Features

Recent news analysis of the Panama Papers, and high-profile-personality stakes in offshore funds, have turned up the heat in the tax avoid v evade debate. Kevin Prosser QC sheds light on this greyest of areas  

Tax avoidance and tax evasion are currently subjects of enormous public interest, on which journalists and politicians have a great deal to say.  

Tahir Elçi, President of the Diyarbakir Bar Association, was fatally shot during a press conference in 2015. Rupert Wheeler and Tony Fisher honour his work and report on the struggle for human rights in Turkey  

On 22 March 2016, the Bar Human Rights Committee (BHRC) joined with the Law Society Human Rights Committee (LSHRC) to host an evening commemorating the life of Tahir Elçi, a prominent Turkish lawyer and human rights defender, who was fatally shot during a press conference last November in Diyarbakir, South Eastern Turkey.  

Head of Mondial Chambers  

The chambers will specialise in domestic, commercial and international law with a core base in London, consisting of leading QCs and other senior counsel from other jurisdictions.  

Counsel interviews criminal barrister Matthew Scott, aka the award-winning Barristerblogger  

Khawar Qureshi QC provides an overview of recent trends and issues relating to the arbitral process  

Arbitration as a means of dispute resolution has been utilised for more than a thousand years, and is not a new development.  

Perplexed over financial matters? The Young Bar Toolkit is here to help turn confusion to clarity, as the Young Barristers’ Committee explains in this two-part finance guide for the self-employed Bar  

In the early years of practice, barristers are on a steep learning curve in all respects.  

Weaknesses, observations and remedies – how to fix legal aid? A call for evidence from the Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Council Chair Gary Bell QC  

On 28 January 2016, the Lord Chancellor, Michael Gove, abandoned plans to impose dual or two-tier contracts.  

Words sometimes really will hurt you  

‘Thou art a boil, a plague sore, an embossed carbuncle in my corrupted blood’ – King Lear, William Shakespeare 

Catherine Baksi considers whether lawyers, judges, courts and clients are ready for a digital revolution, the drivers for change, and impact on access to justice  

Bulging briefs tied with yards of pink tape and clerks struggling to control errant trollies laden with storage boxes containing dozens of lever arch files – this traditional view of English courts business is to be confined to the history books. 

Jess Campbell reports on the joined-up efforts of the pro bono community to meet the mammoth post-LASPO upsurge in litigants in person  

I am delighted to report that 52% of the Bar donated £30 to the Bar Pro Bono Unit (the Unit) through the authorisation to practise process, which concluded in April.