Barristers

The High Court has granted the “dying wish” of a barrister, suspended by a Bar disciplinary tribunal, that she should end her life as a practising member of the profession.

The immediate past chair of the Bar Council has welcomed work by the CPS to ensure greater gender parity in its instructions but said female fraud barristers are “a long way from parity”.

The current process for awarding the title of QC does not allow “sufficient opportunity” for inappropriate behaviour witnessed by opponents or even court staff to be recorded, the Law Society has warned.

There are “significant gender disparities” in barristers’ access to work and pay across both criminal and civil publicly funded work, research by a circuit judge has found.

Last night’s announcement of a new lockdown has thrown a new element into the dispute between BPP Law School and Bar students over a scheduled face-to-face exam this week.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority and Council for Licensed Conveyancers have been given a clean bill of health by the Legal Services Board in its latest assessment of regulators’ performance.

A not-for-profit ‘pupillage academy’ that would support chambers across England and Wales to offer more pupillages has been proposed by national chambers Clerksroom.

Some 116 new QCs were named yesterday, with the appointment body revealing that more women applied for silk this year and the majority were successful – unlike men.

Advocates unable to cover extended operating hours in the courts will likely lose work and could be driven out of the profession as a result, a high-profile group of women barristers has warned.

Eight commercial chambers have signed up to a Bar Council scheme to fund criminal law pupillages that would otherwise not be available because of the Covid-19 pandemic.