The Bar Council has welcomed two new faces to its leadership team.
New Chief Executive Malcolm Cree will replace Stephen Crowne, who is retiring, in August. Cree previously worked as Principal Consultant at strategy consultancy Catalyze, where he specialised in strategy and decision analysis. Prior to that, he served in the Royal Navy for 35 years, reaching the rank of Rear Admiral.
Andrew Langdon QC, Chair of the Bar, said: ‘He joins us at a time when we are reviewing the future direction of the organisation and meeting the challenges and opportunities the profession faces.’
Meanwhile, criminal law barrister Richard Atkins QC, of St Philips Chambers. has been named as next year's Vice-Chair of the Bar. Andrew Walker QC, the current Vice-Chair, will become Chair on 1 January 2018.
Atkins practices in crime and regulatory law and in the VAT tribunal. He was called to the Bar in 1989 and took silk in 2011. He has been a Recorder since 2005 and a Mental Health Tribunal Judge since 2014. He is Leader of the Midland Circuit and a Legal Chair for the Financial Reporting Council Disciplinary Tribunal.
Walker, of Maitland Chambers, was called to the Bar in 1991 and took silk in 2011. His practice focuses on property, company and commercial disputes and professional negligence claims. He was awarded the Bar Pro Bono Award in 2009 for some of his work with the homelessness charity, Shelter.
Lorinda Long will continue as Treasurer of the Bar Council for the fourth year. She joined Bank of America Merrill Lynch in 2016, having previously worked as an in-house lawyer, head of legal and general counsel at NatWest, Credit Suisse, Bank of Scotland and Lloyds.
