How to identify candidates with the best potential? Is diverse recruitment easier said than done? 20 Essex Street – the first chambers to use a contextual recruitment system – is experimenting with big data to find out
Why law firms do 360 degree feedback and techniques the Bar can adopt
How to use advanced searching techniques to get the best results from your subscription databases, making your research more efficient and cost-effective
Raising discrimination issues can be tricky at the best of times; even more so when it’s you who’s dropped from a case. A first-hand account of the difficulties in challenging the status quo and growing will for change
Congratulations to the 108! As our new QCs prepare for the silk ceremony, we dive into the pool to see what’s the most influential factor for success, after an individual’s own effort
How bad is Brexit for women? Just how inclusive does feminism have to be? What’s the greatest myth about female barristers? The forthright peer, social reformer and Bar luminary talks to Alice de Coverley
From American legal thinking to classics and great literary speeches, Lord Justice Singh discusses his influences and principles
Tax barrister, blogger and campaigner – the tenacious Jolyon Maugham QC has driven the legal debate on Brexit since the referendum result and won’t let the issue go
Julia Smart probes the impeccable credentials of LALY Legal Aid Barrister of the Year 2018, Martha Cover
Coming soon to a Circuit near you? With over 80 mentored pairs and counting, the win-win WCWF opt-out scheme is getting results
UK
Details of the qualification requirements can be found in the information pack. It is expected that the successful applicant will take up their post in the spring of 2027.
The Chair of the Bar reports back
Clement Cowley, Partner at The Penny Group, explains how global events can influence the performance of pensions and ISAs, and why taking a long-term approach to investing is often the most effective strategy
Mário Barroso, Head of R&D and Method Development at AlphaBiolabs, discusses what family law professionals need to know about hallucinogens, from the main hallucinogenic drugs encountered in family proceedings, to their effects and the testing options available
Harmony Christian Ministries is the latest charity to benefit from a £500 donation from AlphaBiolabs via the company’s Giving Back initiative
By David Green
Mário Barroso, Head of R&D and Method Development at AlphaBiolabs, examines the forensic science underpinning hair drug testing, its evidential scope and limitations, and why it remains the gold standard for evidencing patterns of drug use in family proceedings
Developing a tech start-up demands a different definition of excellence to the Bar, says Saara Idelbi. The co-creator of Advocatr on entrepreneurship, AI advocacy training, and matching the thrill of a killer cross-examination
At the start of her term, Chair of the Bar 2026 Kirsty Brimelow KC set out a series of priorities for the year ahead. One of those priorities was children in the justice system
As the world becomes more digital, Barbara Vinagre Mota examines international research into the mental health consequences of judges’ exposure to graphic and immersive evidence, highlighting the importance of support systems
Reviewed by Daniel Barnett
James McNeill Whistler at Tate Britain until 27 September Rothko in Florence at Palazzo Strozzi until 23 August Reviewed by Stephen Cragg KC