Features

From ‘smart’ sanctions to judicial review, closed hearings to the Brexit/Trump effect, Maya Lester QC briefs readers on the varied legal issues surrounding the foreign policy tool of choice: economic sanctions  

Economic sanctions have been a foreign policy tool of choice for some time.  

As the child abuse inquiry continues to buckle under varied pressures, Pete Weatherby QC describes the practical challenges of running inquiries and other high-volume cases – being a techie geek is a bonus  

‘But can’t we just run off one copy?’ was the plaintiff cry of one of the team.  

Ch-ch-changes: Jess Campbell reflects on a significant year for the Bar Pro Bono Unit; explains what the £30 initiative means to litigants in person; and sets out how volunteering fits so well with the wellbeing initiative  

The close of a year is always a good time for reflection and the Bar Pro Bono Unit has much to reflect on from 2016.  

Last year, a local issue awoke the Bar’s interest in the City of London. Gregory Jones QC urges barristers to dust off their voting rights and reclaim their voice in the City – on the doorstep of the Inns of Court  

Barrister politicians are nothing new. Lincoln’s Inn alone has produced 16 British prime ministers.  

Law confidential?  

'A secret spoken finds wings'  – Robert Jordan, The Path of Daggers   

Following the capsizing uncertainty generated by Brexit, the general public and businesses are increasingly looking for answers. No surprise, then, that the Bar has become a rich source of reliable and politically neutral information on a wide range of complex legal issues, deciphering events as they happen. Counsel brings you the cream of the Brexit Bar blog crop  

‘Shifting powers’ and an ‘unfair, hostile and resource-driven’ climate are sidelining the needs of vulnerable defendants and witnesses, the ICCA’s ambitious inaugural conference heard. David Wurtzel reports  

The first annual conference of the Inns of Court College of Advocacy (ICCA) on 29 October 2016, organised by Bernard Richmond QC, chose as its theme the vulnerable client.  

A critically acclaimed exhibition of a death row inmate’s life’s art has travelled from Arkansas to Temple Church. Samantha Knights explains Kenneth Reams’ journey  

Kenneth Reams sits in a tiny room working on an installation in readiness for the opening of his art exhibition in Little Rock, Arkansas.  

HHJ Philip Bartle QC reviews a dramatic and confident Bar Choral Society Performance of The Creation at Middle Temple Hall  

The magnificent sixth concert of the Bar Choral Society (BCS) on 16 November 2016 was in Middle Temple Hall – the first not performed in Temple Church.  

A call for views: Justin Fenwick QC explains how a properly thought-out contingency legal aid fund on a not-for-profit basis could fit into the new landscape of litigation funding  

The idea of a contingency legal aid fund (known for short as ‘CLAF’) has been around for a long time, with the first preliminary feasibility study having been issued by the Bar Council as long ago as January 1998.