Addressing the guests, Lord Hope of Craighead, deputy preisident  of the UK Supreme Court and former Lord President of the Court of Session, said: “Justice tries to influence the debate not to control it. Its strength is in its unfailing objectivity.”


QASA consultation

Responses are invited to the fourth and final consultation on the quality assurance scheme for advocates (QASA), which has been issued by the Joint Advocacy Group. The scheme, which will begin to be implemented on a circuit by circuit basis from January 2013, intends to be a single quality assurance scheme which applies equally to all advocates and requires them to be assessed against a common set of standards. The consultation closes on 9 October.


Presumed dead

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has confirmed it will bring forward legislation to introduce a certificate of presumed death, which will be equivalent to a death certificate in terms of legal powers, and will help families deal with matters such as cancelling direct debits and accessing bank accounts. The MoJ is also in
discussion with the Law Commission about a possible project looking at whether a power of legal guardian for missing people could be introduced.