Hall’s Well at the Inn: A look at Middle Temple’s Hall Committee

I’m Christopher Bates, the 2025 Chair of the Hall Committee. If you’re newly Called, or perhaps unfamiliar with our work or remit, the Hall Committee represents the interests of all Called members of the Inn, unless they are Called to the Bench. 

We feed into all of the Inn’s main Standing Committees and support a range of projects and initiatives across the Inn. To give you a flavour of what we are doing, I’d like to highlight two projects that I believe will add real value to the Inn.

The first is supporting Bench selection. The appointment of Benchers is handled through a process by which the Bench Selection Advisory Committee (BSAC) recommends appropriate candidates to Parliament (the Inn’s Parliament, not the Parliament) for final selection. But how do we find suitable candidates? Some candidates will just readily present themselves, being members of the Bar or Bench who are well-known and highly regarded. But, ‘who you know’ isn’t always the best way to find good candidates.

The Hall Committee is in a unique position to support the identification and nomination of good candidates. That’s why this year, building on the work of Master Paul Darling (in his sadly curtailed year as Treasurer) to broaden the pool of candidates we can select from, Hall Committee has introduced a new process whereby we have written to all our Bar Reps (our points of contact in Chambers and larger in-house organisations) to invite them to advance nominations for potential Benchers. By doing so, we hope to provide a route for great candidates who may not be familiar with the process, or who would be excellent candidates but don’t feel they have the connections to be successful in their nomination. It is my sincere wish that this will support the efforts of our Inn to deliver the very best candidates for the Bench and provide candidates from a plurality of backgrounds to make for a richer and more diverse Bench. 

Another key area the Hall Committee is seeking to support is exploring how we can expand and enhance the Inn’s CPD offer. We all must do it, so why not do it with us? This is a project we’re working closely with both the Membership Committee and the Education Committee on, and it is in its infancy, but what I’m hoping to see is the provision of high-quality, relevant CPD for established practitioners. When you book onto CPD with Middle Temple, you know you will be getting a session that adds real value to your everyday working life and isn’t just another session to tick a box on a form. Watch this space!

As I write this article, the Annual Dinner is a little over two weeks away. It’s the Hall Committee’s ‘flagship’ event, where members of the Inn at all levels dine together. It’s one of my favourite events in the calendar and has been since I was a student.

At the first Annual Dinner I attended ten years ago, I had the privilege of dining with Sir Paul Jenkins, former Treasury Solicitor. Paul was always someone you’d want to sit next to at dinner, and those who remember him will share particularly fond memories. However, the tenth anniversary of my first Annual Dinner holds particular significance now, as it has been ten years since the Treasury Solicitor’s Department became the Government Legal Department, where I am gainfully employed. Little did I imagine that over a decade ago, I would be sitting opposite someone who played such a pivotal role in shaping the place where I now work. 

This year, our guest is none other than our very own Under Treasurer, Sir Christopher Ghika. As many of you will know, Chris has led a fascinating life, serving in the British Army until 2023 when he took over as Under Treasurer. I’m excited to hear what he has to say to us and have every confidence that the Annual Dinner will be the great success it usually is. 

I will end with what is a somewhat customary rallying cry for the Chair of the Hall Committee; we hold elections every year to join our committee. They open in the Autumn, so please keep an eye out for them. We are a wonderfully diverse committee, and I’m always very proud to see that we cover a broad spectrum of practices and career paths. I am always appreciative of the quality of debate and the rich variety of opinions coming out of my committee, so if you can contribute to that, please get involved. So, thank you to the current Committee for your sterling work to date. And to prospective Committee members, I extend an invitation for those interested in getting involved – please don’t hesitate to contact us if you would like more information. I’m always happy to discuss the fantastic work we’re doing, and I’d love to see how you can help us improve. 

Christopher Bates

Hall Committee Chair 2025

May 2025 

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