CPD Training (UK) Limited

Professor Peter Lyons was a specialist advocacy and dispute resolution trainer from 1995 until his premature death in June 2023. He founded CPD Training (UK) in 2005. The company is a registered and approved assessor of the Higher Rights of Audience qualification in England and Wales. It is also authorised to deliver the 4-day Basic Litigation Skills Course and Assessment to Patent Attorneys and the PSC Advocacy and Communication Skills Course to trainee solicitors.

In March 2019, Wildy’s published Peter’s book, Advocacy – A Practical Guide, which includes a foreword by Lord Pannick KC.

Peter was an Adjunct Professor at the University of Tasmania; a Visiting Lecturer at the Center for Transnational Law (CENTRAL) at the University of Cologne; and a guest lecturer at the University of Bonn (Faculty of Law) ... Read More >

Chris Taylor has been a practising litigation and dispute resolution solicitor since 1999. As Head of Litigation Training at CPD Training (UK) he has taught and assessed litigation skills for many leading law firms and patent firms.

Chris has taught litigation drafting skills to a wide range of law firms including CMS, Debevoise & Plimpton, Mayer Brown, Kirkland & Ellis, Milbank and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. He regularly teaches negotiation skills and has been retained by clients including Shearman & Sterling (now A&O Shearman). He has also taught English civil procedure to Dentons’ Scottish dispute resolution teams.

Chris is CPD Training (UK)’s lead trainer on the Basic Litigation Skills Course for patent attorneys and trade mark attorneys. He has delivered the course many times, including in-house for firms including Marks & Clerk, Carpmaels & Ransford, Mathys & Squire, AA Thornton, Boult Wade Tennant and Kilburn & Strode.

Chris was for many years a contributing editor to Blackstone’s Civil Practice ... Read More >

Simon Brown KC was for 10 years the Designated Mercantile Judge of the Midlands and the Senior Circuit Judge for Birmingham which is the equivalent of a permanent regional High Court Judge.

Simon Brown is an SRA-approved assessor for Higher Court advocacy in England & Wales. As well as assessing Higher Rights for CPD Training (UK), Simon Brown teaches all aspects of advocacy skills. He was a member of the teaching team at the Tasmanian Advocacy Conventions in 2012 and 2014 and taught arbitration advocacy at Bär and Karrer in Zurich in 2022. He regularly teaches and assesses interim advocacy on the Basic Litigation Skills Course for patent attorneys.

Simon Brown KC was the Chair of the Higher Rights Assessment Board for CPD Training (UK) from 2010 to 2019. He is also a senior external examiner for the SRA ... Read More >

Fiona Donnelly is a Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Professional Legal Studies at Queen’s University, Belfast, and has been admitted as a solicitor since 1987.

Fiona is an SRA-approved assessor for Higher Court advocacy in England & Wales. She has been assessing solicitors' Higher Rights of Audience for CPD Training (UK) since 2012. She is also an approved assessor in Northern Ireland.

For CPD Training (UK), Fiona has taught arbitration advocacy twice for CMS in Vienna and twice for Bär & Karrer in Zurich.   She has also taught Gabriel Arbitration in Zurich. She regularly teaches and assesses interim advocacy on the Basic Litigation Skills Course for patent attorneys ... Read More >

Carol Sowers is a leading presentation skills coach. Carol was a professional broadcaster for over 30 years. She graduated from the Missouri School of Journalism, which is the foremost journalism school in the US. She was Vice-President for Public Affairs at CBS / ABC Affiliate station KHQA after holding the positions of Main Anchor, Executive Producer and Executive News Director.

Since leaving CBS, Carol has trained advocates, broadcast professionals, law enforcement organisations and government departments in poise, delivery, speaking without notes, using gestures and voice control. For CPD Training (UK), she has taught presentation skills and personally coached lawyers in Vienna; Frankfurt; Zurich; and Hobart and Devonport in Tasmania ... Read More >

Judge Mark Drummond is one of the most well-known advocacy teachers in the United States. He was a trial lawyer for 20 years followed by 20 years as a trial court judge. 

For CPD Training, Judge Drummond has taught arbitration advocacy at the CMS Academy in Vienna in 2012 and 2015 and Frankfurt in 2017; and at Bär & Karrer in Zurich in 2014 and 2022. In 2024 he trained lawyers from across Mayer Brown’s international network in arbitration advocacy skills. In 2019 he taught cross-examination in Hobart and Devonport, Tasmania. He also trained lawyers for the Tasmanian Solicitor-General and the Director of Prosecutions in persuading a court ... Read More >

Ruairi Gillen is an accomplished advocacy trainer from Northern Ireland who regularly teaches advocacy courses in the UK and Europe for CPD Training (UK).

