News

profession

Mr Justice Wilkie has been appointed as a Commissioner of the Judicial Appointments Commission.  Wilkie J will serve a five-year period from 1 April 2012, and could be re-appointed for up to five years after that.

Sir,

I write as someone who has been applying for pupillage for four years and who has on more than one occasion suffered having to get up at 4:00am and pay £80 for a rail fare to attend a 9:00am interview in London that lasted just 10 minutes. Very often, the only response that I received from chambers after those interviews was a ‘rejected’ notice on the Pupillage Portal.

criminal law

Expressing genuine remorse in the dock or showing there are job prospects on the horizon can pay dividends for offenders facing a stretch inside, according to Sentencing Council research in the Crown Court in 2011.

Judiciary 

Lord Phillips, President of the Supreme Court, is expected to take up two senior judicial roles in Qatar and Hong Kong on his retirement this autumn.  In September, he will succeed Lord Woolf of Barnes as President of the Qatar International Court & Dispute Resolution Centre.
Lord Woolf preceded Lord Phillips as both Master of the Rolls and Lord Chief Justice.

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:

Criminal bar 

Lord Justice Gross and Mr Justice Treacy have been asked by the Lord Chief Justice to conduct a review of sanctions for disclosure failures in criminal trials.

profession 

Criminal QC Maura McGowan has been elected Bar Council chairman for 2013.

Since issuing the consultation on the new Code (Handbook), the BSB has received some queries about the insurance requirements in the new Code.

profession 

A major project to introduce e-working at the Royal Courts of Justice jurisdictions in the Rolls Building court complex has been withdrawn four years after it began, due to “significant problems”.

profession 

Barristers working near Olympic venues and traffic hotspots face disruption during the Games.