Profession

Dr Steve Connor, the Chief Executive of the National Centre for Domestic Violence, explains why he set up the charity. His work as a McKenzie friend has fired his interest in a career at the Bar 

By the time I begin what I hope will be a practice at the Bar, I will have completed nearly seven years as an advocate. It began in 2002, when I became aware that thousands of people who leave abusive relationships find the door to legal protection closed. I witnessed this first-hand when a friend failed to secure legal assistance for obtaining a civil injunction. This led me to found what is now the National Centre for Domestic Violence (“NCDV”), a specialist charity offering a free emergency injunction service. 

How should the Bar respond to the challenges it faces? David Wurtzel meets the new Chairman of the Bar Council, Nick Green QC, and finds he brings a sense of realism to the task ahead 

Nick Green QC, like most of his predecessors, succeeds to the chairmanship of the Bar in “momentous times”. What he in particular brings to the job is an understanding that the profession has changed as a result of the challenges which we have faced in recent years, that we cannot turn the clock back, but that there is a good deal we can do to maintain a vibrant, self-employed, referral Bar.  

The Bar Professional Training Course which replaces the Bar Vocational Course in September 2010 is evolution not revolution, believes Marcus Soanes.  

In September 2010, the Bar Professional Training Course (“BPTC”) replaces the existing Bar Vocational Course (“BVC”). The BVC was designed at the end of the 1980s by the Bar Council fulfilling its statutory obligation to maintain and enhance standards in education for the profession. That course established the pattern for the training that prepares students for pupillage, and placed written and interpersonal skills at its centre. Since that time, the Bar Council, and subsequently the Bar Standards Board (“BSB”), has refined the course requirements and validated several institutions across the country to deliver the BVC. Through its regulatory bodies, the profession has sought to standardise training for the Bar, and has, to a large extent, dictated the course curriculum, its length and the learning facilities for students. This means that institutions offering the programme have had to fulfil their validation requirements and to respond to revisions imposed on them. Over the years, several working parties were established to ensure that the BVC remained fit for purpose. The most significant was that chaired by the then Mr Justice Elias, which instituted changes to the course content and assessment framework from 2002. 

The BBC drama Criminal Justice 2 raised important social issues, believes James Woolf  

Last year I reviewed Criminal Justice for this magazine (see (2008) Counsel September, p 38). Its screening led to a public row between the Bar, and Peter Moffat, former barrister and writer of the series. Tim Dutton QC, last year’s Bar Chairman, accused the BBC of a woefully inaccurate depiction of the Bar, in particular because of the huge chasm between the on-screen barristers’ ethical practices and the actual Code of Conduct. Moffat’s response was to say that this was an overreaction, adding “[Timothy Dutton QC] wants to see things in black and white. At the Bar, just as in life, standards are all too often a different colour – grey.” My own view was that the series closely missed out on being brilliant because of these moments of implausibility. To cut a long story short, Moffat won a Bafta, the Bar forgot all about it and time marched on. 

The pro bono case of Compton—challenging a decision to close a local hospital—has clarified the law relating to protective costs orders. Guy Opperman explains why pro bono work really can make a difference.  

A court case is like a battle. And a test case, involving nine hearings and 12 judges over two years, is the mother of all military campaigns. So it was with the pro bono epic that culminated in the various decisions in R (on the application of Compton) v Wiltshire Primary Care Trust (see [2008] EWCA Civ 749).  Pro bono provides assistance for those who are unable to afford legal representation. This case in its various forms took two years and multiple hearings. What began as a case protesting about the closure of hospital units in Wiltshire developed into a test case on the extent to which ordinary citizens can use protective costs orders (“PCOs”) to challenge decisions of public bodies. 

Is the creation of the new UK Supreme Court a triumph of form over substance? William East investigates 

With the new Supreme Court opening last month, and countless programmes, speeches and articles on the new-found separation of powers in the British constitution, the weary reader has had to endure rather a lot of Montesquieu. For it was this now rather better-known French philosopher who, in his essay The Spirit of Laws, is credited with outlining the principle of the separation of powers for the first time. A mere 261 years later, with the opening of the new court, we are said to have avoided the apocalyptic scenario in which: “There would be an end of everything, were the same man or the same body, whether of the nobles or of the people to exercise [the] three powers, that of enacting laws, that of executing the public resolutions, and of trying the causes of individuals.” 

Melissa Coutinho reports on the Employed Bar Conference.  

Hogarth’s painting of St Paul’s impassioned plea before Felix in the Old Hall at Lincoln’s Inn provided a fitting backdrop to the Employed Bar Conference on 21 July entitled “One Bar – thriving by Unity.” 

This year’s Young Bar Conference was as popular as ever. Alexander Learmonth rounds up the highlights.  

The Young Bar Conference is the highlight of the Young Barristers’ Committee’s  calendar and so it is fantastic that it remains so popular among barristers – and pupils – up to ten years’ Call. Thanks to the support of Circuits, many of which funded delegates’ costs, more than 200 barristers, pupils and Bar Vocational Course students attended the 2009 conference – held on Saturday, 3 October at London’s Hotel Russell – from all corners of the country: Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester, Cardiff and Bristol. And given sponsorship from commercial sponsors and several Specialist Bar Associations, delegates enjoyed 5 hours of accredited CPD, coffee, lunch and tea – all for £40. 

David Wurtzel provides a guided tour of inside the new building 

However much it cost, the Supreme Court building (formerly the Middlesex Guildhall) provides a splendid home for a new institution. Whether you are public, barristers, staff or the Justices, you can see where the money went. Those who knew it in its criminal court days will be glad that English Heritage insisted on retaining a substantial part of the interior. This includes the art nouveau light fittings, the tiled walls, some panelling and furniture and the paintings and sculpture. The latter have been cleaned and rearranged: the bust of the bon vivant Edward VII no longer greets you as you enter but now watches over the public canteen. 

Under the Circuit Diversity Mentor Scheme senior QCs are the first point of contact for barristers interested in applying for judicial appointments or Silk. Desmond Browne QC explains what is involved.  

The Circuit Diversity Mentor Scheme was launched last year by my predecessor, Tim Dutton QC. The aim was to encourage the widest and most diverse possible range of applicants for the judiciary and Silk and appointment to the Attorney General’s Civil Panels. It was strongly endorsed by the Judicial Appointments Commission (“JAC”) which has amongst its statutory objectives “the need to encourage diversity in the range of persons available for selection for appointment”.