News

A record number of more than 50 barristers visited the Annual Conference of the International Bar Association (IBA) in Madrid from 4-9 October. The Bar Council’s International Secretariat organised the increased presence of the Bar, which comprised a number of elements. A new publication “Barristers in the international legal market” was launched, which explains the advantages for international clients in using the services of barristers and how to access them, featuring 40 chambers which supported the cost of the brochure. This also financed a successful networking reception, which was held at the Westin Palace Hotel on 6 October for over 300 international lawyers from around the world. The Bar Council also put up a stall in the exhibition area which attracted plenty of interest. 

Barristers have until 26 October 2009 to respond to a Legal Services Board (“LSB”) consultation on how it can enforce its decisions. 

David Hobart, Bar Council Chief Executive, Mark Muller QC, Bar Human Rights Committee Chair, and Robert Heslett, Law Society President, have expressed concern at reports of mass trials being held in Iran following the political unrest after the disputed June presidential elections. 

Nominations for this year’s Bar pro bono award should be submitted by 30 September 2009. 

This award is given to recognise the outstanding contribution of an individual barrister or group of barristers to pro bono work in the past 12 months. 

The Bar Council has published its response to the Legal Services Board’s wide-ranging discussion paper on Alternative Business Structures (ABS). 

The response from its Working Group on ABS reflects the Bar Council’s support for a pragmatic and proportionate approach to the liberalisation of the legal services market, as envisaged by Sir David Clementi in his review of legal services in England and Wales. 

The Chancery Bar Association has published a detailed 88-page response to the preliminary Jackson Review into civil litigation costs. 

It recommends that judges take a greater role in case management and make more “bold” decisions about direction, scope of disclosure, witness statements and suchlike. 

The Bar Council is now accepting applications for the 2009 Legal Reporting Awards. Entries should be articles, features or programmes, which promote an understanding of the law in the public interest, published or broadcast between 1 October 2008 and 30 September 2009, and submitted by 1 October 2009. The winners will be announced at the Bar Conference on 7 November. 

The Legal Services Commission, in conjunction with the Crown Prosecution Service, has recently raised concerns regarding the keeping of records by barristers in publicly-funded work. The BSB therefore wishes to remind barristers of their duty to give proper regard to the guidance in this area given in Section 6 of the Practice Management Guidelines. 

The relevant guidance is as follows: 

4 Completion Chambers should have documented procedures to ensure that, on completion of a case or instructions:
4.1 all work undertaken has been properly recorded, the fees assessed and noted and fee note submitted;
4.2 papers are promptly returned to professional clients, otherwise disposed of or retained, as they may require but always having regard for the content of documentation - which could contain records of personal data. As a data controller in respect of such personal data,
 t should not be disposed of incautiously. The contents may also be confidential or sensitive and therefore require shredding. The date and method of despatch, and details of the documents returned, must be recorded. It is essential however that counsel or chambers has such documentary proof as is necessary to respond to any complaint, or to justify the fees claimed in the event of a dispute or the necessity of taking legal action to recover unpaid fees;
4.3 records, including counsel's notebook(s), notes of the final results or disposal and copies (possibly in the form of computer records) of counsel's advices etc are retained under chambers or individual arrangements for a defined and appropriate period. This period will differ according to circumstances and the type of work undertaken but is unlikely to be less than six years. However, the nature of the personal data held and the requirement for its retention in respect of any future claims should also be considered. No records should be held longer than is necessary for such purposes. 

The financial limit of the Patents County Court (“PCC”) should be set at £500,000, according to the Judiciary Working Group on Reform of the PCC.  The recommended limit, which is higher than originally proposed, follows a consultation by the Working Group on PCC reforms.   The Working Group has now also suggested a limit on recoverable costs at £50,000 for all types of claim, but limited to £25,000 for inquiries and accounts. It also recommends that guidance is given on the contents of statements of case and the criteria for the transfer of cases between the PCC and the High Court. The potential reforms follow concerns that the PCC is not providing an affordable forum for intellectual property litigation for SMEs. 

Three new board members have been appointed to the Bar Standards Board. 

They are: Richard Thompson, the new lay member, who is a Chief Constable with the Civil Nuclear Constabulary and previously worked for 18 years in the Foreign Office;