‘Lord Judge, the former Lord Chief Justice, has warned criminal law barristers that the “old-fashioned chambers structures must be reconsidered” and they must not dismiss alternative business structures (ABSs) “out of hand”.’
Legal Futures, 31st October 2014
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘New Members of Parliament should be given training on the constitution and the rule of law, one of the UK’s most prominent barristers has suggested.’
The Lawyer, 29th October 2014
Source: www.thelawyer.com
‘Today [24 October] the Bar Standards Board (BSB) has published the findings of its pilot supervision visits to chambers. The supervision programme is part of the BSB’s new targeted and proportionate approach to regulation launched at the beginning of the year.’
Bar Standards Board, 24th October 2014
Source: www.barstandardsboard.org.uk
‘Elizabeth Woodcraft and Alison Diduck, a Professor at University College London, speak about what it means to be a feminist barrister.’
Garden Court Chambers Blog,
Source: www.gclaw.wordpress.com
‘The Lord Chancellor should be a “very senior lawyer”, Nicholas Lavender QC, chairman of the Bar Council, has said. Justice secretary Chris Grayling told the House of Lords constitution committee this week that there were “no disadvantages” to the Lord Chancellor being, like him, a non-lawyer.’
Legal Futures, 17th October 2014
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘Following the Lord Chancellor’s evidence on October 15 2014 to the House of Lords
Constitution Committee’s inquiry into the role of the Lord Chancellor, Nicholas Lavender QC, chairman of the Bar Council, said: “Justice is not a service that governments can choose to provide or not. It is a vital part of our constitutional arrangements. It needs to be defended and promoted to make the separation of powers a continuing reality and thereby to safeguard our democratic way of life for the future.” ‘
The Bar Council, 16th October 2014
Source: www.barcouncil.org.uk
‘“The Times They Are A-Changing” wrote Bob Dylan in 1963. Is public access (PA) a reinvention of the wheel or an opportunity for all lawyers? The work that barristers can now do is utterly different from a decade ago. The growth of McKenzie friends shows the legal landscape has been affected by financial constrictions and widening consumer choice. Solicitors have higher rights of audience and employed barristers can be advocates. Professionals from both sides wonder whether there is still a real difference. The answer currently is that there remain significant differences though the edges are becoming blurred. This article will not examine those differences or likely future of the professions. Instead it offers an insight to how barristers, especially young barristers willing to embrace change, can help their future while continuing to work with solicitors.’
No. 5 Chambers, 2nd October 2014
Source: www.no5.com
‘The Bar Standards Board (BSB) is investigating the extent to which barristers have been accepting work from solicitors without entering into contracts, or accepting terms “contrary to their regulatory obligations”.’
Legal Futures, 14th October 2014
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has today [10 October] issued a call for evidence as part of a new review of the standard contractual terms and the cab rank rule. This is to establish the contractual basis on which barristers are being instructed, and to gather evidence about the frequency with which the cab rank rule is being invoked.’
Bar Standards Board, 10th October 2014
Source: www.barstandardsboard.org.uk
‘The Court of Appeal has unanimously rejected the appeal of criminal barristers arguing that QASA (the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates) was unlawful. It was argued that the scheme compromised the independence of advocates and that the decision on the part of the Legal Services Board (LSB) to approve it was unlawful. All grounds were quashed and implementation is now due to take place some eight years after the original proposals were tabled.’
LegalVoice, 9th October 2014
Source: www.legalvoice.org.uk
‘Victims will have the right to tell the court how they have been affected by a crime as part of a major set of reforms announced by the Justice Secretary. They will also receive better information and support with the introduction of a nationwide Victims’ Information Service, making it easier for victims by establishing a single source of information and help.’
Halsbury’s Law Exchange, 30th September 2014
Source: www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk
‘The High Court has ordered a Jersey lawyer to pay an English barrister’s fee, dismissing a claim that the fee was an honorarium which was not legally enforceable.’
Legal Futures, 26th September 2014
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘The way in which barristers’ Practising Certificate Fees (PCF) are calculated will soon change to become fairer, the Bar Standards Board and Bar Council have announced today.’
The Bar Council, 25th September 2014
Source: www.barcouncil.org.uk
‘The Bar Council has urged the government to reconsider its plans to end the Jackson reforms exemption currently applied to insolvency litigation.’
Litigation Futures, 23rd September 2014
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
‘The latest Annual Report on the performance of the Bar Standards Board (BSB)’s Professional Conduct Committee and Professional Conduct Department has been published today. The report shows that the percentage of cases being concluded or referred to disciplinary action within the agreed service standards increased from 64% in 2012/13 to 77% in 2013/14.’
Bar Standards Board, 19th September 2014
Source: www.barstandardsboard.org.uk
‘The Bar Council, which represents barristers in England and Wales, has today published the third edition of its annual report, ‘Representing the Bar’, which focuses on the organisation’s representational activities and performance against key strategic aims for 2013-14.’
The Bar Council, 19th September 2014
Source: www.barcouncil.org.uk
‘The president of the Supreme Court has taken the “fairly remarkable” course of forcing two barristers into dropping their claims to success fees in a case which he said again highlighted the “many unsatisfactory aspects” of the pre-Jackson CFA regime.’
Litigation Futures, 18th September 2014
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
‘Decisions made by the Bar Standards Board’s Professional Conduct Department, which deals with complaints about professional misconduct by barristers, are “fair, consistent, and well-reasoned”, according to an independent review of the regulator’s enforcement system.’
Bar Standards Board, 19th September 2014
Source: www.barstandrdsboard.org.uk
‘The Bar Council has today published a report, based on interviews and a survey of legal practitioners, assessing the impact of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO) 2012 on our system of justice a year after implementation in April 2013.’
The Bar Council, 18th September 2014
Source: www.barcouncil.org.uk
‘The Legal Services Consumer Panel has called into question the existing minimum indemnity cover limit of £500,000 for barristers and called for more research before the limit is extended to firms regulated by the Bar Standards Board (BSB).’
Litigation Futures, 17th September 2014
Source: www.litigationfutures.co.uk
