Features

Law confidential?  

'A secret spoken finds wings'  – Robert Jordan, The Path of Daggers   

Following the capsizing uncertainty generated by Brexit, the general public and businesses are increasingly looking for answers. No surprise, then, that the Bar has become a rich source of reliable and politically neutral information on a wide range of complex legal issues, deciphering events as they happen. Counsel brings you the cream of the Brexit Bar blog crop  

‘Shifting powers’ and an ‘unfair, hostile and resource-driven’ climate are sidelining the needs of vulnerable defendants and witnesses, the ICCA’s ambitious inaugural conference heard. David Wurtzel reports  

The first annual conference of the Inns of Court College of Advocacy (ICCA) on 29 October 2016, organised by Bernard Richmond QC, chose as its theme the vulnerable client.  

A critically acclaimed exhibition of a death row inmate’s life’s art has travelled from Arkansas to Temple Church. Samantha Knights explains Kenneth Reams’ journey  

Kenneth Reams sits in a tiny room working on an installation in readiness for the opening of his art exhibition in Little Rock, Arkansas.  

HHJ Philip Bartle QC reviews a dramatic and confident Bar Choral Society Performance of The Creation at Middle Temple Hall  

The magnificent sixth concert of the Bar Choral Society (BCS) on 16 November 2016 was in Middle Temple Hall – the first not performed in Temple Church.  

A call for views: Justin Fenwick QC explains how a properly thought-out contingency legal aid fund on a not-for-profit basis could fit into the new landscape of litigation funding  

The idea of a contingency legal aid fund (known for short as ‘CLAF’) has been around for a long time, with the first preliminary feasibility study having been issued by the Bar Council as long ago as January 1998.  

Don’t let consultation fatigue saddle generations of future Bar students with more of the status quo: a hugely expensive course with low prospects of acquiring pupillage at the end, argues Guy Fetherstonaugh QC  

Consultation fatigue is a particular problem for the Bar, with its substantial cohort of busy and independently minded practitioners.  

Michael Jennings and Patrick Walker respond to the snapshot findings: while financial security, work/life balance and variety of work are encouraging barristers to take the in-house route, significant frustrations were also reported  

FOOD FOR THOUGHT 

One hundred new Recorders sought: Lord Justice Burnett encourages barristers to apply for the 2017 competition and Eason Rajah QC shares his first year’s Recorder experience  

The Lord Chancellor has decided that there should be another Recorder competition, which is expected to launch on 1 February 2017. 

Jonathan Fisher QC briefs readers on the most radical overhaul of law on criminal property since the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002  

The Criminal Finances Bill is currently making its way through Parliament with strong all-party support.