Features

Regulating paid McKenzie Friends and allowing them to exercise rights of audience will not benefit clients, the courts or the interests of justice, argues Sarah-Jane Bennett  

Going to court is not an everyday activity for most people. It can be (and usually is) daunting, confusing and stressful for litigants.  

Rupert Bowers QC and Daniel Godden writing on the recent case of NCA v. Simkus and Ghulam and Jardine  

The recent judgment of the High Court in The National Crime Agency v. Simkus and Ghulam and Jardine  [2016] EWHC 255 (Admin) will be of interest to lawyers who deal with restraint orders, disclosure orders, and in the civil regime of recovery of the proceeds of crime. 

Alexander Bastin on forfeiture—pitfalls & remedies  

Several issues can arise in forfeiture proceedings where a defendant fails to attend the first hearing and a possession order is made. 

Lee Moore highlights the impact of traumatic cases on barristers and the wider legal profession  

I fled pupillage in 1974 to seek refuge as in-house counsel to a marine insurance company.  

CEO at 42 Bedford Row  

42 Bedford Row is a leading common law set of chambers with over 100 barristers who focus on specialist practice areas within civil and family law 

The raw numbers in today’s Silk cohort are illuminating, finds David Wurtzel, and raise wider questions as to whether a more diverse and representative rank can be achieved through a merit-based system alone  

The list of new Queen’s Counsel was published in January.  

Elsa Booth explores the vibrant Manchester commercial and Chancery Bars and considers whether, in this age of connectivity, the term ‘regional’ is becoming less applicable  

At a Manchester Civil Justice Centre event last year, Mr Justice Norris suggested that in the legal world, the term ‘provinces’ is redundant and even ‘regional’ is under pressure.  

BEWCC’s James Cartwright delivers the match report from Brisbane and heralds the revival of the historic Bar v Clerks game  

A person glimpsing 17 English (and Welsh) barristers in Brisbane might have thought that some sort of conference might be taking place, but a moment’s eavesdropping, or observation (the kit), would have left no doubt but that their transportation to Australia was for the purpose of playing cricket for the Bar in the fifth Lawyers Cricket World Cup. 

Whether the Inners or Outers win the day, the long-standing internecine fighting over Europe will not go away, writes Mark Hatcher  

In less than three months’ time the British people will decide whether to remain in or out of the European Union.  

'Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans' – John Lennon  

In which we learn what really matters