News

THE Bar Council and the Bar Standards Board announced publication of The Bar Handbook 2009/10. Published by LexisNexis in association with the Bar Council and the Bar Standards Board, The Handbook provides practical guidance on all aspects of barristers’ regulation and practice from the Bar Council in its representative capacity and the Bar Standards Board, the independent, ring-fenced regulator of the Bar. The Handbook is a vital tool for barristers (in self-employed as well as employed practice) and those who aspire to become barristers. It will also be useful to other lawyers and others who need to use the services of the Bar or who take an interest in the profession. It offers invaluable professional conduct guidance and a collection of material not available elsewhere in a handbook format. 

Updated each year, The Handbook aims to answer the most common questions addressed to the Bar Council and Bar Standards Board and offers advice on additional resources for those seeking indepth information on specific issues. This updated edition builds on the success of last year’s inaugural publication and includes: 

As at the time of writing, the Commission had not yet committed itself to a date for the adoption of its much anticipated proposal for a directive on antitrust damages. 

Presidency will be advising the Commission on the way forward later this year. The House of Lords Sub-Committee E adopted its own report on the review in July. 

The Chair of the Bar Standards Board , Baroness Ruth Deech, talks of the need to take a scrupulous approach when considering barristers’ involvement in new legal structures. The Legal Services Act 2007 allows for different types of lawyer and non-lawyer to form businesses together. It also permits non-lawyers to be involved in the management or ownership of businesses that provide legal services.
Although the Bar Standards Board is keen to embrace these new dimensions, it believes this should be preceded by careful analysis of the issues raised in the responses to its second consultation paper related to the Legal Services Act. 

Commenting on the issue, Baroness Deech said: "At the heart of the BSB lies the task of guaranteeing the quality of legal services to the client. Our work on new legal structures has been dominated by ensuring that whatever new forms legal practice may take, the client will still get independent quality advice at fair cost. The BSB has been spending much time closely analysing the responses received to its second consultation related to the Legal Services Act. 

The long-awaited proposal for an EU regulation on jurisdiction and applicable law in the field of succession and wills is now expected to be adopted by the Commission in mid-October. The Spanish EU Presidency intends to treat it as a priority in early 2010. 

THE Bar Council has published a booklet marking the 60th anniversary of the Legal Aid and Advice Act 1949. The booklet, Legal Aid: 60 Years of Public Service by Barristers, was launched at the Chairman of the Bar’s Media Reception at Middle Temple, and sets out the history of legal aid since 1949. It describes how barristers funded by legal aid have acted for some of society’s most vulnerable over the past 60 years. 

The booklet emphasises the crucial role legal aid plays in providing a fair and effective justice system, by highlighting a number of case studies in criminal, family and civil law. The studies show how public funding of legal representation by barristers has made a real difference to people’s lives and helped to develop the law. The Bar Council’s booklet is published as the publicly-funded Bar is coming under increasing strain with the prospect of further cuts by the Ministry of Justice and the Legal Services Commission (LSC). Proposals to introduce Best Value Tendering (BVT), which are not based on any reliable empirical or economic evidence, will inevitably drive down quality. With many experienced advocates already leaving publicly-funded practice because they cannot afford to stay at the Bar, the impact of successive legal aid cuts on an effective justice system is likely to result in increased, not decreased, public expenditure. 

In June the ECJ issued judgment in Case C-8/08, holding that there is a presumption of a causal connection between a concerted practice and the conduct of the undertaking on that market, even if the concerted action arises from just a single meeting between the participating undertakings. That presumption must be applied by the national court. 

See: http://curia.europa.eu/jurisp/cgi-bin/form.pl?lang=EN&Submit=rechercher&numaff=C-8/08 

The prospect of the courts “calling into question” proceedings of Parliament despite Article IX of the Bill of Rights receded when the government’s hastily drafted Parliamentary Standards Bill received an early mauling. 

The task of providing “independent quality advice” must take centre stage in any decisions on barristers’ involvement in new legal structures under the Legal Services Act 2007.

The Bar Council has published a booklet,  Legal Aid: 60 Years of Public Service by Barristers, marking the 60th anniversary of the Legal Aid and Advice Act 1949.  The booklet describes how barristers funded by legal aid have acted for some of society’s most vulnerable people over the past 60 years.