Lord Atkin Lecture Mr Gerard Elias Cbe Qc

Last Friday saw Mr Gerard Elias CBE QC deliver the 15^th Lord Atkin lecture named in honour of Lord Atkin, one of the most distinguished jurists of the 20^th century and an Old Breconian.

Mr Elias is a leading criminal barrister , a deputy high court judge whose practice since 1996 has largely been dominated by major public inquiries including the North Wales Child Abuse inquiry where he was leading counsel . He is currently Chancellor, Diocese of Swansea and Brecon and chair of the ECB Cricket discipline commission . He follows in a long line of highly distinguished lawyers who have delivered this lecture to an audience of sixth formers and legal professionals from across South Wales.

Mr Elias’ focussed his lecture on the way social media is affecting democracy and the rule of law in the UK. He challenged the sixth formers to take a real responsibility for the way social media is developing and being used before it both undermines our system of law and our democracy, and also bring society into a more confrontational and divided state than ever before.