The Bar

Articles

Boy in the corner

The notion that the Supreme Court's ruling on a severely disabled boy's right to education has opened the floodgates could not be further from the truth, argues Yvonne Spencer

QCs face compulsory reaccreditation under new advocacy scheme

The most experienced criminal advocates in the country will be subject to compulsory reaccreditation every five years under plans for a joint quality assurance scheme launched this week by the Bar Standards Board, the SRA and ILEX.

Expect redundancies, MoJ director tells staff

About £2bn will be sliced off the Ministry of Justice's £9bn budget over the next two years, some of which through redundancies, according to a letter leaked to the Public and Commercial Services Union.

Beyond reasonable belief

If you use the Mental Health Act, writes David Hewitt, it seems you can believe what you like

Court strikes down "unlawful" cap on defence costs

The government has defended its predecessor's “unlawful” attempt to save £20m by limiting recoverable defence costs to legal aid levels.

Coalition government unveils civil liberties, crime and legal aid reform

Radical reforms of the criminal justice system and a review of legal aid are two of the main planks of the coalition government's programme, alongside a commitment to roll back the state and protect individual freedoms.

Fresh vision

The regional Bar cannot continue with the current model – it must be prepared to evolve over the next decade if it is to thrive, says Robin Tolson QC

Cut out and sell

Increased competition for criminal work may be no bad thing in itself, but the latest LSC proposals risk treating clients as commodities, says Christopher Kinch QC