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A Bar Council group of experts in commercial and criminal law visited the Chinese cities of Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and Shenzhen in early November. The first three cities were visited in collaboration with a delegation from the Law Society and the final city by the Bar Council group alone. The delegation, led by Adrian Hughes QC, held well attended seminars and roundtables which focused on international transactions and dispute resolution, and promoted the key role that barristers can play in such work. The Bar Council was pleased to welcome Chinese speakers, to give insight into the Chinese legal market and experience of English law. The barrister team also explained direct access and how to instruct a barrister, messages supported by Bar Council publications available in Mandarin. The delegation’s seminar programme was backed by the local bar associations, the Consul Generals of Shanghai and Guangzhou, the China-Britain Business Centre and the Zhejiang Chamber of International Commerce. The Bar Council is grateful to UKTI for assisting many of the barristers who participated in the visit through its Market Visit grants programme. 

“It is about a hand up, not a hand out,” HRH The Princess Royal, Patron of Opportunity International UK, summed up the work of the charity at a drinks reception in Inner Temple Hall on 20 October in support of Opportunity UK’s work in Africa. The strategy is to use microfinance—loans, saving schemes, insurance—as a means of fighting poverty in the developing world.  “If you can target the right areas you can make a real difference”, Princess Anne pointed out. The targets here are the most excluded; 85 per cent of the loans are to women whose priority is to invest in their children’s education. An impressive 98 per cent of the loans are repaid. Vivian Robinson QC, Treasurer of Inner Temple, further praised the work of lawyers doing pro bono work in Africa and fostering the rule of law. “Law provides a climate through which peace and prosperity grows”, he said. Visit: www.opportunity.org.uk for further information. 

The Legal Services Commission (“LSC”) has come under fire over its criminal legal aid reforms in a devastating National Audit Office (“NAO”) report. 

The report, into the procurement of criminal legal aid, warns that reforms to criminal legal aid threaten value for money and the provision of an essential public service. It criticises the LSC for relying on “inaccurate and incomplete” data. 

“The truth is that publicly perceived and generally accepted social and moral standards change, and, within limits, the legislature and the courts must reflect those changes, if they are to retain democratic relevance and public confidence”, said the new Master of the Rolls, Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, at the 2009 Denning Lecture. 

Speaking on the topic of “Rights and Responsibilities: Civic Duty and the Rule of Law”, Lord Neuberger stressed the importance of performing a balancing act. “What a sixty years it has been”, he noted since Lord Denning himself defined freedom in 1949 as “the freedom of every law-abiding citizen to think what he will, to say what he will, and to go where he will on his lawful occasion without let or hindrance from other persons”. 

A large delegation of 20 barristers and chambers’ staff visited Mumbai and Kolkata between 22 and 27 November. This visit took place in the context of the International Committee’s strategic plan objective to raise the profile of the Bar in India over the period 2008- 2010. It built on visits in 2005 and 2007 and a visit by the Bombay Bar Association to London and Manchester in 2008. 

The visit had three objectives: 

1) Strengthening ties with the Indian legal profession (both in private practice and in-house) at the trade level
2) Giving practitioner members and practice managers an opportunity to promote their own practice vis-a-vis Indian law firms and in-house counsel.
3) Strengthening ties with the Indian legal profession at the values level 

The second objective was a new one. Previously the aim on the business development side had been limited to raising the profile of the Bar in general and to explain to lawyers and in-house counsel the advantages of working with barrister in relation to English and international law matters. 

A number of events were held in pursuit of the first two objectives as well as the objective to allow practitioners to promote their own practice. Just before the delegation began its official programme in Mumbai, the Chairman also visited Delhi for meetings with the Law
Minister and the Corporate Affairs Minister in pursuit of all three objectives. Both Ministers were supportive in every respect and
particularly keen for the Bar to continue advocacy training programmes in India. 

In respect of the latter, two advocacy training programmes were delivered by three trainers from the Advocacy Training Council (ATC)
in Mumbai and Kolkata, a similar initiative as was conducted during the 2005 mission. The objective here was to demonstrate the excellence of the English Bar in IDR as well as generating goodwill by providing free training to young Indian advocates and encouraging
the senior bar to contemplate becoming advocacy trainers through future ATC training events. Around 40 young advocates benefited from the training in each city. 

In respect of business development and raising the profile of the Bar’s legal expertise three seminars were held for in-house counsel and senior managers of major Indian corporates in both cities. The seminars consisted of an introduction to the Bar and its international legal services, followed by three presentations on international litigation, international arbitration and international mediation. This was followed by a networking opportunity. 

In addition two seminars were held with bar associations in Mumbai and Kolkata to strengthen links with the local profession. Finally, two well-attended receptions were held for legal VIPs in each city. 

The visit, supported by UKTI, was successful in raising the profile of the Bar and delegation members were able to make many useful
business contacts. In both Mumbai and Kolkata, further opportunities in developing international arbitration and mediation activities have appeared. The great interest in the ATC programme is also generate further requests for advocacy training events in both cities. The International Committee will evaluate the success of the mission in greater detail and plans for future India-related activities will be announced in the New Year. 

Criminal barristers have reacted angrily to last-minute changes to a deal on Very High Cost Criminal  (“VHCC”) cases. Bar representatives have been negotiating with Ministry of Justice officials for nearly two years to secure a flexible pay scheme for advocates working on VHCC cases, which include the most serious terrorism and murder trials. However, in November the government said it wanted to introduce a new option: extending the existing fixed-fee scheme for shorter cases of up to 40 days to include cases lasting up to 60 days. The Legal Services Commission (“LSC”) confirmed the change in its consultation paper, published in December, “Very High Cost (Crime) Cases 2010”. 

The Legal Services Board (“LSB”) has published new details on liberalising legal services. The consultation paper, “Alternative Business Structures: Approaches to Licensing”, proposes guidance to govern the licensing of alternative business structures, which are due to be introduced in 2011. It includes a widening of the complaints-handling system to deal with firms that offer legal services alongside other services. 

Just in time for the General Election season, the Bar Counci l—at a reception at the House of Commons on 3 December 2009—launched a “Manifesto of Justice” in conjunction with Liberty, ILEX, JUSTICE, Legal Aid Practitioners Group, Law Centres Federation, and Advice UK. 

The group’s aim is to support three core principles: good governance and the rule of law, respect for human rights, and civil liberties and access tojustice. The event was intended to begin the process of making a strong case for the role of a good justice system. 

The Law Reform Committee essay competition 2009 was won by Tom Cleaver with his essay “Modernising the Law of Markets and Fairs". Second place went to Liam Loughlin for his entry "Reforming the Law Concerning Physician Assisted Suicide". The winner of the CPE category was Thomas Hope with his entry “Bringing Some Sanity to the Insanity Defence" and runner-up CPE entry was James Hamerton-Stove with “Shifting the Burden in English Defamation Law” 

Chambers are being encouraged to contribute to pro bono work under the “Friends in Law” scheme launched by the Bar Pro Bono Unit and the Free Representation Unit. Scheme members can highlight their pro bono work on stationery and websites.