News

The Bar Council is currently taking part in a project sponsored by the European Commission to produce factsheets containing a full description of the procedural rights under English law for EU citizens who may find themselves accused of a crime in this jurisdiction. 

Barristers can work in partnerships, attend police stations, conduct correspondence and investigate evidence under historic changes to the Bar’s Code of Conduct. 

They can also become managers of Legal Disciplinary Practices (“LDPs”); work in both a self-employed and employed capacity at the same time; hold shares in LDPs; share premises and office facilities with others; and investigate and collect witness statements and evidence. 

Nicholas Mostyn QC has been appointed  a High Court judge in the Family Division. He will replace Mr Justice Bennett, who is retiring. Mostyn was Called to the Bar by the Middle Temple in 1980 and took Silk in 1997. He was appointed a Recorder in 2000 and sat as a deputy High Court judge. 

LONDON 

Date: Thursday 1 July 2010 and Thursday 8 July 2010 at 5.45 pm – 8 pm 

Venue: General Council of the Bar, 289-293 High Holborn, London, WC1V 7HZ 

Trainer: Catherine Rayner, Barrister, Tooks Chambers 

NEWCASTLE 

Date: TBC 

Venue: Broad Chare Chambers, Newcastle 

Trainer: John Hobson, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers 

The Legal Action Group will be running this two part course in Newcastle. Course details are yet to be finalised. If you are interested
in attending the Newcastle course please contact the Legal Action Group for date details. 

Price: £120 + VAT.
This covers attendance at both parts of this seminar. CPD: 2 hours for each seminar. 4 for attendance at both
This practical course, spread over two evening sessions, will focus on the implementation of the Bar Council's Equality and Diversity Code and the discrimination law which underpins it. The target group is likely to be Heads of Chambers, Chairs of Pupillage and Tenancy Committees, Chambers Equal Opportunity Officers as well as Senior Clerks and Practice Managers who will be using the Code. 

To reserve a place, please contact the LAG with payment. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis. LAG, 242 Pentonville Road, London, N1 9UN. 

Tel: 020 7833 2931/ Fax: 020 7837 6094 email: lag@lag.org.uk / www.lag.org.uk 

The Master of the Rolls has set up a committee to examine the issues around injunctions that bind the press, including “super-injunctions”. 

The Master of the Rolls has accepted the Advisory Committee on Costs’ recommendation that the 2009 Guideline Hourly Rates should be increased (in line with inflation) by 1.7 per cent for 2010. They commenced on 1 April 2010.

FOR the second time in three years a team of students from Whitley Bay High School, Tyne and Wear, won the national final of the
Citizenship Foundation’s Bar National Mock Trial Competition. 

A 35 per cent cap has been imposed on contingency fees in employment cases. 

Criminal defence barristers face a fees reduction of 13.5 per cent over three years after the government rushed ahead with controversial cuts to legal aid. 

On 6 April the government laid a statutory instrument before Parliament that imposes cuts of 4.5 per cent to all Advocates Graduated Fees Scheme (“AGFS”) payments from 27 April, and further cuts of 4.5 per cent each for the next two consecutive years.  

Cases lasting for periods up to and including 60 days will be funded under the AGFS scheme with effect from 14 July. Refreshers after 40 days will be paid at half the full rate. Very High Cost Cases funding will still apply if the case extends beyond 60 days. 

Paul Mendelle QC, Chair of the Criminal Bar Association, said: “The mood at the criminal Bar is one of anger, bitterness and frustration.
“The 13.5 per cent cut to AGFS will all but wipe out the modest Carter rises of 2007 which themselves did little more than restore the value of fees that had been unchanged for a decade, ten years in which their true value had been eroded by both inflation and the burden of the extra unpaid work imposed on us. The extension of AGFS to 60 days while refreshers after 40 days remain at half the full rate is just plain irrational and will unfairly penalise those who undertake longer cases.” 

Paul Mendelle QC and Bar Chairman, Nick Green QC, hit out in a joint letter to barristers at the speed with which the changes were introduced—six days after the 1 April closing date of the consultation on “Reforming Advocates Graduated Fees”—and questioned whether the consultation was “genuine”. 

“It might not surprise you that we were not offered the minimal courtesy of a simple letter beforehand to notify us of these changes,” they wrote, “and you might consider that the time which elapsed between the close of the consultation and the decision to lay the SI indicates a scant regard for the content of the submissions which were made to the government.” 

The Bar Council has now instructed leading counsel to advise on the case for a judicial review—although this is unlikely to go ahead until after the General Election. 

The MoJ said the phased introduction of the fee reforms—rather than implementing a one-off cut of 17.9 per cent, which was another proposed option—would reduce the impact on more junior advocates and give advocates more time to adjust to the changes.  

THE Legal Services Board has approved the Bar Standards Board’s applications to relax provisions in the Code of Conduct for barristers’ working practices.