Features

Following the trial (and re-trial) of Vicky Pryce and the discussion on juries which has followed, Cheryl Thomas enters the debate and explains the world of jury research  

No one listening to the Today programme the morning after the first Vicky Pryce jury was discharged could have been more surprised than me to hear the former Director of Public Prosecutions, Lord MacDonald, state that it is impossible here to conduct research with juries about how they reach verdicts. 

Nothing could be further from the truth. I have been conducting just this type of research with real juries at Crown Courts in this country for a decade and am currently doing so. 

What did Lord MacDonald say?
According to Lord MacDonald: “In other jurisdictions, under controlled conditions, researchers are allowed to question jurors, to come to some conclusions about the way they are deliberating and how the process works. If you have a better understanding of that, then perhaps it’s easier to frame directions to juries that they will follow and understand.” 

He was right to say this information would be helpful. But he was wrong to claim that this kind of research cannot be done here. 

Job title: Silk, Selborne Chambers 

Selborne Chambers is a Chancery/Commercial set with particular emphasis on property, professional negligence, company and financial services, civil fraud and international work.  

Congratulations on attaining Silk this year, a fine achievement. What made you apply for it this year?
The short answer is that the feedback from my informal soundings of potential consultees was encouraging. The longer answer is that, having unsuccessfully applied several years ago, I decided to work on my practice. I only re-applied when I had attained top ranking in the guides and had written a legal textbook. 

The Rolls Building Art & Education Trust has been set up to use art works and historical items to promote awareness of the law and the business-related justice system among young people. Stephen Fash explains  

The Rolls Building is the largest specialist centre for the resolution of financial, business and property litigation in the world. It is also home to the Rolls Building Art & Education Trust (RBAET) which has been set up to use art works and historical items to promote awareness of the law and the business-related justice system among young people. 

The Art of Justice: The Judge’s Perspective 
by Ruth Herz
Published by Hart Publishing, September 2012
ISBN number 1849461279
Price: £35 

“The Art of Justice” should be given a sub title: The Secret Lives of Judges, rather than the Judges Perspective.  Ruth Herz, a former judge, and now visiting Professor at Birkbeck, is at pains to point out that judges, despite their independent and impartial appearance are only human, with their own hobbies, talents or secret passions. 

It is the not so secret passion of Judge Pierre Cavellat during his 40-year judicial career that drives this book, and appears to have inspired Herz to develop a passion for art criticism and interpretation. Part biography, part art critique, part social commentary with an added smidgeon of jurisprudence, the book explores how and why a well respected judge, a strict family man and product of his time, secretly and perhaps not so secretly took his pens and paper into court, not just to make notes but to sketch proceedings. 

Nigel Lickley QC, Leader of the Western Circuit, explains the role of the circuit within the modern Bar.  

An eminent Silk in London asked me recently at a dinner in Middle Temple “What is the value of the circuits? ” 

Intrigue, scandal and everything in between. Toby Craig examines the state of play in Westminster  

Wedded to Europe?
There are some months when churning out a thousand words about life in Westminster can prove something of a challenge. It is at times like that when reports penned by Sub-Committee F of the joint taskforce on judicial stationery suddenly seem appealing. And then, there are bursts of such frenetic and potentially historic activity that it’s hard to know where to start. Whilst a happy medium is usually preferable, this month, there is no shortage of drama. 

Christian Wisskirchen, Head of International Relations of the Bar Council, and Frederico Singarajah, a member of its International Committee, look at the growing legal services market in Brazil . 

The fact that the legal services market of Brazil is attracting increasing interest from law firms around the world should come as no surprise, given the country’s rapid economic growth in recent years as one of the emerging national economies (along with Russia, India, China and now South Africa, the so-called “BRICSs”). 

The difficulties of identification evidence are well known. Nöel Sweeney examines how these difficulties increase when animals are involved, and asks ... did the lady bite the right dog?  

Identification evidence is the weakest form of evidence that exists. As a result of R. v. Turnbull  [1977] QB 224 a judge has a duty to warn a jury of the dangers of relying on identification. The dangers apply equally to civil and criminal cases. However it is neither fair nor just to limit the protection of the law to a human. 

Job title: Silk, 11 Stone Buildings 

11SB is a leading commercial/chancery set with multi-disciplinary expertise. Areas in which 11SB specialises include civil fraud, financial services and banking, insolvency, company and professional negligence.  

What do you credit your success to?
You might find this odd, but the answer to your question is: training with Vidal Sassoon. I was unruly, undisciplined and disorganised at school and left after my ‘O’ levels. I fell into training to be a hairdresser with Vidal Sassoon and I just loved it. 

David Wurtzel considers the results of the Bar Council’s 2012 “Bar Barometer”.  

‘The Bar will shrink’ has been a common cry of alarm over a number of years. First, the Bar lost its monopoly over the rights of audience in the Higher Courts, then solicitor advocates entered the market in force and then Legal Aid declined, student debt rose and the number of pupillages dwindled. And yet, according the 2012 Bar Barometer, the self-employed Bar as a whole has instead expanded. Using the latest statistics available, between 2010 and 2011 the largest increase (1.2%) in the previous five years took place. At the same time, the proportion of women and of BME barristers has steadily if slowly gone up.