News

The Civil Procedure Rules were updated on 1 October. The changes include extending the remit of court enforcement officers to enforce ACAS settlements, and a cost cap of £50,000 for liability claims in low value intellectual property cases. 

Corporate counsel across the world see London as their preferred seat of arbitration, new research has shown.

Saturday 22 January 

SPEAKING at two fringe meetings at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, the Chairman-Elect of the Bar Council, Peter Lodder QC, stressed the importance of the legal profession working with Government to maintain access to justice, despite forthcoming budget cuts. 

A woman who was wrongly blamed for the collapse of the trial of a man accused of sexually assaulting her, has  received agreed damages of £16,000 after the CPS accepted that they wrongly offered no evidence after the case collapsed due to her referring to the defendant’s previous convictions when giving evidence. She also complained about the failure to apply for special measures so she could give evidence behind screens.

On Saturday, 2 October, the Young Barristers’ Committee (“YBC”) welcomed over 300 attendees to the seventh annual Young Bar Conference at the Hotel Russell, writes Belle Turner. 

The Law Reform Committee is seeking the views of the Bar on areas of law reform which it could usefully proactively consider and is asking members of the Bar to complete a short web survey (which should take no more than a couple of minutes) to let us know areas of law reforms which you would like the LRC to consider on behalf of the Bar. 

The BSB published on 27 September its third consultation on the implications for the Bar of the Legal Services Act 2007. 

The International Committee is delighted to welcome The Most Reverend & Right Honourable Dr. John Sentamu, Archbishop of York to give the fourth annual International Rule of Law Lecture on Tuesday 7 December at 6pm in Middle Temple Hall. 

The booklet, “Fairness in Courts and Tribunals”, has been updated to reflect the coming into force of the Equality Act 2010.