News

Barristers should be allowed to become managers of Legal Disciplinary Partnerships (LDPs) and to supply legal services to the public when employed by LDPs regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA).  

Family lawyers group Resolution is warning of a “post-code lottery” on child contact, following new powers for courts to order contact activities. Under s 1 of the Adoption and Children Act 2006, judges can order parents to attend mediation, workshops or abuse prevention programmes but there is a “disturbing lack of clarity” about what is available. 

The Government’s DNA sample retention policy is being reviewed following S and Marper v UK, in which the European Court of Human Rights ruled that retaining samples from innocent people was incompatible with the right to a private life. 

New Bar Council chair Desmond Browne has challenged the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, over the increasing share of available work taken in-house by the CPS. 

Doughty Street Chambers’ Robert Latham has won this year’s Legal Aid Barrister of the Year award for his work in housing, homelessness and disability discrimination during a 30-year career. 

A delegation from the Bar Council and Law Society, led by Adrian Hughes QC and Neil Sampson, Co-chairs of the joint China Law Council undertook a successful visit to Chongqing, Tianjin and Beijing from 16-21 November 2008. The visit built on the longstanding relationship that has already been developed between the legal professions in China and the UK. It also sought to raise the profile of UK legal services, and the Bar in particular, in the thriving economic centers of Tianjin and Chongqing, increase our understanding of the local market and facilitate networking with local lawyers and law firms. 

One-day seminars were held in Tianjin and Chongqing in conjunction with the local bar associations. The morning seminars, given by Stephen Hockman QC and Gordon Wignall, as well as solicitors colleagues, focused on various aspects of UK and European environmental law. In the afternoons, Adrian Hughes QC and Philip Riches led seminars on international arbitration, the services the bar can offer Chinese clients, and how to identify and instruct a suitable barrister. All the seminars were very well attended (c. 100), followed by lively discussion. The local bar associations were most welcoming and links with these important interlocutors were deepened. 

Cuts in legal aid fees for family cases and a “massive” hike in court fees could put vulnerable children at increased risk, Desmond Browne QC, the 2009 chair of the Bar Council, has warned. 

THE national reach of the Bar of England and Wales is highlighted in a brand new guide to the profession throughout the regions. The Bar Council, in conjunction with the six Bar Circuits of England and Wales, and the European Circuit, has launched The Guide to the Circuits in hard copy and online at www.barcouncil.org.uk. There are nearly 15,000 practising barristers across the country. The profession of specialist referral advocates and advisers is as large as it has ever been and includes over 3,000 who work in commerce, industry and for organisations and public bodies. 

The Guide reflects the changing face of the Bar. Over 50% of those now entering the profession are women, 18% entering pupillage are
from non-white backgrounds, and around 70% of barristers are non-Oxbridge. Today’s publication forms part of a wider communications campaign which is being undertaken by the Bar Council to modernise the image of the profession, which includes a major BBC2 documentary series 'The Barristers' starting on 14 November. The new publication provides a valuable insight into the work carried out by barristers throughout the country, and highlights the unique role of the Circuits within the justice system. 

The trial in the case of a £1.75m armed robbery of a cash depot at Heathrow Airport in February 2004 has collapsed for the third time. 

The Bar Standards Board has announced, after open competition run by an Appointments Panel, that Baroness Ruth Deech has been appointed as the new Chair of the BSB and that Sir Geoffrey Nice QC will be the Vice-Chair. Baroness Deech has extensive experience of regulatory bodies, having served as Chairperson of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (1994-2002), a Governor of the BBC (2002-2006) and as the first Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (2004-8). She is an independent member of the House of Lords. 

Sir Geoffrey Nice QC is a senior silk with broad practice in Common Law work. He is internationally known for his work at the War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague where he led the prosecution against Slobodan Milosevic. Baroness Deech and Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, will take up their posts from 1 January 2009 in succession to Ruth Evans and George Leggatt QC.