News

The first tranche of 4.5 per cent cuts to all advocates graduated fees took effect from 27 April 2010. There will be further cuts in April 2011 and April 2012. Disbursements, such as travel and accommodation, are not affected by the fee changes.

The Bar Yacht Club have achieved their best result for years in the 2010 Manches Cup. 

From 7 May subscribers to Counsel, the official journal of the Bar, will be able to read the magazine online. 

Once launched, the website will contain the entire content of the monthly journal—including all the features and regular columnists together with profiles, reviews and the latest news (plus Bar News)—and a fully searchable Counsel archive. 

The Lord Chancellor and the Law Commission for England and Wales have agreed a statutory protocol on how government departments and the Law Commission should work together on law reform projects. Under the protocol, government departments will keep the Commission up to date on policy developments and provide an interim response to proposals within six months and a full response within a year. 

Chambers can advertise 3rd six pupillage vacancies on the Bar Council website free of charge. 

Please email Wendy McLaughlin your advert to: WendyM@BarCouncil.org.uk 

Telephone: 020 7611 6431 

www.barcouncil.org.uk 

The Ministry of Justice (“MoJ”) list of the Bar’s top earners in publicly funded work contained several errors and was based on “unreliable” data, the Bar Council has said. 

Publication of the MoJ list, an annual event that prompts news stories on which barrister makes the most money from legal aid work, identified the top ten legal aid earners for 2008-09. However the Bar Council spotted several errors and sent out a briefing note, “Barristers’ Earnings—The Reality for Publicly Funded Practitioners” to clarify the issue. 

Sir Nicholas Wall has been appointed President of the Family Division, following the retirement of Sir Mark Potter in April. Sir Nicholas was Called to the Bar by Gray’s Inn in 1969 and took Silk in 1988. He was appointed to the Family Division of the High Court in 1993 and to the Court of Appeal in 2004. 

Professor David Ormerod has been appointed as a Law Commissioner for a five-year term with effect from September. 

Barristers gleaned a hint of what the future may hold, with the emergence of a rash of political manifestos launched in April. 

The three main parties outlined their promises for legal reform ahead of the general election, as politicians jockeyed for position at the post.
Labour has pledged to “find greater savings” in the legal aid budget and the court system by “increasing the use of successful ‘virtual courts’ which move from arrest, to trial to sentencing in hours rather than weeks or months”. High-earning offenders sent to prison will be required to repay part of their upkeep costs. Asset confiscation will become a “standard principle”, with communities given a say in how seized assets are used. 

The Courts Service and the Tribunals Service are to be joined together into a new unified service, the outgoing Justice Secretary Jack Straw has announced. Straw said the new structure would “preserve the unique and distinctive features of both systems while taking advantage of the benefits to users, judges and staff from closer working”.