In November 2018, Peter Lyons delivered a Higher Rights programme for practitioners from Slaughter and May, Cleary Gottlieb, MacFarlanes and Eversheds. There was also a candidate who flew from the Cayman Islands to attend. She was the second candidate we have had from Mourant Ozannes.
There were PSC Advocacy courses for Womble Bond Dickinson and Hill Dickinson.
Chris Taylor delivered a 4-day Basic Litigation Skills course to Keltie and Peter Lyons returned to Frankfurt to teach advocacy in the financial sector.
In December, there was another 3-day PSC course in London and the annual Advanced Advocacy Programme for senior patent attorneys.
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In early January 2019, Peter Lyons flew to Belfast to teach for Queen’s University for a week. He then taught Higher Rights to Bird & Bird and PSC Advocacy to Mayer Brown in London.
Meanwhile, Chris Taylor delivered a further litigation course to patent attorneys at Edwards Vacuum in Clevedon, Somerset.
There was then a 3-day PSC Advocacy course in Bristol and an intensive 2-day advocacy course for Eversheds in London, which received great feedback from the lawyers who attended.
Peter Lyons was called to Cologne in February to teach advocacy to CMS’s lawyers and then delivered a 2-day coaching programme to mooting students at the Universities of Bonn and Cologne, where he is a guest lecturer.
When he returned he delivered a 2-day Higher Rights course to Mayer Brown and a 2-day advocacy course to Carpmaels & Ransford, the leading patent attorney firm.
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March and April were very busy months for CPD Training. We conducted our second Higher Rights programme in Singapore, this time at the offices of CMS. Lawyers from different firms attended and were assessed a few weeks after the training. As well as candidates based in Singapore, we also had attendees from Hong Kong and Tokyo. We intend to repeat the programme next year.
Chris Taylor delivered the Basic Litigation Skills course and assessment to JA Kemp in London and then to a group of patent attorneys in Munich, at the offices of Hoffmann Eitle. The Munich course was open to external candidates and attracted attorneys from Dehns, Dentons, Grünecker, Meissner Bolte and Withers & Rogers.
One candidate said: “after 15 years of experience, the course was extremely useful to me in my continued work, and I think it had exactly the right level of detail for an ‘introduction’ - I am much more confident talking to clients now about UK enforcement and (important for our German business) the comparisons between UK and German litigation. I also very much enjoyed the course, and thought it was a good mix of information and practical role-play”.
Chris then also ran the PSC Negotiation Skills programme for Law South in Bath and London. Over 4 days he trained 56 trainee solicitors. The courses were well-received, with one delegate commenting, “The presenter, Chris Taylor, was excellent. He ran an introduction to litigation course and was equally as great then. He is passionate, clearly experienced and he made the class fun and interactive. One of the best Law South courses I have attended, largely due to Chris's leadership”.
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On to Tasmania, where Peter Lyons conducted 2 well-attended advocacy courses in Hobart and one in Devonport. He was joined by internationally-renowned wife and husband team Carol Sowers and Judge Mark Drummond. Mark and Carol greatly enjoyed their time in the Apple Isle and visited a number of top-quality restaurants.
Peter Lyons was particularly encouraged by the response of the big firms: Butler, McIntyre & Butler; Murdoch Clarke; and Wallace, Wilkinson & Webster all sent sizeable contingents to the training.
But the courses were also for the smaller practitioners, who said they had derived some real benefits and learned new skills.
The CPD team also taught the DPP and Solicitor-General’s offices for 2 days. One of the participants, Emily Stone, described the course as beneficial and engaging.
Fiona Donnelly arrived in Tasmania early in April to teach the Tasmanian Legal Practice Course with Peter Lyons. We were really fortunate to have guest judges: Justice Helen Wood, Justice Robert Pearce, Justice Gregory Geason, Commissioner Robert Webster, Magistrate Peter Dixon and the retiring President of the Legislative Council, Jim Wilkinson.
Suzanne Harris, one of the trainees, said “I absolutely loved the programme and it definitely gave me a taste for the advocacy side of things”.
Fiona Donnelly also delivered her much-praised course on Handling Children & Vulnerable Witnesses, which concentrated on developments in Europe and the skills needed to cross-examine such witnesses according to special considerations. The course was run in Hobart and Devonport.
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Peter Lyons’s book Advocacy: A Practical Guide was published in the first week of March and is selling 50 copies a week. More information here >>