Barristers
CA slates barristers whose failures led it to wrongly quash conviction
The Court of Appeal has strongly criticised barristers for not realising that the transcript of a trial was incorrect because they had not paid attention to the judge’s summing-up at the time.
Groundbreaking family barrister wins £50,000 innovation award
A barrister who co-founded a groundbreaking business that allows separating couples to obtain advice from a single legal expert at any point in the process, has won a £50,000 Women in Innovation award.
Male barrister suspended for lewd comments aimed at female mini-pupil
An experienced barrister who made crude sexual comments to a woman on a mini-pupillage has been suspended for six months and told not to take on pupils or mini-pupils in future.
High Court: No duty on barrister not to cause instructing solicitor loss
A barrister was not liable to her instructing solicitors for the fees they claimed they lost out on as a result of her alleged negligence, the High Court has ruled.
Bar regulator “struggling to keep pace” with rising volume of work
The Bar Standards Board has admitted it is struggling to keep pace with a rising volume of incoming reports, authorisations and disciplinary cases, and is failing to meet several of its service standards.
Quarter of pupil barristers experiencing financial hardship
Almost a quarter of pupil barristers say they are experiencing “some financial hardship” during the pandemic, but a lack of networking opportunities was the main problem they identified.
BSB “should set tribunals free” from sanctions guidance in sexual misconduct cases
The Bar Standards Board has been urged to give disciplinary tribunals a clear and immediate message that they can depart from the current sanctions guidance for sexual misconduct cases.
Chambers and Stonewall fail to strike out barrister’s discrimination claim
Stonewall sought to pressure a leading chambers to remove a barrister who was highly critical of the LGBT charity’s approach to transgender rights, it has emerged.
Top QC: It’s bordering on Luddite to ignore direct access
The former Counsel General for Wales has struck out on his own as a sole practitioner and embraced direct access, saying it is “bordering on Luddite” for barristers to ignore it.
Bar Council chair rejects challenge from Twitter row barrister
The chair of the Bar Council has dismissed as nonsense the suggestion that it had to publicly support the barrister at the centre of a racism row over his comments on Twitter.
Blog
Change in regulator shouldn’t make AML less of a priority
While SRA fines for AML have been climbing, many in the profession aren’t confident they will get any relief from the FCA, a body used to dealing with a highly regulated industry.
There are 17 million wills waiting to be written
The main reason cited by people who do not have a will was a lack of awareness as to how to arrange one. As a professional community, we seem to be failing to get our message across.
The case for a single legal services regulator: why the current system is failing
From catastrophic firm collapses to endemic compliance failures, the evidence is mounting that the current multi-regulator model is fundamentally broken.
