Sub-Treasurer's Report, April 2018

This is the first report by the new Sub-Treasurer following the retirement of Patrick Maddams on 23 March 2018 and his election as an Honorary Bencher. It follows a formal planned two-week handover, preceded by a number of less formal visits to Inner Temple.

The year-end audit for 2017 has been completed subject to final adjustments.  A full report will be received from the Inn’s auditors and reviewed by the Finance Sub-Committee. The financial forecast for 2017 indicates an operating surplus of £1.43m.

The Project Pegasus Steering Group (PPSG) met on 11 April, chaired by Master Reader (Master Anthony Hughes). Work is continuing on the design of a single-storey temporary structure in the garden to house services likely to be decanted from the Treasury Building if Project Pegasus goes ahead – with the aim of preparing to seek planning permission in the next month.

An application has been made for Judicial Review of the planning permission for the Treasury Building, citing the City of London Corporation as Defendant and Inner Temple as an Interested Party. We understand that the Corporation intends to oppose this challenge.  The grounds of the application do not relate to the merits of the decision, but rather the way the decision to grant permission was managed.  The PPSG concluded that there appear to be good grounds for resisting the claim, as the City intends to do.

Planned maintenance on 7-13 Kings’ Bench Walk is making good progress, with some scaffolding being removed sooner than expected: a more compact scaffolding scheme will ensure minimum visual impact as work continues.

The Head of Treasury, Mrs Henrietta Amodio, has taken on the temporary role of Acting Head of Department, following the departure of Master Maddams who was carrying out this interim role. An exercise to recruit a new Scholarships and Students Manager is underway.

The BPTC scholarship interviews took place on 3 and 10 March. This year, the Inn received a record number of applications – 441 compared to 393 in 2017. We have a policy of interviewing every eligible applicant and it was only with the very generous assistance of over 60 members of Hall that could do so this year.  After allowing for withdrawals, we interviewed 383 candidates and granted 100 awards worth a total of £1,600,656.

The Outreach Committee met on 19 March, chaired by Master Jackson. The Committee received a background report on Inner Temple student members who are undertaking the BPTC in 2017/18. 301 students started the course in October 2017.

A well-attended book launch of Dr Elaine Freer’s Ten Year Celebration of Inner Temple Outreach study took place on 28 March.

Insight evenings on Becoming a Barrister and Life at the Bar have been hosted by Education and Training Department for Year 12 and 13 students, University students and graduates at Reading, Birmingham, Manchester and Nottingham between 13 and 20 March, with a session planned at Liverpool on 19 April.

Baroness Blackstone, the new Chair of the Bar Standards Board, observed training on Advocacy and the Vulnerable at the Inn on 20 March – understood to be her first appearance at a training event at one of the Inns. She subsequently reported the event as “incredibly interesting and impressive”.

A Schools Project day took place on 21 March, attended by 70 students.

Applications for the 2018 GDL/CPE Awards are now open. Interviews will be held on 22-23 June 2018.

The final report of the 2022 Advisory Group is to be made available on the Inner Temple website after minor editing.

The Temple Women’s Forum met on 20 March at Middle Temple with the theme of It’s Never Too Early…To Apply for Silk: there were some 100 guests. A key objective was to encourage recently-appointed female QCs to mentor future applicants.

Work continues toward making the Inn compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) before the new laws come into effect on 25 May 2018.  The key challenge is to ensure all members have given permission to correspond with them electronically on matters of mutual interest by then. The form remains available on the website and reminders will go out with the Inn’s newsletter. The Inn is also working with our consultants on the necessary processes and documentation required to illustrate compliance with GDPR. A register of the Inn’s processing activities has been completed and data collection points are being identified. What remains is to agree the Inn’s procedures on privacy, consent management, and breach notification.

Filming for Jerusalem, a Channel 4 espionage drama set in the aftermath of World War II and starring Emma Appleton, Matt Lauria and Keeley Hawes, took place on Middle Temple Lane and in Brick Court on 6/7 April.

The four George II silver candlesticks with Pegasus motifs, sold in 1955, have been successfully re-purchased by the Inn. William Gallagher, who helps look after our silver, marked 30 years of service with Inner Temple.

Events in the past month included:

• The much-appreciated dinner to celebrate the supporting role of Barristers’ and Judges’ Clerks on 14 March, an experiment perhaps worth repeating biennially;
• The leaving dinner for Master Maddams on 22 March, in a packed Hall and warm atmosphere, following a Choral Evensong with music chosen by Master Maddams;
• Inner Temple’s Amity Dinner with Lincoln’s Inn in the Hall on 11 April which was well attended by Inner Temple Benchers.

