Greetings to you all from Wales/Cyfarchion o Gymru with news of some of the events in Wales over the 2024/2025 year.
I could begin by providing a detailed review of an event of significant legal interest in Cardiff: international pop sensation Taylor Swift’s visit to The Principality Stadium in June 2024, which has been met with unmitigated joy by many. ‘Major legal interest’ meaning, undoubtedly, from Sir Nicholas Mostyn (our Master Mostyn), a reported ‘super fan’. I have no reports that Master Mostyn was in attendance in Cardiff, but, as he is also an avid Dylan Thomas enthusiast, we will always await any Welsh references in his quite superb Movers and Shakers podcast.
I could also provide a lengthy missive on the annual Royal Welsh Show in Llanelwedd in July 2024 (the leading event in the British agricultural calendar) or, perhaps, the National Eisteddfod in Rhondda Cynon Taf in August 2024 (celebrating the Welsh culture and language) or the many thousands who ran the Cardiff Half Marathon in October (which yours truly managed to stagger through) or even the Hay-on Wye Festival, the captivating annual literary festival set on the edge of the beautiful Brecon Beacons National Park (Bannau Brycheiniog) and which included participants as diverse as singer/songwriter James Blunt, the former prime minister, Baroness May of Maidenhead, award winning actor Dame Judi Dench, ex-England football captain and podcaster Gary Lineker, ex-Spice Girl Geri Halliwell-Horner, Welsh singing legend Bonnie Tyler and another award winning actor Toby Jones, who recently (and movingly) appeared as Sir Alan Bates in Mr. Bates vs The Post Office.
As a proud Welshman, I could keep going, but perhaps I should now turn to more focused legal events in Wales…
The annual Legal Wales Conference (in its 22nd year) was held on Friday, 11 October 2024, at the Pembrokeshire Archive Building in Haverfordwest.
After an opening address by Jonathan Elystan Rees KC (Chair of Legal Wales), there followed a Keynote address by Julie James AS/MS (The Counsel General for Wales and Minister for Delivery). The event included some of the most renowned and engaging members of our legal landscape in England and Wales, including (but not limited to) Judge Barry Clarke (President of Employment Tribunals – England and Wales), the Rt Hon Sir Gary Hickinbottom (President of Welsh Tribunals), Professor Laura McAllister CBE (Chair of the Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales), eminent Welshman, Professor Thomas Glyn Watkin KC (honoris causa) – Welsh Legal History Society, our former Master Treasurer, the Rt Hon Lord Lloyd-Jones (Justice of the Supreme Court), The Rt Hon Lord Reed of Allermuir (The President of the Supreme Court) and The Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales, The Rt Hon Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill DBE (who, in last year’s missive from Wales in our magazine, I wrote about her deep and poignant familial connections with Wales).
This annual event is always a very well-attended, stimulating, and inclusive occasion, followed by the usual convivial dinner.
The Legal Wales Foundation has announced that the 2025 Legal Wales Conference and Dinner will be hosted at Bangor University on Friday, 10 October 2025. Notably, the Law Society of England and Wales celebrates its 200th anniversary in 2025, so Mark Evans, the current Vice-President (who represents North Wales and Cheshire on the Council of the Law Society), will become the 181st President this October and will be a keynote speaker to celebrate this anniversary. There will also be sessions celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Law Commission of Wales and England, with the Chair of the Commission Sir Peter Fraser, and the 10th anniversary of Tribiwnlys y Gymraeg (Welsh Language Tribunal) with the President, Betsan Criddle KC.
As they say, book now to avoid disappointment.
Other key events included:
The Welsh Lawyers Conference. Hosted by Lawyers in Local Government (LLG), held at the Law Society Building in Cardiff in November 2024 and covered public law in Wales and a session on instructing external counsel.
The International Academic Association on Planning, Law, and Property Rights (PLPR) Conference, held in Cardiff in March 2025, was hosted by the School of Geography and Planning at Cardiff University.
