As 2018 draws to a close, Mark Hatcher reflects on Brexit’s heavy toll, a tumultuous year at Westminster and a glimmer of hope for the criminal justice system
Access, development and diversification
Sign up, nail those competencies and rise to the challenge: John Kimbell QC and Brie Hoare-Stevens QC have advice for first-time applicants to the judiciary
Nicky Padfield QC chose Africa over pupillage, an academic career enriched with Recordership, and became a Master of firsts at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. Vocal on sentencing, parole and recall, the professor talks to Anthony Inglese
Interviewee turns interviewer in the new Counsel series Passing the Brief. Here Sarah Vine spends some time bathing in the reflected glory of The Lawyer 2018 Barrister of the Year, Julia Smart
Desiree Artesi sits down with the Attorney General Geoffrey Cox QC MP in the week the Prime Minister was poised to lay the draft Brexit deal before Parliament
A murder in north London, a VAT fraud in the Midlands and the importation of firearms and class A drugs. Richard Jory QC examines three seemingly unrelated cases, all connected by one underlying feature: an uncontrolled addiction to gambling
The bakery may have won its appeal, but where will it all end? Daphne Romney QC examines the Supreme Court decision in Lee v Ashers Bakery Company Ltd
Should the Home Office be permitted to remove migrants from the UK before their appeals get heard? Does this impede their right to a fair trial? Jonathan Trussler and George Mavrantonis investigate
There’s a very pragmatic reason why we should not extinguish hope in our jails, writes Peter Clarke, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons. It’s time to break the vicious circle of despair
London
As we continue to grow domestically and internationally, we are inviting King’s Counsel (Silk) to join our chambers.
Update from the Chair of the Bar
By David Green
Mário Barroso, Head of R&D and Method Development at AlphaBiolabs, examines the forensic science underpinning hair drug testing, its evidential scope and limitations, and why it remains the gold standard for evidencing patterns of drug use in family proceedings
Unlocking your aged debt to fund your tax in one easy step. By Philip N Bristow
Clement Cowley, Partner at The Penny Group, discusses the upcoming changes to pensions and Inheritance Tax and the potential impact on your financial future
Save the Children UK is the latest charity to benefit from a £500 donation from AlphaBiolabs via the company’s Giving Back initiative
The Chief Legal Officer to the Metropolitan Police, barrister Brett Welch, tells Anthony Inglese CB about his mission and the work to turn the Met around
Barrister apprenticeships shortly to provide the fourth pathway to the Bar are an ideal opportunity to support local talent and ‘grow your own’, say Tim Coulson and Dr Jane Dennehy
Grok around and find out or not? Mariya Peykova investigates the nudification scandal, what the law has to say about sexually explicit deepfakes, and whether stronger regulation is needed
Oliver Lewis spotlights an overlooked yet rapidly evolving area of law coercive and controlling behaviour within care contexts
For one night only at Middle Temple Hall (Sunday 26 July 2026) Abigail Bright introduces the famed annual fundraising theatrical event. This year, Martin Shaw and Jason Watkins perform John Mortimer’s The Dock Brief, a mixture of farce and pathos and all in support of the work of the Kalisher Trust in its 30th year