News

The vocational stage of training for the Bar (the Bar Professional Training Course) is delivered by Providers at sites in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Leeds, London, Manchester, Newcastle and Nottingham. In order to assure quality and standards, the BSB carefully monitors the course by carrying out visits to all Providers each year, and also by using a system of External Examiners. 

• China Interest Group 
• People’s Political Consultative Conference 

A delegation from the People’s Political Consultative Conference visited the Bar Council in late November. The organisation’s members are drawn from a wide range of professional sectors across China and there research informs government policy on politics, economics and social issues. The delegation included representatives of the judiciary, procuratorate and All China Lawyers’ Association. 

In response to a growing demand for Equality and Diversity Awareness Training and to the recommendation for such training in the Neuberger Report on Entry to the Bar, the Bar Council Equality and Diversity Committee has produced a diversity training toolkit.  The toolkit training is particularly relevant to chambers' Equal Opportunity Officers and others responsible for implementing the Equality and Diversity Code in Chambers. 

• Public Access Scheme Training providers 
• Criteria and application form 

The Bar Standards Board has published the criteria for Public Access Scheme training providers. 

• Training courses in 2011 
• The Equality and Diversity Code 

The Bar Council has again commissioned the Legal Action Group (LAG) to provide an in-depth practical Equality and Diversity training course for members of chambers. 

The Legal Services Ombudsman, Adam Sampson, and his representatives have been holding discussions about whether he should publish his reports and decisions, as he is empowered to do by the Legal Services Act.

Initiatives to broaden diversity in the judiciary are paying off at High Court level. 

Official statistics from the Judicial Appointments Commission (“JAC”) show women and black minority ethnic (“BME”) lawyers performed well in the recent High Court selection process between April and September 2010. 

• BSB consultation  
• Good practice/mandatory requirements 

The Bar Standards Board has issued a consultation on the revision of its equality and diversity rules. 

The legal profession is technologically-savvy and is embracing new gadgets such as smartphones and Kindles, according to new research among 100 lawyers in a variety of roles.

The vast majority of expert witnesses agree that evidence from experts is more reliable if they are still working than if they are retired. Of 109 experts surveyed by expert witness training provider Bond Solon, 80 per cent agreed with Lord Justice Moses’ comments in R v Henderson, that medical experts in practice were a “far more reliable source” of evidence.