Pride Cymru: Lawyers in Wales participated in the Pride Cymru march on Saturday 21 June 2025 with the Cardiff & District Law Society, the Solicitors Regulation Authority and The Law Society for Pride Cymru 2025 in Cardiff. Legal News Wales joined the legal sector march for the pre-parade brunch (organised by Capital Law Ltd) and a post-parade social (hosted by Browne Jacobson). This is always a vibrant and positive event in Wales and having played (in the past) in the ’Enfys (‘Rainbow’ in Welsh) 7’s’ – 7 a side rugby tournament – for the Senedd Rugby 7’s team, as part of the weekend celebrations, I can personally testify that this weekend is a life enhancing and inclusive experience for all.
AULP (Association of University Legal Practitioners) Regional Meeting Wales: this event (scheduled for Wednesday 24 September 2025) follows a successful and inaugural AULP Regional Meeting in Wales in 2024. This year’s event offers more insight for in-house university lawyers across England and Wales.
LegalTech Wales Roadshows: These events, launched in Cardiff in 2024, will continue in Swansea in 2025. Look online for these informative events as we continue to move into a more digital and technological legal world. As I write, I’m sure those in criminal practice are embracing (or grappling with) digital jury bundles with complete confidence!
The Middle Temple Wales Circuit Qualifying Session and drinks in October 2024. The Qualifying Session took place at the Law School, Cardiff University, and covered topics including litigation (civil and criminal), understanding procedural law, and submission advocacy. The drinks reception followed at Daffodil, a popular bar a short walk from the University and the Crown Court. The Inn’s Circuit Societies continue to engage our students studying outside London and provide a much-needed and relevant connection with our Inn.
The Middle Temple St David’s Day Dinner (Wednesday 26 February 2025) with the traditional St David’s Day evensong at Temple Church. With thanks to our hardworking and beloved staff at the Inn, the menu in Hall itself should at least tempt you to book your place for this event in 2026, as this year it included:
Starter: Cawl Cennin (traditional Welsh leek and potato soup)
Main: Cod fillet Welsh rarebit, pea puree, creamed leeks, charred pepper and ‘overnight’ tomatoes
Dessert: Welsh amber pudding (custard tart infused with grapefruit marmalade and clotted cream)
Finally, forgive me, but I cannot conclude without the usual rugby reference. At the time of writing, the British and Irish Lions had set off for their 2025 tour to Australia, after an opening ‘friendly’ defeat by Argentina in Dublin. As you read this, those following the sport of Rugby Union will know whether it was a successful tour or otherwise. We had only two Welshmen selected in the original 2025 squad (Jac Morgan and Tomos Williams), perhaps reflecting the current condition of Welsh rugby. That said, we also remembered those Welsh ‘Lions’ that we lost in the last year; JPR Williams, Peter Morgan, Lewis Jones, Malcolm Price, Courtney Meredith, Barry John (who I had the great pleasure of knowing) and John O’Shea (the first ‘Lion’ to be ‘sent off’ and whose son, Rick, is a good friend and fellow veterans rugby player). I am sure some of you who are not Welsh have a drop of Welsh blood somewhere in your DNA, so to reflect on the song sung at Welsh international football matches, ‘Yma o Hyd’ (‘We are still here’), we are more than ‘still here’ in Wales. The legal landscape in Wales, and the representation of our Inn here, is very much alive and kicking.
Wishing you all a prosperous and healthy year ahead.
Master Michael Jones was Called to the Bar by Middle Temple in 1995 and was, twice, a member of the Revels. He practised from Chambers in South Wales before joining the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in 2009 as the first Senior Crown Advocate in Wales. In 2018, he was appointed Queen’s (now King’s) Counsel, the first and only appointment in the history of the CPS in Wales. He is a former Member of the Membership Committee, past Chair of the Middle Temple Employed Bar Society, a Middle Temple Student Sponsor, an advocacy trainer at Cumberland Lodge, a Member of the Bench Selection Advisory Committee, Secretary of the Middle Temple Wales Circuit Society, Member of the Bar Council, past Chair of the Employed Bar Committee of the Bar Council, a member of the CPS/Bar Diversity and Inclusion Panel and Chairman of the Welsh Senedd/Parliamentary Rugby XV.
