*NEW* Edge DoLS Conference- 5th June 2026

*** IN PERSON TICKETS SOLD OUT. ONLINE TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE !! ***

Our 5th 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.

Venue: Central London WC2A (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 ***SOLD OUT****  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.

All Event bookings must be made online with payment made in full by credit/debit card.  We do not send invoices/use purchase order numbers for Event bookings for NHS delegates  (this policy does not affect our commissioned bookings) Questions? Email events@edgetraining.org.uk  or call 07341 277487.

SPEAKERS:

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: VICTORIA BUTLER-COLE KC 

The Supreme Court Revisits Article 5

DoLS Case Law Update

We are delighted to announce our key note speaker will be Victoria Butler-Cole KC.  

Victoria Butler-Cole KC is a Deputy High Court Judge, Court of Protection barrister and co author of the highly popular 39 Essex Chambers Mental Capacity Report 

In October 2025, Victoria represented the charities, Mencap, Mind and the National Autistic Society before seven Supreme Court judges in the hugely significant case of A Reference by the Attorney General for Northern Ireland of a devolution issue under paragraph 34 of Schedule 10 to the Northern Ireland Act 1998. 

One of the key issues the Supreme Court is being asked to decide is whether people aged 16 and over who lack capacity to make decisions about their care and treatment, can give valid consent to their confinement (objective DoL) through the expression of their wishes and feelings. Judgment has not yet been handed down. 

Victoria will be addressing the conference on the key issues in this case and also providing a DoLS legal update

Note: If the judgment is published by the date of the conference, this will form part of the presentation. 

Further Information and Resources

Watch the brief Edge recap film on the key issues and its impact on people lacking mental capacity

Watch the hearings on the Supreme Court website in full, including Victoria Butler-Cole KC's submissions on behalf of the charities. 

Read the associated case papers on the Supreme Court Website 

PROF. ANSELM ELDERGILL -

The DoLS ‘No Refusals’ Conundrum

Hospital Patients: Objecting and Eligibility

Conditional Discharge Mental Health Act 2025 Changes and Eligibility

Anselm Eldergill qualified as a solicitor in 1987 and is an Honorary Professor of Mental Health Law at University College London. 

He served as a full-time judge of the Court of Protection from 2010 to 2024 and before that as a tribunal president and coroner. While at the Court of Protection, he was the only Commonwealth judge appointed to be a member of the United Nations CRPD Expert Committee on Capacity and Access to Justice in Geneva.  In 2019, he was awarded the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Special Award, which was conferred on the President of the Family Division of the High Court the previous year:

His other roles have included serving as a member of the Mental Health Act Commission and as the legal member of the Mental Health Commission for Northern Ireland; chairing the Patient Safeguards and Mental Health Tribunal Legislative Reform Working Group, as part of the Wessely Review; and drafting the DoLS forms for the DHSC;  As a Mental Health Act Commissioner, he was head of complaints investigations and chaired its Mentally Disordered Offenders Committee.

He has lectured and trained lawyers and mental health professionals for over 35 years, both in the United Kingdom and abroad. His publications include numerous articles and conference papers and the following books:

Mental Health Review Tribunals — Law & Practice (Sweet & Maxwell, lxxvii, 1333 pages). Sold out and reprinted twice

Court of Protection Handbook (Co-author, LAG, London, 928pp, 2014,4th ed. 2022)

The European Court on Human Rights and Mental Health (1350 pages, September 2024).

SAM KARIM KC - Deputy High Court Judge, Court of Protection Barrister and Author

Retrospective Mental Capacity Assessments- a Case Law Update

Section 21A Applications (DoLS Appeals) of Note

Sam Karim KC will be addressing our audience on retrospective mental capacity assessments and in particular, their relevance and use in the course of s21A applications and the work of DoLS teams. In addition to this, Sam will be sharing examples of interesting Section 21A applications (appeals) that he has been involved in.

STEVEN RICHARDS  - author, former CQC MCA specialist advisor and director, Edge Training

Liberty Protection Safeguards Overview and News

Steven will discuss a variety of the latest DoLS news & developments. 

Steven is a Director of Edge & has worked in the mental health field for over 20 years, both for the NHS & voluntary sector. He has been an in-patient advocate for Mind & as an advocate Steven represented directly before the Court of Protection. Steven was a Mental Health Act Reviewer with the Care Quality Commission for over 10 years & also worked with the CQC as a specialist advisor on the Mental Capacity Act & DoLS. 

He delivers training on the Mental Capacity Act & Mental Health Act across England and Wales to health & social care professionals. Steven has experience of training a wide variety of services including local authorities, ICBs, NHS Trusts, the police, hospices & prison health services. He has spoken at a series of Health Education England conferences on the MCA at the end of life & delivered training on the draft Liberty Protection Safeguards bill to members of the House of Lords.

JOE WELLS - Comedian and Writer

We are very excited to announce that Joe Wells, comedian and writer (Have I Got News For You?) will join us once again, with his hilarious insights into being autistic and sharing his lived experience. Joe was hugely popular with Edge regulars at our DoLS conference in 2022 and we are very pleased to welcome him back.

In 2020, Joe went viral with his stand up clip 'Joe Wells on having a non-autistic brother'  which gained over 4.5 million views across Twitter, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube. Joe now has 160k social media followers across platforms.

Joe is also a writer for a number of television programmes including the BBC's Have I Got News For You?  and Frankie Boyles' New World Order and has appeared on a number of national TV programmes himself, including Channel 4's Jokes Only a Neurodivergent Person Can Tell.

He has a podcast called Neurodivergent moments and is a published author of three titles about mental health and neurodiversity.

CHAIR: AASYA F. MUGHAL Edge Director, Co-author of The DoLS Handbook, Barrister

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