News

The Bar Standards Board has launched detailed proposals for revising the professional code of conduct for barristers, in its second consultation paper.

The Bar Standard Board’s Standards Committee has recently published its second consultation paper on the review of the Code. This paper focuses on revised Conduct Rules which seek to replace the rules in the existing Code that relate to professional conduct and ethical standards. The revised Rules adopt a core duty approach complemented with secondary rules and guidance which amplify and illustrate each core duty. 

It is hoped that the revised Conduct Rules are more accessible, user friendly and clear in their aim and interpretation. The Board’s hope is that the proposed Rules will enable both members of the Bar and consumers to better understand what is expected of a barrister. 

The BSB has set up a private forum, on its website, for current pupillage students to discuss their pupillage experiences. This forum will run for the length of the Pupillage Review, which is being chaired by Derek Wood QC and is seeking to improve the pupillage stage of training.
All current pupillage students will have been emailed a password to access the forum in March. The passwords ensure anonymity, so we hope this encourages students to participate with frank comments about their pupillage experiences. 

Any current pupillage student who wishes to participate but has not received a password should email Kofi Kramo, BSB Communications Officer, at: kkramo@barstandardsboard.org.uk 

The Commission should have adopted its much anticipated proposal on jurisdiction and applicable law, etc, in this complex field, by the time of reading. If so, the UK has 3 months to decide whether to opt in to the proposal. The Chancery Bar will comment. 

The Government is to drop the controversial clause in the Coroners and Justice Bill allowing public bodies to share information on individuals.

Changes to the Bar Standards Board’s (BSB) complaints and disciplinary processes come into force on 31 March. 

THE third round of appointments as Queen’s Counsel has been announced. 

These appointments are made by an independent Selection Panel, which recommends who should receive this highly sought-after award. All those appointed have demonstrated excellence in advocacy in the higher courts. Baroness Butler-Sloss, Interim Chairman of the QC Selection Panel, said: 

“I have the pleasure of announcing these 104 names. All applicants are assessed against a common competency framework and the same standard of excellence and it is encouraging to see that a wide variety of advocates are among those whose appointment is announced today. There are no quotas, and we treat all applications in the same way, but the range of appointments reflects the openness and fairness of the selection process. On this occasion, the Selection Panel made two significant improvements to the scheme, firstly by inviting applicants to describe the nature of their particular practice in their self-assessment and secondly by looking specifically
at both preparation for, and resolution of, disputes in relation to written and oral advocacy. 

The former Vice-President of the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division), Sir David Latham, is the new chair of the Parole Board for England and Wales, succeeding Sir Duncan Nichol. He is a retired high court and appeal court judge. His appointment is initially for one year, until February 2010.

The JHA Council has recently adopted the Council decision (proposed last September) on the signing on behalf of the EC of this 2005 Convention, ensuring that choice-of-court agreements included in international trading contracts entered into by EU companies are respected; and judgments issued by the courts designated in such agreements, are eligible for recognition in the other States party to the Convention. 

Family law barristers have joined with the NSPCC to call for an urgent Parliamentary inquiry into the state of the family justice system. A coalition, including the Bar Council and Family Law Bar Association, have written to the chair of the House of Commons Justice Select Committee, Alan Beith MP, calling for an inquiry into the impact of repeated cuts in the family justice system.