Ruairi has taught Higher Rights of Audience to a wide range of firms including CMS, Mayer Brown, Bird & Bird, Bristows, Cleary Gottlieb and K&L Gates. He has also delivered CPD Training (UK)’s PSC Advocacy & Communication Skills course to national and City firms. He was a member of the faculty which delivered a course on arbitration advocacy skills to Bär & Karrer in Zurich in 2022 and has also taught arbitration advocacy skills for CMS … Read More >

Lorraine Richardson, CPD Training’s Head of Quality Assurance, practises as a solicitor in East Anglia and has an extensive background in legal education and training. She also runs Adapt Law, an online property law training business.

Lorraine has a particular expertise in Quality Assurance Procedures for training courses and assessments. At the College of Law, Lorraine managed the very successful Higher Rights of Audience programme where she was responsible for dealing with all academic and assessment issues.

Lorraine has expertise in drafting assessment regulations and associated guidelines; commissioning new assessments; ensuring the integrity of assessment processes (both written and advocacy) and reviewing assessment results ... Read More >

Kelly is a barrister at 39 Essex Chambers in Chancery Lane, London. She acts on matters involving commercial law, international arbitration, international tax law and European Union law.

She is ranked in the Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners, and in International Tax Review’s Tax Controversy Leaders Guide. Before becoming a barrister, Kelly was a legal adviser for PwC’s legal firm.

Kelly has taught and assessed for CPD Training (UK) for number of years. She is a visiting lecturer on the LLM degree at King’s College London and has taught at the University of London for over 13 years, teaching and assessing undergraduates and postgraduates, and recently assisted in supervising a PhD student … Read more >

Ciaran Moynagh is a very well-known solicitor in Northern Ireland who has been admitted as a Solicitor Advocate in the Senior Courts of England & Wales and Northern Ireland.

He was the managing partner of McLernon Moynagh solicitors from 2010 to 2018 and is now a director at Phoenix Law, Belfast’s new Human Rights law firm. Ciaran has also been an Associate Lecturer at the University of Ulster School of Law since 2015.

Ciaran is an expert in judicial review and has a particular interest in equality and discrimination law. He has been interviewed often by the media and delivered guest lectures on these subjects. His day-to-day practice sees him appearing regularly in the courts of Northern Ireland … Read More >

Leigh Sealy SC has practised as a solicitor and barrister since 1979. He has appeared and advised in numerous complex cases involving commercial and construction disputes including arbitrations; constitutional cases; intricate planning appeals; Trade Practices, Corporations Law and Federal Fisheries prosecutions; defamation suits; injunction applications and applications for other equitable relief

After practising as a solicitor-advocate for over 20 years, Leigh joined Malthouse Chambers in 2001 and thereafter practised exclusively as a barrister. He served as a Committee Member of the Tasmanian Bar Association for 12 years, was Deputy Chairman of the Racing Appeals Board from 1995 until 2008 and has been a member of the Judicial Committee of the Tasmanian Rugby Union for over 25 years ... Read More >

Peter Wood is a partner at Minter Ellison in Melbourne, Australia. He is a construction law and arbitration expert, experienced in transactional and litigious aspects of construction projects. He has wide experience in drafting a wide range of contracts, and in all forms of dispute resolution including litigation, adjudication, mediation and arbitration, particularly international arbitration.

Mr Wood was the lead lawyer in the case of Fluor v Anaconda, an international arbitration which was heard by an eminent international panel consisting of Jan Paulsson, Professor John Uff QC and Phillip Naughton QC. The case was listed by American Lawyer as one of the ten largest arbitrations in the world in 2003 and 2004 ... Read More >

Gene Tanaka is a partner in the Municipal & Redevelopment Law practice group and the managing partner of Best Best & Krieger LLP’s Walnut Creek and Sacramento offices. Gene’s practice is focused on Municipal Law litigation.

Gene has litigated many land use cases involving challenges regarding the California Environmental Quality Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Federal Endangered Species Act, California Endangered Species Act, California Radiation Control, Federal land Policy and Management Act and inverse condemnation. He has worked for the City of Needles, San Bernardino County LAFCO, the Riverside County Habitat Conservation Agency ... Read More >