News

The BSB has welcomed the Advocacy Training Council’s comprehensive report on the handling of vulnerable witnesses in the court system and commends the substantial amount of work that has gone into it.

The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has confirmed it will regulate advocacy-focused Alternative Business Structures (ABS), Legal Disciplinary Practices (LDPs) and barrister-only entities, but not multi-disciplinary practices.

The BSB said entities under its regulatory control would not be able to hold client money or have external ownership but would be free to apply to conduct litigation.

Owners of BSB-regulated entities must be managers, and there will be a 25 per cent limit on non-lawyer ownership or management. A majority of the owners and managers must be barristers or advocates with higher rights of audience.

Barristers will be free to practise as managers or employees of ABS under other regulators, and to have ownership interests in ABS subject to rules regarding conflicts of interest. All managers of BSB regulated entities (barristers, solicitors and non-lawyers) will be subject to the same conduct rules.

The BSB will now develop a regulatory framework, draft rules and options, before launching a consultation on the proposed changes in the autumn.

Further details are to be found in Professional Update.

Jonathan Sumption QC and Lord Justice Wilson have been appointed Justices of the Supreme Court.

Lord Neuberger, the Master of the Rolls, and the former Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, have appealed for lawyers to make greater use of pro bono costs orders.

The long-running inquest into the 7/7 London bombings has ended, with the inquest’s Deputy Assistant Coroner, Lady Justice Hallett, concluding that delays in response by the emergency services did not cause the death of any of the victims.

Superinjunctions and anonymised injunctions should only be granted where “strictly necessary”, should be kept under review and cannot be granted permanently, Lord Neuberger’s committee has reported.

Human rights

An influential cross-party group of lawyers and academics has mounted a staunch defence of the Human Rights Act.

INTERNATIONAL REPORT

• International Committee 

INTERNATIONAL REPORT

• International Committee 

This conference is being organised by the International Council of Jurists, which has headquarters in Delhi, so is a good opportunity for practitioners with an interest in India.