Overview:
Please join the MTSA & MTYBA for another memorable Black History Month celebration on the 18th October 2021 from 7pm to 9pm. Middle Temple is hosting an Exhibition on black and ethnic minority Middle Templars a speech will be made regarding the Exhibition. The panel of speakers will consist of Dr Louise Hewitt, Elaine Banton, Abimbola Johnson and a representative from the Equal Justice Initiative.
Master Elaine Banton of 7 Bedford Row Chambers is addressing the significance of the Black Lives Matter movement one year on and the work of the Bar Council Race Working Group, Race Summit and the initiatives advancing greater diversity and inclusion at the Bar.
Dr Louise Hewitt of the Innocence Project London, will be speaking about the experience of black men convicted under joint enterprise coupled with how the IPL empowers students to make change in the Criminal Justice System.
Abimbola Johnson is a member of 25 Bedford Row. Abi will speak about her role as Chair of the scrutiny board who are undertaking work on the police actions plan on race and inclusion. She also has extensive knowledge of problems with the Criminal Justice system, black lives matter, etc.
Ashley Adams, EJI Staff Attorney, earned a B.A. from Vanderbilt University in 2008 and graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 2011. Prior to joining EJI in 2017, she was Assistant Public Defender and District Court Supervisor for the Tuscaloosa County Office of Public Defender, represented indigent clients as a trial attorney with Jefferson County Public Defender’s Community Law Office in Birmingham, Alabama, and conducted civil litigation as an associate attorney at Gaines Gault Hendrix, P.C., in Birmingham. She will be discussing the United States history of racial injustice and failure to confront this history and how this failure has shaped their legal system today.
We will have a performance by talented artist Emmanuel Dakoru-Whyte and superb pianist Elliot Adgomar. We will also be serving authentic cuisine. There will be opportunity for attendees to network and socialise after the speakers conclude and the audience both online and in person can ask the panel questions.