News

Wednesday 8 December 2010
5.30pm (registration 5.15pm)
The meeting will be preceded by a talk by BACFI President The Rt. Hon. Lord Hoffmann on “The Work of the Financial Markets Law Committee” 

THE Bar Council, which represents barristers in England and Wales, has consulted the profession on outline proposals for revising the Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) process for the selection of selfemployed advocates. The proposals were drawn up following lengthy discussions between the Bar Council and CPS about the new Panel Scheme which the CPS wishes to introduce. 

The BSB has issued a consultation on whether certain elements of the good practice guidance in the current Equality and Diversity Code for the Bar should become mandatory.

“When we are examining the system for payment for the legal profession we have to incentivise efficiency”, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge told the Justice Select Committee on 26 October. 

Senior paralegals are to be invited to apply to become judges of first-tier tribunals in two roles:

CLAIRE Ruckin, Chief Reporter at Legal Week and BBC Radio 4’s ‘Thinking Allowed’ have won this year’s Bar Council Legal Reporting Awards in the print and broadcast categories respectively. The awards, now in their 19th year, were set up by the Bar Council to recognise print and broadcast journalists, whose work contributes to a greater public understanding of legal issues. The awards were handed out at the 25th Annual Bar Conference on Saturday 6 November by the Attorney General, the Rt Hon Dominic Grieve QC MP. 

THE Bar Council, which represents barristers in England and Wales, has called for access to justice to be safeguarded, as it identified its top ten savings in the justice system ahead of the Comprehensive Spending Review. The Chairman of the Bar, Nicholas Green QC, has described the cuts to the Ministry of Justice’s budget as “brutal” but urged the Bar to prepare for change and to collaborate with the Government to find savings, in order to mitigate the effects on access to justice. 

NICHOLASGreen QC, the Chairman of the Bar Council of England and Wales, which represents barristers in England and Wales, promoted a modernising agenda at the Bar’s 25th Annual Conference, which took place on Saturday 6 November. Addressing around 500 delegates at London’s Hilton Metropole, in the opening plenary session, Nicholas Green QC called on: 

The need to promote social mobility and the likely demands of clients will form part of a major review of legal education and training. The BSB, the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and the Institute of Legal Executives Professional Standards are jointly to review legal services education and training in the regulated legal sector. 

If you are prepared to give up a few hours of your time to speak at a school about a career at the Bar then please volunteer for the ‘Speak up for others – A Career as a Barrister ’ Scheme.