The Bar Council launched a Public Access training programme for its members, at St Johns Buildings in Manchester in November. Since 31 March 2010, barristers who have completed an approved training course have been able to take instructions directly from members of the public. The course will cover the relevant rules as well as client care and communication skills.
Calls for Royal Commission to examine consitutional framework
It is time for a close look at the British constitution, the Master of the Rolls has said.
Lord Bingham was awarded a posthumous lifetime achievement award at Liberty’s Human Rights Awards in 2010 for his contribution to the British judiciary. Karen Monaghan QC, of Matrix Chambers, was voted human rights lawyer of the year, and Young Legal Aid Lawyers won the human rights young person of the year award.
Use of direct access – where clients instruct a barrister directly as opposed to via a solicitor – is soaring as corporate counsel seek to cut costs during the economic downturn.
Nichola Higgins, of 15 New Bridge Street, is the new Chair of the Young Barristers’ Committee (“YBC”) of the Bar Council. She said: “2011 will pave the way for significant legal aid reform and the emergence of new business structures.
Lord Justice Leveson, the senior presiding judge in England and Wales, has expressed concerns about the high numbers of penalty notices and other out of court disposals of justice.
All practitioners are required to return a record card indicating the CPD hours that they have completed in 2010 under the New or Established Practitioners Programme.
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has announced that Dr Vanessa Davies, a non-practising barrister, is to take the helm of the barrister regulator in December this year.
The rise in the use of mediation carries risks, the Master of the Rolls has warned. Delivering the inaugural Gordon Slynn memorial lecture, Lord Neuberger said: “Mediation is a complement to, but must never be a substitute for, justice.
UCL Laws has launched the Judicial Institute, the UK’s first research centre focusing on the judiciary.
Birmingham
We are seeking a permanent, full-time Family & Childcare Team Secretary for our newly expanded team in our Birmingham office.
Update from the Chair of the Bar
By Clement Cowley, Partner at The Penny Group
Modernising communication and collaboration at a leading Chancery set. A Zexi case study
How to build profile without compromising professional duties. By Naumaan Farooq, Co-Founder of Inked PR
Marie Law, Director of Toxicology at AlphaBiolabs, examines the role of cut-off levels, and the wider range of factors that must be considered when interpreting results for family court proceedings
Endometriosis Awareness North, a charity raising awareness of endometriosis and supporting those affected across the North of England, has received a £500 boost from AlphaBiolabs via the company’s Giving Back initiative
A decade of reviews and research has disrupted accepted thinking in the search for causality. Suicides following abuse have overtaken domestic homicides. Is the law keeping up? Professor Susan Edwards KC (Hon) examines recent cases and the obstacles to successful prosecution
The case against judge-only justice and why efficiency is not enough. By Professor Leslie Thomas KC
Jemima Coleman and Zo Leventhal KC on the evolving global movement seeking to reframe how we view nature: to recognise that nature possesses inherent rights and to enshrine these rights in law
Heritage as an anchor and a compass, finding our common humanity and embracing the power of the outsider Melina Antoniadis’s lessons learnt
Lauren Fullerton examines the how, what and why of setting up a second chambers base