News

There have been a number of decisions made by the Bar Standards Board in recent months which change or relax provisions in the Code of Conduct. They are intended to create greater opportunities and value for consumers of barristers services in the future, as the Bar will be permitted to offer their services in a number of different ways. The following applications to amend the Code have been submitted by the BSB to the Legal Services Board (who have taken over responsibility to approve such amendments from the Ministry of Justice), and this note is a short update on the progress of those applications: 

The Bar Council has launched a consultation on the Practising Certificate Fee. 

Barristers and other interested parties are being asked for their views on how the Ministry of Justice should implement reforms to the coroners’ service. 

Responses will assist in the drafting of secondary legislation, with a final consultation to be held in 2011. 

In 2008 the Commission conducted a public consultation on this issue, to which the Bar responded, suggesting that a practical solution could be to create a European Provisional Order. That idea was picked up in the EP’s own April 2009 resolution on the consultation, and the Legal Affairs Committee of the EP is now looking in more detail at prompting the Commission to issue a legislative proposal giving it effect. The Bar is active on the file. 

The EP is due to adopt its draft report on this April 2009 proposal at the May Plenary session. See:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/file.jsp? 

id=5769082 

By the time of reading, the Council should have adopted conclusions on "the eradication of violence against women in the EU", in line with a call from the European Parliament in 2009. One of the measures is a proposal for a directive establishing the European Protection Order, allowing victims of domestic violence to move to another EU Member State without losing the benefit of a protective measure (e.g. a non-molestation order) issued in the original Member State. The issue is complicated however, by the fact that such cases are variously treated as criminal, civil, or a hybrid, by the Member States. The Spanish Presidency is pushing for progress. See: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/09/st17/st17513.en09.pdf 

The Bar Council recently responded to the Commission’s Green Paper on the possible extension of the European Evidence Warrant, to cover evidence that is not yet in existence (e.g. taking a witness statement) or that exists but is not directly available without further action (e.g. obtaining DNA samples). The existing EEW is widely seen in practice as too limited in scope. The Bar is calling for defence rights to be dealt with first, and for provision to facilitate the obtaining of defence evidence cross-border too. At the time of writing it is not yet clear whether the Commission will issue its own proposal, or be beaten to it by a Member State proposal on the issue of obtainability of evidence, which is also in the works. 

The Bar Council has unanimously approved plans to give the Bar Standards Board (“BSB”) its own constitution, in a move which enshrines its independence. 

 As of 30 April, the BSB will have powers to appoint committees and approve standing orders and rules that govern its structure and operation. The move makes the Bar Council the first legal professional body to implement the separation of regulatory and representative powers, as required by the Legal Services Act 2007. 

THE Bar Council has welcomed the Ministry of Justice’s decision to create a new executive agency to replace the Legal Services Commission (LSC) to administer legal aid. The Government’s announcement follows the publication of the Review of Legal Aid Delivery and Governance by Sir Ian Magee, which had been commissioned by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), and a highly critical report of the Public Accounts Committee published in February (9th Report, HC 322) which accepted the findings of a review of the procurement of criminal legal aid by the National Audit Office in 2009. 

When the relevant parts of the Legal Services Act 2007 came into force on the 1 January 2010, it became a criminal offence to undertake a reserved legal activity, such as exercising a right of audience, without having in force a valid practising certificate. Therefore second six pupils will require a practising certificate to be legally entitled to exercise a right of audience. The Bar Standards Board will issue a practising certificate to those who have done the following: