2025 Annual Colloquium

L’Association des Juristes Franco-Britanniques/ the Franco-British Lawyers' Society (AJFB/FBLS) will be holding its Annual Colloque in person in Edinburgh, Scotland on Thursday 18 to Saturday 20 September 2025.

The conference will be centred in the historic surroundings of Parliament House in Edinburgh, home of the Scottish Parliament until 1707 and now the seat of the Scottish Supreme Courts.

The theme of the conference is Dreyfus, Oscar Slater and Modern Miscarriages of Justice. 

Panels of distinguished judges, academics, practitioners and others from Scotland, France, England and Wales and Northern Ireland will look at the issue of Miscarriages of Justice from both historic and contemporary perspectives.  We will explore the similarities between the Dreyfus Affair and the case of Oscar Slater, often referred to as the “Scottish Dreyfus”.  We will look at the procedures currently used by these various legal systems to deal with miscarriages of justice, and consider recent examples, such as the Outreau case in France and the Post Office case in the UK.

The conference will conclude with a dramatic re-enactment of the Oscar Slater trial by Donald Findlay KC, in the same courtroom as the original trial.

There will be an exhibition of materials relating to Oscar Slater.

The conference weekend coincides with the Opening of the Legal Year in Scotland.  Anyone who wishes to stay on in Edinburgh for the weekend is welcome to attend the Opening of the Legal Year ceremonies.  On the morning of Sunday 21 there will be a Red Mass in St Mary’s Roman Catholic Cathedral.  On the morning of Monday 22 the formal Opening of the Legal Year Ceremony will take place in Parliament House, followed by a procession of the judiciary and legal profession from Parliament House to St Giles Cathedral for a church service to mark the occasion. The ceremonies will be complete by lunchtime on the Monday.

This brochure will be updated from time to time.  A final version with final details of speakers and timing will be issued nearer the time of the colloque.

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Many thanks to our sponsors

- The Clark Foundation for Legal Education

- Pinsent Masons

 

OPENING RECEPTION AND EXHIBITION

J’ACCUSE…! SCULPTURES BY NICOLE FARHI

THURSDAY 18 SEPTEMBER 7-8.30 PM

Fine Art Society, 6 Dundas Street, Edinburgh EH3 6HZ

A celebrated designer turned full-time sculptor, Nicole Farhi CBE is widely known for her eponymous fashion brand but has dedicated the past two decades to her artistic practice. Having trained under Jean Gibson and Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, she has exhibited at Gainsborough’s House and The Harley Gallery. Farhi, a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors, has often focused on the human form, and J’Accuse…! marks a new focus — one that uses portraiture to depict the victims behind miscarriage of justice cases that have made legal and political history.

J’Accuse…! invites visitors to consider the people behind these cases. Each bust, crafted with personal care, offers a portrait of an individual who endured years, even decades, of wrongful imprisonment, some faced torture, some lost their lives.

We are delighted that Nicole Farhi has agreed to bring this exhibition to Scotland for our Colloque, and sculpt a bust of Oscar Slater to join those of Dreyfus and other victims of miscarriages of justice world-wide.

 

2025 ANNUAL COLLOQUIUM 

FRIDAY 19 SEPTEMBER

MACKENZIE BUILDING, OLD ASSEMBLY CLOSE, 172 HIGH STREET EDINBURGH EH1 1QX

 

9.00 to 9.30- coffee

9.30 to 9.45 WELCOME

THE RT HON LORD ERICHT

Scottish Vice-President of the AJFB/FBLS, Senator of the College of Justice and Lord Commissioner of Justiciary

THE RT HON LORD PENTLAND

Lord Justice General of Scotland and Lord President of the Court of Session

THE RT HON LADY ARDEN OF HESWALL DBE

President of the AJFB/FBLS and former Justice of the UK Supreme Court

9.45 to 11.15 Session 1   MISCARRIAGES OF JUSTICE: THE COURT AND REVIEW COMMISSION PERSPECTIVE

CHAIR: LADY ARDEN

Speakers will include

Senior judges from Scotland, England and Wales and France

SIR BERNARD MCCLOSKEY, Lord Justice of Appeal, Northern Ireland

MICHAEL WALKER, Secretary, Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission

 

11.15 to 11.30 coffee

 

11.30 to 1 Session 2 MODERN MISCARRIAGES OF JUSTICE

CHAIR: LISA JAULIN, French Liaison Magistrate for the UK

ANDRE VALINI, lawyer and politician (formerly a Government Minister and member of the Assemblée Nationale and the Sénat), President of the Parliamentary Enquiry into the Malfunction of Justice in the Outreau Affair

ANDREW TICKELL, Glasgow Caledonian University, on the Post-Office case

STUDENTS from Glasgow Caledonian University Law Clinic

 

1-2 sandwich lunch

 

2-4 Session 3 DREYFUS AND OSCAR SLATER

CHAIR  The Rt Hon Lady Dorrian, former Lord Justice Clerk, Scotland

OLIVIER BRAY, avocat général près la Cour d'appel de Dijon

GERALDINE KEIFLIN, screenwriter and author of the AJFB/FLBS play about Dreyfus

Dr KARINE VARLEY, Strathclyde University

PROFESSOR LINDSAY FARMER,  Glasgow University

 

7 for 7.30 GALA DINNER

 PARLIAMENT HALL, PARLIAMENT HOUSE, 11 PARLIAMENT SQUARE, EDINBURGH EH1 1RQ 

Highland dress, black tie or lounge suit.

Those attending the conference may bring guests to the Dinner.

Members of the AJFB/FBLS and others who are unable to attend the conference sessions but wish to attend the dinner are welcome to do so and bring guests.

 

SATURDAY 20 SEPTEMBER

SESSION 4

COURT 3,  PARLIAMENT HOUSE, 11 PARLIAMENT SQUARE, EDINBURGH EH1 1RQ 

9.30 – 10.00 Arrival and viewing of exhibition of documentary materials about Oscar Slater

10- 11.30 The Trial of Oscar Slater, Donald Findlay KC

11.30 – 12 Closing remarks

LORD ERICHT

SIMON HORSINGTON

LADY ARDEN

 

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BOOKING DETAILS

NB BOOKINGS CLOSE ON FRIDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2025

PLACES ARE LIMITED: PLEASE BOOK AS SOON AS POSSIBLE TO GUARANTEE A SPACE