Market intelligence for law firms of the future
Barristers
Bar Council finds mixed picture of success for BME graduates getting BPTC place and pupillage
The link between ethnicity and success on the Bar professional training course and in attaining pupillage is more nuanced than the big gap between white and non-white candidates presented by the Bar Standards Board, the Bar Council has claimed. New research said some ethnic groups performed as well as their white counterparts, while others did not.
April 23rd, 2018
BSB investigates how chambers advertise for and recruit pupils to check for “unjustified” barriers
The Bar Standards Board is reviewing whether there are “unjustified and discriminatory barriers to pupillage” at the advertising and recruitment stage, Legal Futures can reveal. Forming part of the Future Bar Training programme, it reflects concerns that access to pupillage is one of the biggest barriers to increasing diversity at the Bar.
April 20th, 2018
Barrister suspended for repeating false rape claims about colleague and contacting his wife
An experienced barrister has been suspended from practice for seven months for repeating false rape, assault and conspiracy to murder claims about a fellow barrister in the robing rooms of Crown Courts. He also contacted that barrister’s wife, a solicitor, on LinkedIn, and suggested that her husband was in trouble.
April 19th, 2018
High Court rejects disbarred barrister’s appeal against refusal to readmit him to Gray’s Inn
A disbarred barrister whose bid to rejoin Gray’s Inn and starting practising again after 15 years was refused has lost an appeal to the High Court. An inns’ conduct committee said there was insufficient evidence to rebut the inference that he would reoffend, and a BSB review panel upheld this ruling, which the barrister then appealed.
April 12th, 2018
New BSB-regulated firm targets young barristers and solicitors
A new law firm regulated by the Bar Standards Board aims to attract young barristers and solicitors interested in working together. Black Antelope Law is made up of two barristers, both of whom work on a direct access basis, and two solicitors. The lawyers work partly from home.
April 12th, 2018
Chambers could be forced to publish data on sexual orientation and religion
The Bar Standards Board is considering a rule change which would mean chambers would have to include sexual orientation and religion in the diversity data they publish on their websites. It said the move might help sets of chambers attract a more diverse workforce, but there could be “security implications” for those with high numbers of barristers who were of LGBT+ or from a particular religion.
April 12th, 2018
High Court hears how squabbling barristers turned family hearing into “shouting match”
There is a “concerning tendency on the part of the advocates simply to interrupt each other in an effort to advance their competing submissions”, a High Court judge has said as he reviewed a hearing that turned into a “shouting match”.
March 27th, 2018
Pass the salt – BSB to maintain role of inns and ‘qualifying dinners’ in barrister training
Dinners at the Inns of Court will remain part of the world of prospective barristers after the Bar Standards Board decided to maintain the role of the inns in their training. But in the light of cases where barristers and students have been found to have lied about their qualifications, the regulator is introducing greater checks on students’ backgrounds.
March 26th, 2018
Judicial bullying – and how to complain about it – under the microscope again as more barristers speak out
The issue of judicial bullying has come up again, with more barristers outlining the behaviour they have faced in court and the Bar Council chairman condemning “bullying or inappropriate treatment” by judges. The leader of the Northern Circuit has advised using informal lines of communication through heads of chambers to handle bullying that is not “egregious”.
March 21st, 2018
Overt racial discrimination at Bar a ‘common experience’, BSB event told
At the present rate, it will be 100 years before the percentage of black and minority ethnic QCs mirrors the general population, an event on improving race equality at the Bar heard last month. One black QC said there were times when he had turned up at court in a suit and was seen as anyone but the lawyer.
March 16th, 2018
 |
Associate News
Chair of the Law Society Board to open Teal Compliance Conference
UK law firms expect long-term decline in work in the event of ‘no-deal’ Brexit
3 questions to ask when creating the IT platform for your new software
Livingstons Solicitors, the latest firm to select Linetime’s matter management
Jason Goodwin appointed as Group Sales and Marketing Director of Landmark Information Group
Saving the criminal defence lawyer from extinction
New series of Heir Hunters starts next week
