News

The Bar Standards Board will be holding a morning session at the Bar Conference on 5 November at the Hilton London Metropole, Edgware Road. To complement the overall Bar Conference theme of ‘A modern Bar in a modern market’, the Bar Standard Board’s session at the Conference will discuss entity regulation and more specifically the issues raised in the entity regulation consultation. The talk will detail:

Profession

An innovative 12-month pilot project to offer legal help to young refugees launched in October.

Lady Justice Arden has highlighted the qualities required by judges, in a speech about the Magna Carta.
 

Criminal

Two separate judicial reviews have been launched against the Ministry of Justice in response to plans within the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill 2010-2011 to cut legal aid.

Dear Editor

Your article “Shoot First, Ask Questions Later” requires an American response. Bin Laden in effect declared war on the United States. He acted outside the bounds of the conventional Rules of War and committed criminal acts of a magnitude that set extraordinary precedents for a non state player acting outside the international order and therefore was not entitled to any of the benefits of the Geneva Conventions or the code of international law embodied in the UN Conventions.

Committee members wanted

Barristers are invited to volunteer to serve on one or more of the Bar Council committees. Membership is reviewed and new appointments made towards the end of the year. There are many committees, including Employed Barristers, Public Affairs, Training for the Bar, Access to the Bar, and Equality and Diversity. If interested, please write to Lana Locke, L.Locke@BarCouncil.org.uk  indicating your preferred area of interest and relevant experience.

Family bar

The Bar Council, in collaboration with ADR Group, is to offer barristers training in family mediation.

Expert witness

A ‘hot-tubbing’ pilot in Manchester produced positive results, Lord Neuberger has told expert witnesses.

Profession

The Bar Council sent senior representatives to the three main party conferences this year. Delegates went armed with two contrasting messages. First, that the legal profession and indeed access to justice will be immeasurably affected by the proposed cuts to legal aid.

Supreme court

The Supreme Court has made two high-profile decisions early in the new term. In R (on the application of Quila and Anor) v Home Secretary, it held the Home Office unlawfully raised the age threshold for marriage visas from 18 to 21 years.