News

Profession

Members of the Bar had an opportunity to quiz the Bar Council Chairman, Peter Lodder QC (pictured right), at an informal question and answer session this month.
The inaugural “Meet the Chairman” event, held in the Bar Council’s Holborn offices, produced a lively session with questions spanning everything from public access rules to the size of the profession to fusion.

After 11 years as a government minister. former Attorney General, Baroness Scotland has returned to the Bar. She joins 4 Paper Buildings, where she will practise family law. Baroness Scotland, who was the youngest ever woman QC, at 35, and the first woman Attorney General, said: “Family breakdown is the cause of much suffering and I’m honoured to be joining a set which is known for its excellence and rooted in this area of law.”

Tribunals

Skype, telephone and online communications could be used to improve the efficiency of tribunals, Lord Justice Carnwath has said.

ADVOCACY

Teenagers from schools across the UK gathered at the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast in March to take part in the 20th annual final of the Bar National Mock Trial Competition.

access to justice

The Master of the Rolls has used the annual Bentham lecture to stand up for legal aid, oppose the myth of the compensation culture and put right the “insidious idea” that litigation is actually a bad thing.

• Response of the Bar Council to the Ministry of Justice consultation paper (CP14/10) “A platform for the future. A consultation on a unifi ed courts and tribunals service”  

legal aid

The Judges Council has warned that proposals to cut legal aid will cost as much as they save — echoing Bar Council research that reached the same conclusion.
According to the Judges Council, which is chaired by the Lord Chief Justice and represents all levels of the judiciary, there will be a “huge” rise in numbers of litigants in person if Ministry of Justice (MoJ) plans to trim £350 million from the legal aid budget go ahead.

Advocate Panel Scheme 

The BSB would like to bring to barristers’ attention the recent changes to the General Guide to CPD. The relevant changes are in the areas of:

sentencing guidelines

The Sentencing Council has published a new guideline for assault offences.

It applies to both magistrates’ and Crown courts, and covers the most frequently sentenced of these offences — inflicting grievous bodily harm, actual bodily harm, assault with intent to resist arrest, assault on a police constable and common assault.