News

The Law Reform Essay Competition for 2012 is again generously sponsored by the Bar Council Scholarship Trust. The competition, which is open to law students and pupils, invites entrants to submit an essay of no more than 3000 words, identifying and making the case for desirable, practical and useful law reform. Prizes are as follows:

Home Rights

Squatting became a criminal offence in England and Wales on 1 September and will attract a maximum penalty of six month in prison, a £5,000 fine, or both. Affected homeowners can now seek help from the police.  Previously, they had to prove trespass in a civil court before taking action to evict squatters. The definition of squatters does not include tenants who fall behind in their rent payments.

profession

Disgruntled clients of claims management companies (CMCs) will be able to bring their complaints to the Legal Ombudsman in future.  The Ombudsman will take over complaints-handling responsibility from the Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ) Claims Management Regulation Unit next year. The move means clients will for the first time be able to seek monetary compensation.

government

Chris Grayling has replaced Ken Clarke as Lord Chancellor in the Prime Minister’s Cabinet reshuffle this month. He is believed to be the first non-lawyer to hold the ancient title of Lord Chancellor.  Dominic Grieve retained his position of Attorney General in the reshuffle. Edward Garnier QC was replaced in the post of Solicitor General by Oliver Heald, who was a practising barrister for more than 20 years. Heald was elected as an MP in 1992 and previously served as a Minister in the Department of Social Security in John Major’s government.

Many of you recently used the online Barrister Connect portal to renew your practising certificate. The Barrister Connect portal is not used solely for the authorisation to practise process; it is also used to allow barristers to update their diversity information. So far, there has been a very low response rate to this monitoring section, so we would be grateful if you could spare just a few minutes of your time to log into the portal and update your details.

profession

New equality and diversity rules for self-employed barristers have come into force.  The rules usher in a new set of requirements for self-employed barristers, including requirements that chambers have a flexible working policy, use fair and objective selection criteria, ensure fair distribution of work among its members of chambers and pupils, and give barristers the right to return to work after one year’s parental leave.

family law

Family law practitioners have been asked for their views on how to reform the areas of financial provision on divorce and non-matrimonial property.  The Law Commission has launched a consultation into the extent to which one spouse should be required to meet the other’s financial needs, and what exactly is meant by ‘needs’; and what should happen to property that one of the partners owned before the relationship or acquired as a gift or inheritance during the relationship.

EU Criminal and Consumer Law Workshop at the Bar Conference

The EU Law Committee of the Bar Council, together with the Bar European Group and European Circuit, is jointly organising an important panel workshop at this year’s Bar Conference, to be held on Saturday 10 November at the Hilton London Metropole. A key issue for the panel will be the UK’s prospective optout from pre-Lisbon Treaty criminal justice measures and the impact that this could have, legally and politically, in the UK and beyond. Positions have been taken on both sides of the debate in the press in recent months, and we look forward to a lively debate on this topic, as well as on the general examination of challenges and opportunities presented by EU criminal and consumer law developments. For further information, see: http://bit.ly/N9ixEh

All pupils commencing pupillage from 1 September 2012 must register their pupillage by completing a 2012/2013 pupillage registration form. Pupils will be sent a confirmation email confirming registration of pupillage and outlining requirements in relation to the compulsory pupils’ courses. The pupillage handbook will be sent out to all those who have successfully registered their pupillage.

education

A management training diploma has been developed specifically for barristers’ clerks.  The new course, a two-year programme based around evening workshops, was launched by the Institute of Barristers Clerks (IBC) and will be run in conjunction with UMD Professional Ltd and Warner Consulting.