Leading North East construction lawyer chairs national conference

A leading regional construction lawyer has become the first North East based solicitor in recent years to chair the prestigious Construction Law Conference held in London.

Attended by the UK’s most prominent construction lawyers, Keith Bishop was chosen to chair the national conference for his strong specialist expertise.

Keith, who heads the construction team at Newcastle-based commercial law firm Muckle LLP, is the first North East lawyer in recent years to chair the high profile conference.

‘Construction: Shaping New Law into Solution – Focused Advice for Your Clients’ was held at the Caledonian Club, London, on Wednesday 27th June. The conference posed 13 ‘thorny’ questions which were answered directly by five QCs and two solicitors of ‘outstanding ability’.

Keith opened the conference with a short address, offering insight on shaping new law into solution-focused advice for clients, before chairing the debate on a series of construction industry issues.

Clara Hope, conference director at event organisers White Paper, said: “Chairing the conference is an incredibly important role, due to the exceptional calibre of expert speakers we had, including five QCs. It was a high profile and well attended conference and we needed a strong and highly experienced specialist to challenge the panel and help shape the debate. Keith has a vast amount of practical knowledge and experience, and a great strategic eye, so he was a superb choice to be chair.”

Keith Bishop, head of construction at Muckle LLP, added: “It was a tremendous honour to be asked to chair the conference. I’ve done a few presentations but this is the first time I’ve been asked to chair, so I was flattered and a little surprised.

“Usually, the conference is chaired by senior engineers and architects or by someone from a London law firm, but to my knowledge there hasn’t been a North East lawyer as chair before.

“Muckle LLP is a national law firm working from one, single site office in Newcastle and it is encouraging to see us continue to be considered alongside other national players in the sector.

“We discussed how lawyers can best advise clients on legislation and how it can impact their business, as well as finding solutions to real problems. With the impact of Brexit still to be determined, uncertainty about how the industry fits into the current economic climate and the collapse of Carillion, for example, construction is quite a difficult market to be in.

“These really are significant challenges that led to an exciting and thought provoking debate and one which was a great privilege to be part of.”

To find out more about Keith Bishop visit www.muckle-llp.com/our-people/construction-engineering/keith-bishop.