The Intermediary Cooperative Conference: June 2025
Collaboration:
A Cooperative approach to achieving fairer justice
27th June 2025
A Cooperative approach to achieving fairer justice
The Intermediary Cooperative will be holding its 2025 conference at the University of Liverpool on Friday 27th June.
The theme of this year’s conference is “Collaboration: A Cooperative approach to achieving fairer justice”.
The audience will include intermediaries, solicitors, barristers, advocates, academics and other interested parties working in the field.
Talks will last approximately 30 minutes each, including time for questions. There will be an opportunity to view a range of interesting and topical poster presentations and time for networking throughout the day.
We do hope you can join us for what promises to be a packed and thought-provoking day.
Our Speakers
Professor Helen Stalford
“The importance of collaboration to achieving social justice: what academic researchers need to learn”
Professor Stalford has been a member of the academic staff at Liverpool since April 2000 and was Head of the Law Department between 2021 and 2024.
Helen is a leading expert on children’s rights, having researched and published extensively in this area. She has led projects on behalf of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency and the Council of Europe to develop children’s rights indicators and has acted as expert consultant to the Council of Europe, the European Commission and UNICEF on issues relating to child friendly justice, child protection and the children’s rights implications of EU enlargement.
Her presentation will reflect on the growing importance of collaboration to academic research, particularly in the context of issues relating to social justice. It will use examples from research relating to children and childhood to highlight some of the challenges and opportunities of collaborative partnerships. It will consider some key lessons around: who our collaborators are; who they should be; when and how our collaborations should take place; and what those collaborations should entail. The presentation will also include details of a newly launched Centre for People’s Justice – an ambitious new research centre grounded in collaboration and co-production – the aim of which is to advance thinking, methods, relationships and practice around social justice-related work.
Nicole Ralston
”The importance of collaboration among all professionals and why this is crucial in ensuring fair access to justice for vulnerable service users”
Nicole is a Senior Associate Solicitor with MSB Solicitors, which has offices across the North West and Midlands.
Nicole undertakes work in family law and is a Resolution accredited specialist in areas of public law and domestic abuse cases. Nicole is a member of the care team specialising in public law proceedings. She is committed to finding the best possible solution for her clients, ensuring the relationship between parents and their children can be protected.
Irina Sanders (Norton)
“Stakeholders’ Collaboration: Dialogue, Support and Best Practice”
Irina is the Founder & Chair of the Association of Interpreters and Translators (AIT) in the UK.
Irina will talk about joint collaborative working between interpreters and other professionals in the justice system and how that can promote best practice when working with vulnerable individuals in court.
The presentation will highlight AIT’s advocacy for the interpreting and translation profession, focusing on professional regulation, title protection, and skill development.
Key initiatives include the Medical Interpreting Training Program (MITP), collaborations with intermediaries, the NHS, police negotiators, and universities.
Irina’s talk will also showcase AIT’s policy influence, such as its engagement with the House of Lords inquiry into court interpreting services, reinforcing its commitment to raising professional standards.
Professor Keith Rix
“Collaboration between psychiatrists and intermediaries: Facilitating justice for the vulnerable.”
Professor Rix is an Honorary Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist.
He will address the conference on issues around the role of the expert witness and the interaction/relationship between intermediaries and experts.
Within the constraints of the legal privilege which attaches to communications between experts and instructing solicitors, psychiatrists and intermediaries must collaborate in order to facilitate the delivery of justice.
This presentation will promote discussion as to what happens if someone is found fit to plead (with no intermediary recommendation) but then struggles to participate at court; whether the psychiatrist’s opinion as to fitness changes if an intermediary is in attendance; how collaboration between psychiatrists and intermediaries can be achieved in practice.
Caron Heyes
“Representing Vulnerable Claimants in Civil Injury Claims against Hospital Trusts; Making the claimants voice heard.”
Caron is a Solicitor and Director at Fieldfisher LLP in the Medical Negligence team. Accredited member of the AvMA Clinical Negligence Panel and coordinator of the Child SIG of APIL and joint editor of the Journal of Personal Injury Law. She specialises in birth injury and neonatal injury cases, orthopaedic paediatric claims and fatal accident claims on behalf of claimants.
ADHD Foundation
The ADHD Foundation is the UK’s leading neurodiversity charity.
They will present on the most current thinking about language and terminology around neurodiversity, drawing on their experience of working with vulnerable people in the criminal justice system.
Nicola Lewis
Nicola is one of the founders of The Intermediary Cooperative and a former Chair.
Nicola will bring the day together, identifying key themes and chairing a final discussion on take home messages and next steps.
Dr David Baker
David will be our conference host.
David is Director of Research in the Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology at the University of Liverpool. His work focuses on preventable deaths, death investigation and holding governmental organisations to account. He is the author of two books on police related deaths, the latest of which is ‘Police Related Deaths in the United States’ published in 2021 by Lexington Books. His next book (co-authored with Dr Hugh Dillon) focuses on the work of coroners and will be published by Routledge in 2026. He has published extensively in academic journals and has also appeared on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Four Thought’, in addition to contributing articles to The New Statesman and The Conversation.
2024 Conference Highlights
