Features

On 12 June 2014 the Institute of Barristers’ Clerks held its annual dinner. Guests included two Justices of The Supreme Court, The Rt Hon Lord Reed, The Rt Hon Lord Toulson, the Chancellor of the High Court, The Rt Hon Lord Justice Etherton, the Lord Chancellor, The Rt Hon Chris Grayling MP, The Rt Hon the Lord Judge and other senior judges from the High Court and circuits.  

In his speech as Chairman of the IBC, Brian Lee gave his opinion on the many issues affecting the Bar today. Here is an edited version of that speech... 

There comes a time when each person must decide where loyalties lie.  

“No doubt he will pursue the case with the added bitterness of an old friend.” 

Oscar Wilde of Edward Carson QC, MP. 

Job title 

Silk, New Square Chambers  

New Square Chambers is one of the leading commercial Chancery sets in London specialising in commercial Chancery; company and insolvency; property; trusts and estates; tax; public law and offshore work. 

Impact is the effect felt if a risk actually materialises into an event. An example might be that the risk of losing a key practitioner who is leading the way in developing a new practice area for chambers. There may be a number of reasons for their departure such as moving to another set or serious illness. The cause isn’t the issue; the impact of their loss, is.  

Likelihood is the chance of something happening. Some measure this mathematically but for the purposes of most businesses a broader assessment of probability is generally used. 

The first Bar Council-led trade mission to Brazil took place in March this year. Mission member Frederico Singarajah anticipates the World Cup headlines and suggests that Brazil is already a champion in the worlds of business and law …  

This may well be what the headlines will read following the World Cup, which is currently under way, and I for one, being Brazilian, am hoping so. 

Jonathan Barnes examines the High Court’s effective monopoly on hearing defamation cases, and against a background of calls for county courts to get involved too asks, WHY NOT?  

On October 2011 the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the then Draft Defamation Bill considered at paragraph 87 of its First Report that the availability of county courts to hear defamation cases, particularly outside London, should increase accessibility for ordinary citizens and would, in many cases, reduce costs as well. The Committee suggested that the Ministry of Justice should implement a pilot scheme to determine how this proposal might work in practice. 

Alexander Gunning QC examines the COMBAR/CLLS terms and considers the basis of assumption of liablities.  

It is around eighteen months since a combination of regulatory changes resulted in barristers commonly contracting with solicitors for the provision of their services. Opinions remain divided over whether the switch to contracting has been to the benefit of the Bar. In this article I provide a brief description of the COMBAR/CLLS terms and address two of their more important aspects: the basis for payment and the assumption of liabilities. 

In his first column for Counsel, Mark Hatcher examines the newly opened Parliamentary session and the business ahead.  

As the beginning of the holiday season approaches, MPs face another few weeks at Westminster before the House of Commons rises for the summer recess on 22 July. The Parliamentary session, which opened with The Queen’s Speech on 4 June, will have been running for just seven weeks before the Commons pack up for the summer. Allowing for a two-week interval of business before the party conferences begin in September, MPs can look forward to a 10-week break. 

John G Browning takes a brief look at judges’ activities on social media and how this issue is being controlled in the United States.  

The issue of judges blogging, tweeting, and posting on Facebook and other social networking sites is a controversial subject that transcends international borders. Here in the United Kingdom, of course, guidelines adopted in 2012 ban judicial office holders from such activities in order to avoid damaging “public confidence in their own impartiality or in the judiciary in general”. 

David Wurtzel reviews PESTS, a play by Vivienne Frantzmann and commissioned by theatre company Clean Break, at the Royal Court, Jerwood Theatre. The play is now on tour.  

It was well worth reading the script of PESTS over dinner before seeing the show...