It is that time of year again. The HLPA housing law conference 2013 is on Tuesday, 10 December. A decent sprinkling of NL people will be there.

It promises to be a very good day, details are below. There are a few places left, or at least there were on Friday, so if you haven’t signed up, why not? And there are 6 hours CPD for solicitors and barristers.

10 December 2013

Royal College of Surgeons, London

For full details of the programme and booking, see here.

2013 will be a year that housing lawyers do not forget for a long time. With our profession, our funding and our clients’ rights under ruthless attack it can seem an impossible task to keep representing those who need us. This year’s conference aims to inspire hope and to provide practitioners with the tools and confidence needed to fight back and survive.

Our panel session will tackle the important and ever growing area of disability and the Equality Act, whilst the seminars will cover a range of areas including managing private landlords, costs, welfare benefits, disrepair, homelessness and housing outside the Housing Act. The underlying theme of all our sessions will be how to manage the changes in order to keep helping our clients.

The 2013 conference is also an opportunity to meet and forge links with others in housing law. There are still a lot of us, both in private practice and in the not for profit sector. We all face the same challenges and what better way to survive than to join forces; so come along, learn from each other and share ideas and a festive drink at our Christmas social, which will follow the conference.

Keynote speakers:

Campbell Robb, Chief Executive, Shelter
Jan Luba QC, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers

Panel:

Martin Westgate QC, Barrister, Doughty Street Chambers
Anne McMurdie, Solicitor, Public Law Solicitors
Helen Mountfield QC, Barrister, Matrix Chambers
John Verge, Regional Business Manager (South), Golden Lane Housing

Delegates will have the opportunity to submit questions to the panel in advance. A Twitter #hashtag will be set up for the conference where up to date information will be posted.

Seminars on:

Costs and consequences post Jackson

Dealing with Private Tenancies

Disrepair. Past, present and future

Homelessness

Benefit reforms

Housing outside the Housing Acts

The conference is aimed at all those involved in practising housing law, whether acting for tenants and occupiers of housing or local authorities and social or private landlords. It is relevant to solicitors, barristers, paralegals and advisers in the voluntary, public and private sectors, together with academics and policy workers in the housing and social welfare fields.

The conference is an accredited course for both solicitors and barristers and is designed to offer information and training for all levels of practitioner.

Bar Standards Board Accreditation: 6 hours
Law Society Accreditation: 6 hours