News

Profession
Ministers have embarked on a wholesale review of legal services regulation, following concerns over its complexity and the “unnecessary burdens” it places on the sector. 

The Bar Standards Board submitted its response last month to the Ministry of Justice’s consultation, ‘Transforming legal aid’. 

Legal aid
Removing client choice and introducing a “fundamentally flawed” model of price competitive tendering will bring “the lowest possible quality of service”, hit society’s most vulnerable and undermine social cohesion, the Bar Council has warned. 

Twelve equality objectives for 2013-14, set out in five priority areas, were approved and adopted by the Bar Standards Board at the May Board meeting – in line with statutory equality duties. They include a programme of interviews with chambers to evaluate progress in implementing the new equality and diversity rules, as well as monitoring the equality impact of the new Bar Course Aptitude Test, which was introduced in March 2013. 

The Ethical Enquiries Helpline can be contacted on: 

020 7611 1307 

Ethics@BarCouncil.org.uk 

The Bar Council’s International Committee is organising a joint seminar and networking reception with the New York County Lawyers’ Association (NYCLA) Foreign and International Law Committee. The aim of the seminar is to raise the profile of the Bar in the American legal market and will feature both commercial and criminal law sessions. Attendance at this event could conveniently be combined with attendance at the IBA Annual Conference in Boston (see below). Further information regarding the seminar is available on our website. 

Profession
The legal profession took to its feet to raise money for free legal advice providers on 20 May. Sponsored legal walks took place in London, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Guildford, Newbury and Norwich, and will be followed by walks in other towns. 

Legal aid
The two online petitions against the government’s legal aid reforms are garnering huge public support. 

Criminal
The Ministry of Justice announced on 11 June that there will be a pilot of s 28 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 which allows for recorded, pre-trial cross examination of vulnerable and intimidated witnesses “in cases where there may be a delay in the holding of the trial or where the nature of the case is such that the witness could be cross-examined in advance of trial”. The pilot, which will start by the end of the year, will last six months and will take place at the Crown courts at Liverpool, Leeds and Kingston-on-Thames. 

The International team send out fortnightly updates on upcoming international events and opportunities, which may be of interest to barristers wishing to develop their international practice. The updates are sent out to members of the Bar via the Specialist Bar Association and Circuit Representative.