News

By the time of reading, the UK will have informed the EU institutions regarding its decision on whether or not to opt-in to the October 2009 Commission proposal for a regulation on jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition and enforcement of decisions and authentic instruments in matters of succession, and the creation of a European Certificate of Succession (Procedure reference COD(2009)0157. The Bar, and other branches of the UK legal profession recommended that it should not opt-in at this stage. The proposal as adopted has some good ideas, but there remain two primary areas of concern, being clawback and the current provisions on jurisdiction and certificates of succession. The proposal is available at:http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2009:0154:FIN:EN:PDF 

The Bar responded by the end-January deadline, to the Commission’s consultation on how best to obtain and transfer (all forms of) evidence in criminal matters, from one Member State to another, and secure its admissibility. The Commission is expected to adopt a sweeping legislative proposal on this topic later this year. 

See: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2009:0624:FIN:EN:PDF 

Lord Justice Jackson has recommended sweeping reform of civil litigation, including raising civil damages awards by ten per cent and introducing US-style contingency fees. 

Jackson LJ’s eagerly-awaited 584-page Final Report into civil litigation costs, published in January, contains a number of controversial suggestions.Conditional fee agreements (“CFAs”) or “no win, no fee” cases should continue to be used but success fees and after-the-event (“ATE”) insurance premiums should cease to be recoverable from unsuccessful opponents, he recommends. This means that any success fees will have to be borne by the client, not the opponent. 

A joint consultation by the Bar Standards Board (BSB), Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and ILEX Professional Standards on advocacy standards has been issued. 

The consultation paper on quality standards for criminal advocates represents a joint commitment between the BSB, SRA and ILEX Professional Standards to develop common standards that can be applied across the respective professions with a view to fostering consistent standards of advocacy throughout the legal profession. The regulators are attempting to develop common standards that can be applied to all advocates in all areas of practice. This will require ensuring that standards and their associated competencies are applicable in a wide range of contexts. This is a significant task which will be undertaken incrementally - starting where there has been greatest interest in the consistency of advocacy competence and performance, namely criminal practice. This first consultation paper therefore seeks views on proposed common standards for criminal advocates. 

At the end of 2009 the JHA Council adopted a resolution setting out a “Roadmap” of 6 separate measures intended to protect the procedural rights of suspects and defendants in the criminal justice system. See: 

http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/09/st15/st15434.en09.pdf  The first of these measures, (A) on the right to translation and interpretation was the subject of a 2009 Commission proposal, but as it was not formally adopted by Council before the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, it has lapsed. The other measures foreseen in the roadmap are:
B. Information about rights and about the charges;
C. Legal Aid and legal advice;
D. Communication with relatives, employers and consular authorities;
E. Special safeguards for vulnerable persons
F. A green paper on the right to review the grounds for detention. 

The Commission is now under pressure to issue a new proposal for measure A, as well as at least one of the others, during 2010. 

The EP’s Legal Affairs Committee (JURI), is preparing an owninitiative report intended to prompt the Commission into proposing a legislative initiative amending the Rome II regulation (EC) No 864/2007, so as to cover the law applicable to noncontractual obligations arising out of violations of privacy and rights relating to personality. JURI held a hearing on the subject on 28 January 2010, at which a member of the Bar was invited to speak.

The Bar Standards Board, the Solicitors Regulation Authority and ILEX have published a joint consultation on quality standards for criminal advocates. The deadline for responses is  22 March. 

Crown Court means testing was re-introduced for defendants on 11 January 2010. Privately represented defendants who are acquitted can apply to reclaim their costs. The government has published new guidance on how to apply for legal aid in criminal cases in the magistrates’ and Crown Courts. The Criminal Legal Aid Manual can be downloaded from the LSC website: www.legalservices.gov.uk 

What barristers do is a mystery to the general public, according to Legal Services Board (“LSB”) research. 

Less than a third of 2,033 adults surveyed in December felt they knew at least a “fair” amount about the work of legal professionals—despite the fact more than 60 per cent of them had personally used legal services. 

The Lisbon Treaty, signed by the Heads of State and Government in December 2007, entered into force on 1 December 2009. The term “Lisbon Treaty” is shorthand for two new treaties: