Features

Lara Maroof looks at the misuse of expert virological evidence in HIV prosecutions 

What are the functions of the Inns of Court in the 21st Century? Robert McCracken QC presents his case 

Perhaps the first and fundamental feature of the Inns of Court is that they are associations of members, and aspirant members, of a learned profession. The second is that they all have certain core facilities. These include a dining hall, library, garden, quiet courtyards and chambers for professional and residential use in a tranquil atmosphere removed from the noise and pollution of the metropolis outside. 

Martin Bowley QC reviews the 2009 season 

Fawcett’s Commission on Women and the Criminal Justice System recently published a report identifying institutional sexism in practice. Laura Prince considers their proposals to improve court proceedings, and to deal with the under-representation of women at the Bar and in the judiciary.  

Over the last five years Fawcett’s Commission on Women and the Criminal Justice System (“the Commission”) has examined the experiences of women as victims, offenders and workers in the criminal justice system (“CJS”). Their final report, Engendering Justice – from policy to practice, was published in May 2009. It concluded (p 7) that: “The experiences of women within the CJS provide countless examples of institutional sexism in practice through processes, attitudes, and behaviour which amount to discrimination which disadvantages women.” 

16 July 2009: “When sorrows come, they come not single spies But in battalions” – Hamlet. 

The Crime Writers 

The skills a barrister acquires and the atmospheric backdrop of the Inns of Court have been fully utilised by barristers writing legal-detective fiction, finds Sunil Tailor 

Sappho Dias sends a clear message to the judges purporting to try Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.  

Martin Bowley QC charts the route of Robin Griffith-Jones, Master of the Temple at the Temple Church, from Westminster to the Temple, by way of Oxford, Calcutta, Cambridge and Liverpool 

David Pittaway QC outlines how Inner Temple, working in conjuncture with the National Educational Trust, is making the Bar more accessible as a career path for school children.  

The Neuberger Report marked a step-change in the thinking of the Inns of Court as to how they should address the issue of access to the profession, as well as being the providers of education to Bar Vocational Course (“BVC”) students, pupils and new practitioners. For some years the Inns have run their own programmes, in an increasingly co-ordinated way, largely focussing on universities and providing substantial merit or means-tested scholarships or bursaries to give financial assistance to students whatever their background wanting to join the profession. 

22 June 2009: HERE WE GO GATHERING NUTS IN MAY (AND JUNE)!