Michael Polak, (Call 2012), is a member of Church Court Chambers and practises in international law, serious crime, human rights, and strategic litigation. Prior to becoming Chair of the Young Barristers’ Committee in 2022, Michael was President of Middle Temple Young Barrister’s Association and in the past, he has been the elected Chair of the Human Rights Lawyers Association’s Young Lawyers Committee where he started the annual judicial review competition and journal, the Young Human Rights Lawyer. Michael is on the Hall Committee of Middle Temple and is an elected member of the South-Eastern Circuit and the Bar Council.
The Chair of the Bar reports back
By Kem Kemal, CEO, Henry Dannell
By BSK Financial Planning
Mário Barroso, Head of R&D and Method Development at AlphaBiolabs
Susie Griffin on the admin that keeps barristers from billable work
Clement Cowley, Partner at The Penny Group, explains how global events can influence the performance of pensions and ISAs, and why taking a long-term approach to investing is often the most effective strategy
Kick off your career at the Bar Council’s Pupillage Fair this October – it’s one of the most valuable opportunities for aspiring barristers, says Amelia Clegg
The golden age of advocacy? David Langwallner pays homage to the filmic if contentious barrister Sir Edward Carson and some of his contemporaries
Henry Fingerhut outlines what the Bar Standards Board AI guidance means for early career barristers
The Ministry of Justice will match-fund up to 100 criminal pupillages, with grants available to criminal chambers across England and Wales. Similar to the COIC scheme, the grants will match-fund pupillages additional to those otherwise offered without government funding
Not yet, says Jacob Turner. Regulation, unlike the technology itself, is a domain the legal profession can still control