New for 2025, LLG's Licensing Conference will provide a full day’s practical, online training on the latest developments, case law, and guidance in some of the key areas relevant to lawyers and officers working in local authority licensing departments.
The Conference will include sessions on noise nuisance and licensed premises, licensing policies, pavement licensing, the Walk Safe case and its consequences, and the use and abuse of TENs, alongside an update on key topical issues relating to taxi licensing. We are delighted to confirm that speakers include Ben Williams from Kings Chambers; James Button, President of the Institute of Licensing; Chris Rees-Gay from Woods Whur; Matt Lewin from Cornerstone Barristers; and Stephen Turner from Kingston upon Hull City Council.
All sessions will provide attendees with the opportunity to ask questions and share their thoughts and experiences. Whilst the event will be held across one day, all sessions will be recorded and made available to download, providing the opportunity either to engage for the whole day or to attend selected sessions on the day and then catch up in your own time.
Provisional programme is now available to download from the Programme tab.
Stephen D. Turner, MStJ., MIoL, LLB
Stephen Turner is a solicitor with Kingston upon Hull City Council and specialises in regulatory prosecutions and licensing. He qualified in 1986 and was in private practice before moving into local government in 1994. Stephen has been solely responsible for advice to the Council and its Officers on all aspects of licensing law and procedure since 2004. He advises the Committee and Officers in connection with all applications, reviews, prosecutions, and appeals concerning licensing matters from taxis and private hire to sex shops, zoos and scrap metal dealers and is Legal Advisor to the Committee when in session. Stephen also deals with advocacy arising from decisions of the Committee by way of appeals or from the prosecution of offenders under all relevant legislation. Stephen is an experienced prosecutor for the regulatory departments of the Council dealing with all types of high-end cases from counterfeiting to food safety and fraud.
Stephen has presented lectures, workshops, and seminars to a variety of audiences including magistrates, solicitors, members of the Institute of Licensing, Council Members and Officers and others within his areas of interest and expertise.
Steve is a Past National Chair of Solicitors in Local Government (SLG now Lawyers in Local Government (LLG)), a former Chair and Branch Secretary of the Yorkshire and the Humber Branch of SLG/LLG, and the Litigation and Licensing Deputy National Lead (Licensing) for LLG. Steve is also the Vice Chairman of the Northeast Region of the Institute of Licensing (IoL) and an Independent Trainer, Lecturer, Mentor and Consultant. Steve chaired the IoL’s Working Party in 2018 which produced and published the Guidance on the relevance of previous convictions in Hackney and Private Hire Licencing.
Matt Lewin is a top-ranked public law barrister, recognised as a “leading junior”, whose clients range from government departments to parish councils.
His work includes advocacy in court and at public inquiries, investigations, reviews, training, public speaking and advisory work on a diverse range of public law issues, for clients across England and Wales. He is a member of the Attorney General’s B Panel of Junior Counsel to the Crown and the Equality and the Human Rights Commission’s C panels of counsel.
Matt has been ranked as a “leading junior” in administrative law and licensing law in Legal 500 2025. The Court of Appeal has described his submissions as “excellent … [made] with skill and moderation”.
Matt was a nominee for the Young Pro Bono Barrister of the Year 2019 award.
In 2024, Matt published Cornerstone on Councillors’ Conduct and Standards in Public Life (Bloomsbury Professional), a practical guide for anyone involved in the field of standards in public life in the United Kingdom, from parish councils to Parliament.
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09:15 - 16:00
Online
