What to Expect

100% attendees last year rated the forum as very good or excellent

The R3 Eastern Committee are pleased to announce that the 2026 Eastern Forum will once again be held at the Dunston Hall Hotel, Norwich.

The forum will bring together insolvency and restructuring professionals from across the Eastern region for a programme of insightful updates, engaging content and valuable networking opportunities.

The theme of this year’s forum is Our Changing World.

The expected number of CPD hours for the forum is 4 hours. More information will be announced in due course.

The R3 Eastern Committee

If you are interested in sponsoring at this event or others in the Eastern region, go here or for more information, you can contact [email protected]

Programme

• 09:00Registration and networking
• 09:35Welcome and opening of the Eastern Forum

  Fiona Richardson, R3 Eastern Vice Chair welcomes attendees to the R3 Eastern Forum. 

  Speaker: Fiona Richardson, Partner, Ashtons Legal

• 09:50 R3 update

  R3 President Sonia Jordan will update on the work R3 has been doing for members. 

  Speaker: Sonia Jordan, Partner and R3 President, Knights – view bio

• 10:30Recruitment and retention of staff in the modern day

  As HR and Recruitment leaders in the legal industry, we see first hand how recruitment and retention have shifted. Talent expectations, hybrid working, wellbeing, and purpose now rival pay. At the same time, skills shortages, regulatory pressure, and client demands are intensifying. We will share our experiences and approaches to attracting scarce expertise, building inclusive pipelines, and retaining high performers through career development, leadership capability, and culture.

  Speakers:

  Lauren Hills, Head of Talent Acquisition, Birketts LLP

  

  Fiona Wellstead, Human Resources Director, Birketts LLP

  

• 11:00Networking and morning break
• 11:30An update from Auction House

  Speakers:

  Bryan Baxter, Founding Director, Auction House

  

  Oliver Prior, Managing Director, Auction House

  

• 12:15A Going Concern – Legora AI for lawyers and insolvency professionals

  AI isn’t coming for your profession – but it is changing what good practice looks like. This session focuses on how AI is being applied in the insolvency space, for both legal practitioners and insolvency professionals. Using Legora as a live example, we’ll explore what AI tools actually do well today: drafting, research, document review, and the repetitive analytical work that fills your day. We’ll look at where the technology adds real value, where it still falls short, and what the shift means for how practices are run and work is priced. Practical, honest, and grounded in what’s happening right now.

  Fred Leader, Legal Engineer at Legora

• 13:00Networking lunch
• 14:00When litigants in person meet AI: Insolvency on the edge

  Speakers:

  Sian Leonard, Partner, Birketts

  

  Fiona Richardson, Partner, Ashtons Legal

  

• 14:35How insolvency litigation has become a process of continuous adaptation – to facts, assets, law, and behaviour – and what that means for IPs and funders today

  Speaker:

  Alison Kirby, Associate, Manolete Partners Plc – view bio

  

• 14:50Session TBC
• 15:30Networking and afternoon break
• 16:00Legal update

  Hear a legal update from St Philips Chambers

• 16:40Keynote session – Living Well on Our Moany, Groany and Droney Brain

  Have you noticed how negative our brains can be at times? How easily it overthinks, gets stuck in loops of worry, sliding into rumination? In this engaging, accessible, and life-changing keynote, Emma introduces the audience to the brain’s worry system — and, crucially, how to manage it day to day. Well-being isn’t just about cake or extra days off (although those certainly help). It turns out well-being is a skill, and like any skill, it can be learned and strengthened. Attendees will leave with a deeper understanding of the brain, alongside practical, neuroscience-informed strategies they can apply immediately to real life.

  Speaker:

  Emma Mulhall, Action Your Potential – view bio

  

• 18:30Networking drinks reception and gala dinner

Pricing (excluding VAT)

• Member- full ticket£335
• Member- New professional ticket (offering a £200 saving and open to New Professional members only)£225
• Non-member- Full ticket£445
• Accommodation- Thursday 24 September£122

Sponsors