Profession

Hassan Khan and Claire Fox, Co-Chairs of the Bar Lesbian and Gay Group, on expanding the remit of BLAGG. 

Is it OK to be Gay at the Bar? Will the Bar Standards Board’s new Equality Rules make a difference?

In 2011, we became co-chairs of the Bar Lesbian and Gay Group (BLAGG) which was formed in 1994 by a group of students at the Inns of Court School of Law. We now have over 300 members across the profession including students, pupils, barristers and Queen’s Counsel. BLAGG’s primary aim is to support lesbians, gay men, bisexual and transgender members, at whatever stage they are in the profession, whether or not they are ‘out’ or if they simply wish to socialise and meet fellow members of the Bar. We provide information, advice and support, particularly to those wishing to join the profession. 

Melissa Coutinho, co-Chair of the Employed Bar, reports back to Counsel from the 2012 conference.   

A gloriously and unseasonably hot March 21st this year, saw barristers hurrying across Lincoln’s Inn Fields with envious backward glances at those sunbathing and enjoying an al fresco lunch seemingly without a care in the world. They were heading towards the Employed Bar’s Annual Conference. This year’s theme was “A week in the life of an Employed Barrister,” which was chosen to demonstrate that there is no typical week for such a soul. It focused on the breadth of work and variety of working arrangements that employed barristers enjoy, within the parameters permitted by our Code of Conduct. 

A judge’s view

Mr Justice Christopher Clarke gives Counsel a view from the Bench 

It is a commonplace observation to bewail the size of modern judgments compared with the economy of our distinguished predecessors. What they would have thought of the plethora of documents with which even a modest civil case is now encumbered I dare not to think. In the days when any copy had to be made by hand it was remarkable how few documents you could deal with. 

John Newth concludes his review of the special tax provisions that affect practising barristers, focusing on the tax surrounding expenses and barristers’ clerks. 

In Part 1 (Counsel June 2012), I dealt with the end of the cash basis and the consequences of having to include work in progress at full value after June 2005. The effect of these provisions on newly qualified barristers, and numerical examples showing how the statutory changes could work in practice, were also included. In this article I turn to the practical issues of tax deductible expenses and the taxation of barristers’ clerks. 

Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) recently published its follow-up to the 2009 review of CPS in-house prosecution advocacy and case presentation. Chief Inspector Michael Fuller QPM gauges progress. 

The CPS’s aspiration routinely to conduct its own high quality advocacy in all courts, and across the full range of cases, is realistic and achievable. However, it is dependent on the current high-level focus on quality being sustained and advocacy experience being developed. 

Sara Nathan spent six years on the PCCC and another six at the Judicial Appointments Commission. Here she offers her reflections on the Bar.  

Six years on the Bar Council’s PCCC (Professional Conduct Committee of the General Council of the Bar, the precursor to the Bar Standards Board) and another six at the Judicial Appointments Commission mean that I have had more contact with barristers than most lay people ever can. And that’s a stimulating experience. Now both are over, I’m asked to reflect on over a decade of working with the Bar but never being one of you. 

In a two part feature for Counsel, John Newth reviews the special tax provisions that affect practising barristers.  

The taxation of barristers comes within the definition of ‘a specialised profession’ as far as UK taxation is involved. This article sets out the distinctive statutory and practical considerations that must be born in mind when dealing with the taxation affairs of individual barristers.

End of the cash basis 

The cash basis of preparing barristers’ accounts came to an end when section 42, FA 1998 was enacted, requiring accounts to be prepared ‘on a true and fair basis’. Reference to this basis was replaced by section 101(5), FA 2002 which required accounts to be prepared ‘in accordance with generally accepted accounting practice (GAAP)’. See also the HMRC Business Income Manual at BIM 74000- BIM 74015. 

Lucy Perman explains the work of theatre company Clean Break. 

Clean Break uses theatre to change the lives of women offenders. We were founded 33 years ago by two women in prison at HMP Askham Grange in Yorkshire and today we have grown to become a critically acclaimed theatre company, commissioning and producing plays by some of the UK’s best female playwrights on the theme of women, crime and justice; and providing high-quality theatre-based courses, qualifications, training opportunities and specialist support which are critical for the rehabilitation of women offenders. 

Christine Kings explains the changes currently being carried out to BARMARK. 

BARMARK, the quality standard for the Bar, is about to undergo radical change. The voluntary scheme, designed to recognise best practice, was launched in July 1999 with the sole aim of improving the administration of chambers. It now needs a major overhaul to make it suitable for a highly competitive 21st century legal services market. 

David Wurtzel reports on the first meeting of the Middle Temple Women’s Forum  

The recent survey Barristers’ Working Lives – released by the Bar Council and the Bar Standards Board – asked self-employed practitioners why they were working at the Bar. The respondents were provided with many choices from which a number could be ticked. Only 2% selected “work life balance (control over)”.  This fact, long felt but now starkly evidenced, was one of the underlying themes behind the decision to establish the Middle Temple Women’s Forum which gathered together in Middle Temple Hall for the first time on 6 March, 48 hours before International Women’s Day. Whether or not there were, as estimated, more women in Hall than there had been since 1570, the attendance of some 300 was an impressive turn-out. They included members of all Inns, women of all calls, judges, representatives from the Bar Standards Board and other bodies, the chairman of the Bar and the Lord Chief Justice.