Conference: the Challenges of Trans-national Investigations

With generous support from the Hercule programme of the European Commission the Institute of Judicial Administration at Birmingham Law School will be hosting a conference on the Challenges of Trans-national Investigations from the 21st to the 23rd of March.

The central purpose is to facilitate a fact-based discussion between academics, practitioners and policy-makers on problematic aspects of such investigations. The current discussion of the UK opt-out provides a particularly interesting background for such discussions. Panel topics are:

• Co-ordinating Investigations across the EU
• The particular Challenges of Investigating Crimes against the Financial Interests of the EU
• The Potential Contribution of a European Public Prosecutor's Office
• Securing Defence Rights in Trans-national Investigations
• Protection against Self-incrimination and the Obligation to Contribute to Investigations
• Adjudication of Pre-Trial Issues in Trans-national cases

Speakers include:

• William Hughes (formerly SOCA)
• Lorena Bachmaier Winter (Complutense University Madrid)
• Jonathan Mitchell (25 Bedford Row)
• Holger Matt (ECBA)
• Michael Hopmeier (Kingston Crown Court)
• John Vervaele (University of Utrecht)
• Marianne Wade (University of Birmingham)
• Aled Williams (formerly Eurojust)

Academic presentations will include data from the EuroNEEDS study which interviewed over 200 practitioners across the EU member states and Croatia.  

Participation in this event is by invitation. There are, however, a limited number of public places available. Those interested should contact Sam Cole (s.j.cole.2@bham.ac.uk) for further information.