News

Consultation
Jurors could be forced to surrender their internet-enabled devices, and media organisations forced to remove prejudicial reports from the internet, under Law Commission proposals. 

The Bar Council’s International Committee is organising a joint business development mission to St Petersburg and Kyiv with UK Trade & Investment (UKTI). Both cities are thriving commercial centres where the legal market is not yet saturated by international law firms, and where, during a first mission in 2011, the Bar Council has found a keen interest in the expertise that barristers can offer local law firms. 

Juries
Guidelines on jury checks and the exercise by the Crown of its right of stand by have been updated by the Attorney General, Dominic Grieve. 

Criminal
Improvements in casework handling at the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) must continue if the SFO is to deliver on its new Director’s strategy, HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate has warned. 

All practitioners are required to return a signed and completed record card indicating the CPD hours that they have completed in 2012 under the New or Established Practitioners Programme. 

A Pupillage Committee, set up by the Council of the Inns of Court (COIC), and chaired by David Blunt QC, has expressed concerns that the falling number of pupillages on offer is damaging to the Bar on a number of counts, including its drive to dispel its image as a profession which is only open to an elite drawn from wealthy backgrounds. Whilst recognising the pressures on chambers and the views of some that the number of pupillages should exactly equate with the number of tenancies likely to be on offer, the BSB shares these concerns. There is certainly a need to try and alleviate, somehow or other, the plight of the young who, though called to the Bar, cannot obtain pupillage. 

The Bar Council is organising the fourth in its series of joint seminars with the German Bar Association (DAV) in Hamburg. The afternoon seminar will include sessions on: 

An email dated 3 December 2012 has been sent to all Self-employed, Employed, Unregistered and Retired Barristers advising them to log onto Barrister Connect at www.barristerconnect.org.uk to check their details are recorded correctly and to notify Records@BarCouncil.org.uk of any changes to their details. 

The Bar Council has now completed its 2012 International Professional and Legal Development programme. The programme was established by the International Committee with the support of the Bar Council Scholarships Trust and a number of Specialist Bar Associations (SBAs) in 2009. Under the programme, barristers under seven years call can apply for financial assistance to participate in international legal events of their choice which contribute to their professional development. The programme aims to encourage more junior barristers to gain an international perspective on legal issues and help them thrive in an increasingly global legal market. 

The second Russian Law Week, of which the Bar Council was a main co-organiser, successfully took place in London from 5 – 7 November. The well-attended opening reception on 6 November was addressed by the Rt. Hon. Chris Grayling, Lord Chancellor and Dr Alexander Yakovenko, Ambassador of the Russian Federation in London.