Introduction
Following a comprehensive review in 2012, a new governance system and structures were put in place in January 2014 to ensure that:
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Introduction
Parliament is the Inn’s sovereign body and ultimate authority, responsible for the oversight of the Inn’s governance, legislation and elections. All Ordinary Benchers are members of the Inn’s Parliament. More specifically, its role is focused on:
Introduction
The Executive Committee is the Inn’s primary Committee, to which Parliament delegates authority for oversight of the business affairs of the Inn and for the development of Inn-wide strategy and policy. Its membership is approved by Parliament, and it is accountable to Parliament. Its role is to ensure that the Inn’s executive management is operating effectively and efficiently in the Inn’s interests. In greater detail:
As a result of the Governance Review, a new committee structure came into effect on 1 January 2019. The Inn’s sovereign body continues to be Parliament – the governing body of Benchers of the Inn - but Parliament is be supported by new Standing Committees, all of which will be clearly focused on the Inn’s core purposes, and constituted such that we are able to set our priorities and future direction to achieve them.
The main Standing Committee will be the Executive Committee.
Reporting to Parliament through the Executive Committee there are four Standing Committees:
Benchers are elected by Parliament each year to non-executive offices of the Inn through which they provide Bench-level oversight of the Inn’s affairs.
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2020 Officers of the Inn |
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Treasurer |
The Rt Hon Sir Brian Leveson |
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Deputy Treasurer: |
Andrew Hochhauser QC |
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Deputy Treasurer Elect: | |
| 2019 |
The Rt Hon Lord Justice David Bean
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| 2018 |
Richard Wilmot-Smith QC
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Under Treasurer and Chief Executive |
On Christmas Day 1119, at the instance of King Baldwin II of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem and of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, nine knights took monastic vows, styling themselves The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Jesus Christ. They were quartered near the remains of the Temple of Solomon, of which only the Western Wall now remains. This explains the other name by which the Order was known: the Knights of the Temple of Solomon. The purpose of the foundation was the protection of pilgrims from Western Europe on their way through the Levant to visit the Holy Places.
The earliest surviving records of the qualifications required of those who would follow the profession of Advocate, date from the late 13th century. In 1275 the Speculum Juris was published; this set out the qualifications required. The City's Liber Custumarum of 1280 contains the standards and rules of the profession, which was already divided into attorneys (presently solicitors) and countors (or apprentices at law, the title barrister being of later date and reflecting strictly the man's status in his Inn). An attorney had to be admitted by the Mayor before practising in the City.
Over time the Templars acquired many estates, the income from which helped to furnish the money needed for their work overseas. The Order's own need to move funds to Outremer produced another source of income by extending their facilities to traders on the great mediaeval trade route to the Middle and Far East, with the Order acting as bankers. Not only the Order itself, but also the Exchequer and the government, needed the services of lawyers, so it is clear that at the height of the Templars' power and prestige many lawyers would have followed their calling within the New Temple.