The ALBA summer conference is now open for bookings. The conference will be held from 10 to 12 July 2026 at St John’s College, Cambridge.
The topics to be covered at the conference are:
- Substantive grounds for judicial review: Judicial Overreach or Return to Orthodoxy?
- Are procedural challenges dead in the water?
- Discrimination law for public lawyers
- The hopes and limits of law in times of international uncertainty
- Practice and procedure update
- Public law outside of Part 54
Panel session chairs will include Sir Rabinder Singh, Sir Clive Lewis, Dame Heather Williams, Dame Karen Steyn, Sir Martin Chamberlain and Dame Judith Farbey
Speakers on various panels include Maya Lester KC, Kate Grange KC, Professor Joanna Bell, Maya Sikand KC, Professor Joe Tomlinson, Katija Hafesji, Sarah Hannett KC, Julia Smyth KC, Zac Sammour, Zoe Gannon, Louis Biggs and David Blundell KC.
Further announcements on speakers will be made in the coming weeks.
The ALBA summer conference is held annually and brings together practitioners, academics and others with an interest in public law for a series of sessions on topical issues within the sphere of constitutional and administrative law. The conference runs from the late afternoon on Friday 10 July, through to lunchtime on the Sunday, with panel sessions starting on Saturday morning.
The conference is returning to St John’s College, Cambridge this year, for the first time since 2018. The conference will offer interesting and useful sessions on a wide range of topics of interest to public law practitioners. It also provides an unparalleled opportunity to spend time, in relaxed and informal circumstances, with colleagues working in public law, including leading practitioners, academics and judges. Above all, the conference is intended to be fun. As usual, on Saturday afternoon, there will be the opportunity for a walk to Grantchester along the River Cam, via The Meadows (about 2 hours).
The conference presents exceptional value for money and is heavily subsidised by ALBA, especially for junior practitioners. The price for the full weekend includes two dinners and overnight accommodation on Friday and Saturday at St John’s College, and breakfast and lunch on Saturday and Sunday. The Saturday dinner will be a gala dinner held in St John’s Hall. The conference itself will be held in the Main theatre at St John’s College on Saturday and Sunday.
The dress code for the weekend will be casual, with the Saturday evening dinner being smart casual.
You can choose to stay at St John’s College on Friday and Saturday nights, or just on Saturday night, or opt for no accommodation.
We are very keen to make the conference a success, to ensure that there is scope for it to continue in Cambridge in the future. Please do attend if you can.
If you have any queries about the conference, please contact the ALBA Administrator: administrator@adminlaw.org.uk.
A 15% early booking discount applies for all bookings before 5 May 2026.