*NEW* DoLS Conference in person and online - 13 June 2025

Our 13th June conference in Central London will feature a variety of topics and guest speakers carefully selected to be of maximum use to Best Interests Assessors (BIAs), DoLS Mental Health Assessors and other DoLS professionals.   Attendance at the conference will serve as an annual update to continue in the role of a Best Interests Assessor or Mental Health Assessor under DoLS.

*New venue for 2025!*: Central London (exact address confirmed with ticket purchase)

Start: 10:00 (Registration from 09:15)

End: 16:15

Price: 

IN PERSON TICKET £195 plus VAT per ticket -  fee includes refreshments and a sandwich lunch along with a paper conference pack and a PDF certificate.

ONLINE TICKET £155 plus VAT per ticket - fee includes access via Zoom, a PDF conference pack and a PDF certificate.  

Conference details will be emailed direct to delegate(s) upon completion of their booking.  10% discount for groups of 10 or more in one booking.

Speakers announced so far:

Keynote Speaker - Lord Justice Baker  

Lord Justice Jonathan Baker was called to the Bar (Middle Temple) in 1978. He practised principally in family law, specialising in children’s cases, and was appointed a QC (now KC) in 2001. He sat as an Assistant Recorder from 1998, as a Recorder in 2000 and as a Deputy High Court Judge from 2003. In 2009, he was appointed a High Court Judge assigned to the Family Division. From 2011 to2017, he was Family Division Liaison Judge for the Western Circuit. From 2016to 2018, he was judge in charge of appeals to the Family Division.

From 2017 to 2018, he was Senior Family Liaison Judge, in which capacity he has acted as Chair of the Family Procedure Rules Committee and of the Family Justice Council. He also sat as a judge of the Court of Protection and is the Editor-in-Chief of the Court of Protection Law Reports and General Editor of the Court of Protection Practice.  

He was appointed as a Lord Justice of Appeal on 2 October 2018.

Angela Jackman KC (Hon): Partner Irwin Mitchell LLP

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Angela Jackman KC (Hon)  is a partner in the Public Law and Human Rights department at Irwin Mitchell.  Her areas of specialism are mental capacity, education and human rights. She has been cited in Chambers and Partners and Legal 500 for over ten years as a leader in all three areas. She is also an Accredited Practitioner under the Law Society’s Mental Capacity (Welfare) Accreditation Scheme.

Angela is regularly instructed by the Official Solicitor, statutory advocates and family members to represent vulnerable clients in deprivation of liberty and general welfare cases under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. She has also acted in serious medical treatment cases.

Angela is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, having previously held a part-time senior lecturer position at City Law School whilst maintaining her private practice. In 2017 she designed and has since regularly delivered the Law Society’s compulsory two-day mental capacity training course to practitioners seeking accreditation under the Court of Protection (Welfare) Accreditation Scheme. 

Angela is a member of the Law Society’s Human Rights Committee and an expert panel member of the Strategic Fund for Vulnerable Migrants. In both roles, she provides specialist advice on mental capacity issues. She has also been an author for Legal Action Group in excess of 20 years.

Angela champions diversity and inclusion in her role at Irwin Mitchell and regularly speaks on public platforms.

Angela was given an award for Outstanding Achievement at the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Silver Jubilee Awards in 2009. In 2014, she was highly commended at the Law Society Excellence Awards in the category for Lawyer of the Year: Private Practice and she won Lawyer of the Year at the 2018  Modern Law Awards.

Hanna Gottschling: Independent Consultant, Trainer, practising BIA and AMHP

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Steven Richards: Author & Director, Edge Training

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Edge director, author and former CQC MCA specialist advisor, Steven Richards, will discuss a variety of the latest DoLS news and developments.

Chair: Aasya F Mughal: Barrister, Author & Director, Edge Training

We are pleased to announce that the charity Compassion in Dying (CID) will be hosting an information stall at the Edge DoLS conference this year.  They provide free highly useful resources about Advance Decisions to Refuse Treatment (ADRT) to members of the public and tools to assist people to create their own legally binding advance decisions. For those that cannot attend the conference, please go to the CID website for more information. 

NOTE: Advance Decisions to Refuse Treatment are relevant to the 'No Refusals' DoLS assessment completed by BIAs on DoLS Form 3. 

DoLS: The Musical! We are really looking forward to a special performance interlude at our DoLS Conference this year. A short musical theatre improvisation will be performed with a special DoLS related theme by ADLibretto!

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