Our panel will share their SQE experiences and answer your questions. Attendees will gain insight from a diverse range of expertise about what it’s really like, and what it takes, to pass the SQE.

The panel will feature:

• Brendan Greiner, District Associate Judge for the State of Iowa
• Chris Howard, University Partnerships Director at BARBRI Global and Vice-Chair of the International Bar Association’s Future of Legal Practice Commission
• Neeta Halai, Solicitor, Trainer, Author, Artist
• Tara Kaby, Trainee Solicitor, Tuckers Solicitors

Chair: Lloyd Gash, Senior Lecturer in Law, Professional Law Institute, King’s College London

Panellist Bio’s:

Brendan Greiner, District Associate Judge for the State of Iowa

Judge Greiner was appointed to the District Associate Court in 2018. He previously served 11 years as an assistant county attorney in both Polk and Story, specialising in vehicular homicides and white-collar offences. As a prosecutor he was elected Associate Director of the Iowa County Attorney’s Association and served as Commissioner for the Iowa Supreme Court Attorney Discipline Grievance Commission. Judge Greiner is an adjunct professor at Des Moines Area Community College teaching constitutional law and ethics in the criminal justice programme. He is a member of the Polk County Bar Association, the Iowa Supreme Court Board of Shorthand Reporters, and is Secretary of the C. Edwin Moore Inn of Court. He is also dual-qualified solicitor of England and Wales (via SQE) and a certified mediator.

Chris Howard, University Partnerships Director at BARBRI Global and Vice-Chair of the International Bar Association’s Future of Legal Practice Commission.

Chris qualified as a solicitor in 2003, specialising in Construction Law at City firm Trowers & Hamlins. He has subsequently been working in Professional Legal Education for the past 18 years, during which time he has taught Construction Law as a Senior Lecturer in the Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College London, and was also the founding Director of the Professional Law Institute. He has recently finished serving as a Co-Chair of the IBA’s Academic and Professional Development Committee, through which he has spoken around the world on the Future of Legal Practice and Education.

Neeta Halai, Solicitor, Trainer, Author, Artist

Neeta owns a business called New Heights Training where the focus is working with people on their communication skills and legal skills, using the psychology of human behaviour, emotional intelligence and language patterns. This also complements her workshops as an artist where she helps people unlock their creativity and discover their potential untapped talent.

Neeta coaches and trains hundreds of international lawyers, business professionals, aspiring solicitors and students, worldwide, preparing them for the SQE; the new way to qualify as a solicitor of England and Wales.

She is the first published author of the SQE book called ‘Skilfully Passing the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE)’, 2^nd Edition (Bloomsbury). It has sold hundreds of copies in six of the seven continents and is a recommended textbook for individuals, law firms, businesses and many universities and training providers.

Neeta has been an invited speaker at the Global Legal Forum in The Hague on ‘The Future Lawyer’ focusing on the importance of human skills. She is also an experienced scriptwriter and presenter who creates professional training videos for law schools and legal training providers.

Tara Kaby, Trainee Solicitor, Tuckers Solicitors

Tara began working in Law as a Business Administration Apprentice in 2016 at 19 years old and went to the University of Kent in 2017 to study an LLB Law degree. She graduated in 2021 and went on to study the Legal Practice Course (LPC) with the University of Law that summer.

Tara graduated from the LPC in the summer of 2023, and started the SQE2 prep course with BARBRI in November 2023. She took the SQE2 exams in April/May 2024.

Tara has worked in law firms throughout her studies and has experience working in Commercial and Residential Conveyancing, Private Client. She is currently a trainee solicitor in Criminal Defence.

Tara has worked with the Kent Law Society since September 2020 and spent a lot of time creating and hosting networking events for junior lawyers and students in local universities and attending school careers fairs to speak to students about working in the legal industry.