The Kalisher Awards
The Kalisher Scholarship supports those who wish to forge a career at the Criminal Bar, but who may be unable to do so for financial reasons.
The Kalisher Scholarship Trust administers two full scholarships per annum (the Kalisher Scholarship and the Cloth Fair Scholarship), which cover the entire cost of the Bar Professional Training Course (BTPC). These scholarships are awarded to two students at the end of their BTPC year. It also administers a number of smaller bursaries and awards. All awards are judged on the basis of talent and financial hardship: the Trust wishes to encourage excellence no matter what the candidates’ financial or social background might be.
The awards are rotated around the participating BPTC providers, with the prizes going to the students of one provider each year.
The prizes are presented by the speaker at the Kalisher Lecture, which marks the start of the Criminal Bar Association’s annual Winter Lecture Series at the Old Bailey. Past speakers have included:
Mr Justice David Penry Davey
Sir Ken MacDonald QC
Rt Hon the Lord Bingham of Cornhill
Rt Hon the Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers
Rt Hon the Lord Steyn
Mr Justice Stephen Mitchell
The provider of the Scholarship in 2011 will be the Kaplan Law School.
The provider of the 2009/10 Scholarship was Cardiff Law School and the prizes awarded were as follows:
Kalisher Scholarship: Tim Naylor
Cloth Fair Scholarship: Simon O’Dwyer
Bursaries (£3,000): Andrew Kendall and Imogen McCabe
Blackstones 2011 (donated by OUP): Sarah Ingram and Kate Parker
The awards were presented by the Attorney General, Dominic Grieve QC MP, who was the 2010 speaker at the Kalisher Lecture given at the Old Bailey on 12th October on ‘Contempt of court: why it still matters’.
The Kalisher Essay Competition
Each year, the Trust runs an essay competition for pupils at criminal chambers.
The prize is £5,000, with a second prize of £2,000 for the runner-up.
A title is chosen on a topical subject that impacts directly on the work of the criminal practitioner.
Entry is limited to those currently undergoing pupillage in criminal chambers and chambers must sponsor their entrants (a maximum of 2) at £100 per pupil. Each essay must be no more than 2,000 words long.
The entries are judged by the Kalisher Trustees, and the prizes are presented at the Kalisher Lecture, along with the Scholarships and Bursaries.
In 2010, the title set for the essay competition was:
“In truth there is no right to jury trial in serious cases; if you are indicted for murder you have no right to a jury trial. The concept of "right" implies an element of free choice. The ECHR is currently considering whether a failure to provide an opt-out right is a breach of Article 6.
Should a defendant be given the right to opt out and be tried by judge alone or judge and lay assessors? Please advise the Attorney General as to the arguments for and against.”
We received entries written by pupils from 19 sets of chambers.
The winner of the £5,000 prize was Adam Payter of 6 King’s Bench Walk and the runner-up, winning £2,000, was Clementine Boulton of 2 Harcourt Buildings. 2011 Arcbholds (kindly donated by Sweet & Maxwell) were awarded to Christopher Geering of 2 Hare Court and to Katrina Orme at 6 King’s Bench Walk.