The Lord Chancellor and the two leading opposition legal affairs spokesmen are to headline the Gazette's pre-general election debate later this month. Lord Falconer will be joined on a high-profile panel by Dominic Grieve, the Conservative shadow Attorney-General, and David Heath, the Liberal Democrat's shadow minister for the Department for Constitutional Affairs. They will tussle over questions formed against the backdrop the Clementi review, the on-going shake-up of legal aid, and a raft of controversial government proposals and actions in the field of law. Also on the panel will be Roger Smith, the director of lawyers' human rights campaigning group Justice and former director of the Legal Action Group, and Sue Ashtiany, a commissioner of the Equal Opportunities Commission and a partner at London firm Nabarro Nathanson. The debate will take place on 23 March at Stationers' Hall in London from 6pm to 7pm. Tickets are free to practitioners, but places will be limited.
Contact Deanie Thain, tel: 020 7841 5461; e-mail: deanie.thain@lawsociety.org.uk.