’
Ethics and business culture and corporate governance
The professionals setting the right ethical standards in a corporation
The role of non-executive directors
Free for BACFI members, £20 non-members.
To register or if you have any queries, please email events@bacfi.org