The second in the series of Social Context of the Law talks took place on 26 March between Master Scruton and Timothy Garton Ash CMG FRSA, Professor of European Studies at St Anthony’s College, Oxford, chaired by Master Nice and entitled Freedom of Speech in a Connected World – Old Principles, New Circumstances.  The series of talks are now Qualifying Sessions.  It was gratifying that 30 students booked to attend. The next talk in the series takes place on 16 April, between speakers Master Bonomy and Master Nice, chaired by Master Korner and entitled The End of War Crimes?  A total of 38 students are expected to attend.  The occasion will also mark the launch of Master Nice’s book, Justice for All and How to Achieve it.

Andrzej Kwiatkowski, in charge of the Wine Cellar, received a distinction in the Wine, Spirit and Education Trust’s level 2 wine and spirit course, achieving their highest mark ever.

The City’s Environmental Health Officer has awarded the kitchen team a top 5* for food safety.

During this month conservators from the National Conservation Service will be carrying out a project to clean and condition grade the manuscripts in the strong room and the books which are housed in the Gallery cupboards.  Work on the installation of a gas-based fire suppression system in the library and archive storerooms in the Littleton Basement should soon be completed.  Environmental Building Solutions will then be invited back to check for further mould growth.  Samples from books and ductwork will be sent for laboratory analysis.

The Librarian will be representing the Inns of Court Libraries on the FLARE Group, which aims to improve the coverage and accessibility of foreign and international legal materials at national level.  Other libraries represented include the British Library, the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Library, the Bodleian Law Library, the Squire Law Library and SOAS Library.

A meeting of the four Inn Librarians and representatives from the Bar Council has been organised to discuss possibilities for remote access to Lexis Library for certain categories of the Inns’ members.

Work on upgrading our servers and telephone systems is proceeding. An audit of cabling in Treasury Building is underway in the context of Project Pegasus.

Master Cryan and the Sub-Treasurer represented Inner Temple at the Commonwealth Service in Westminster Abbey on 12 March.

Master Pittaway and the Sub-Treasurer hosted a visit by Tan Sri Zainun, a Malaysian Federal Court Judge who participated in the recent and ground-breaking Indira Ghandi conversion case.  After a tour of the Inn, they were greeted by Master Choudhury at the Royal Courts of Justice.

Sean Harkin, formerly with Kensington Palace Gardens, started work as Head Gardener on 9 March. We are very grateful to Sophie Tatzkow for keeping the show on the road during the interregnum. An article on the Garden, based on an interview with our previous Head Gardener, Andrea Brunsendorf, appeared in “Country Life” on 4 April.

The tour by the boys of the Temple Church Choir to Washington D.C. in October to sing in the Library of Congress has been approved and finance is in place.  Master Treasurer will be a keynote speaker at a conference as part of the annual convention of the American Inns of Court Foundation.

Benchers and members of the Inn are continuing to review the nearly 100 titles that have been submitted for the 2018 Inner Temple Book Prize competition.

The Inn would like to thank Patrick Talbot QC, a Bencher of Lincoln’s Inn, for his generous donation to the archive of a moot book written by Robert Croke of the Inner Temple dating from 1652 to 1658, along with a small book of religious musings from the same period.  The book is significant as it was previously believed that all legal education ceased during the civil war and interregnum period, but this book proves otherwise. It contains detailed notes of the proceedings at moots in the library, and Inns of Chancery and the intriguingly named ‘sack posset moots’.

The BSB issued an important Policy Statement on the Regulation of the Role of the Inns of Court in Bar Training on 23 March. It is very positive that “the BSB should continue to require student membership of an Inn”.

COIC is continuing work on a joint Inns of Court Anti-Harassment Policy and has produced an Inns of Court College of Advocacy Bar Professional Training Course Vision and Strategy.

We report with sadness the deaths of:

• Master Dobry (His Honour George Dobry CBE QC) on 15 March 2018. A service of thanksgiving took place on 10 April. 
• Master Aldous (The Rt Hon Sir William Aldous) on 17 March 2018. A service of thanksgiving took place on 12 April.
• Master Richard (The Rt Hon the Lord Richard QC) on 18 March 2018. Details of any memorial service will be circulated in due course as appropriate;

A memorial service for Master David Caron, formerly Dean of Law at King’s College London was held on 23 March.

A memorial service for Master Neill, who died on 24 December, will be held in the Temple Church on Thursday 19 April.

A funeral service for Master Evan Stone (Evan Stone QC), who sadly died on 4 March 2018, will be held at the Temple Church at 11am on 25 April, followed by a reception at Inner Temple.

A service of thanksgiving for Master David Vaughan (David Vaughan CBE QC), who sadly died on 15 January 2018, will be held at the Temple Church at 5.30pm on 30 April, followed by a reception at Inner Temple.

A memorial service for Sir Paul Jenkins KCB QC, Treasurer of Middle Temple, will be held in Inner Temple Garden on 9 July.