Annual CBA Conference - 3 & 4 August 2024

This year's Criminal Bar Association Conference will be in Auckland over the weekend of 3 and 4 August 2024. The conference sessions will be held at the University of Auckland School of Business, and the conference dinner will be held at the Cordis Hotel. 

Attendance at the full conference fulfills 10 CPD hours - the full annual requirement.

This year our keynote speaker is Rebecca McMahon.  Rebecca McMahon has been central to the development of the Bugmy Bar Book, and co-chairs the Bugmy Bar Book Committee. She is a barrister at Forbes Chambers in Sydney, and an adjunct Associate Professor at the University of New South Wales. In 2021, she was awarded the Terry Keaney Memorial award for dedication to the profession, excellence as a criminal lawyer, commitment to clients and concern for social justice issues.

The Bugmy Bar Book (https://bugmybarbook.org.au/) is an evidence-based resource for lawyers and judges, policy-makers and other professionals. It is organised into chapters that summarise research about the impacts of experiences of trauma, socioeconomic inequality, structural disadvantage and strengths-based rehabilitation. This assists lawyers to present material relevant to mitigation in sentencing, bail, applications to divert and so on. It was created after the High Court of Australia confirmed the relevance of such material in Bugmy v The Queen (2013) 249 CLR 571. Material from the Bugmy Bar Book is regularly cited in courts in Australian jurisdictions. The Criminal Bar Association in involved in a project to show how the material can be applied in New Zealand.

The speakers for this year’s conference include:

• Rebecca McMahon – An Evidence-Based Approach to Sentencing: The Bugmy Bar Book in Operation in Australia
• Hon Paul Goldsmith, Minister of Justice - The Government’s Criminal Justice Plans and Question and Answer Session
• Appellate Judges Panel - Justice Ellen France of the Supreme Court, Justice Thomas of the Court of Appeal, Chief High Court Judge Justice Fitzgerald
• District Court Judges Panel - Chief District Court Judge Taumaunu and Principal Youth Court Judge Malosi
• Scott Optican – Evidence Law Update
• Fiona Guy Kidd KC, Nick Chisnall KC and Hunter de Groot – substantive law and sentencing update
• Colin Carruthers KC – Criminal Cases Review Commission - The Criminal Cases Review Commission: Progress and Plans
• Dr Sathyendran – Understanding the Limitations of Mobile Phone Evidence

Conference Dinner

The Conference Dinner will be held at the Cordis Hotel, 83 Symonds Street, Grafton, Auckland.

Pre-dinner drinks and canapés commence at 7pm.  Guests are asked to move into the dining area at 7.30pm and be seated. Our dinner speaker this year is Judge Noel Sainsbury. 

The dress code for the dinner is black tie.  

Accommodation 

For those who are travelling from out of town, the Cordis Hotel are offering discounted accommodation options.  Click here to book.

Pricing 

All pricing below includes GST