Features

The rule of law is seen by Michael Gove as “the most precious asset” of any civilised society. Mark Hatcher reports on the new Lord Chancellor’s first weeks in office  

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne’s Budget Statement was the last big set piece parliamentary event at Westminster before the start of the Summer Recess.  

Andrew Granville Stafford considers the attractions, the pitfalls and the mechanics of public access work  

Among my first public access clients were an African prince, a 70s prog rock star and the former managing clerk of a large solicitor’s firm whose preferred method of payment was an envelope containing £50 notes.  

Simon Sugar explains how, post-LASPO, one of the challenges for the Bar is how to devise a cost-effective structure for the provision of public access services to meet the increasing demand from both “public” and “commercial” litigants-in-person  

“Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie” - All’s Well That Ends Well  

Entrepreneurship and collaboration: Stephen Ward explains why “innovative” thinking around public access isn’t the real starting point  

I have been to far too many conferences lately that urge legal professionals – particularly the Bar – to be “innovative” in order to survive in the modern legal world.  

Amanda de Winter explains her route to setting up a high-street direct access practice and argues that a full litigation practice offers the junior Bar a viable future  

Is direct access a real alternative to traditional methods of practice? My answer is a resounding yes, if you are able to offer a full litigation service to your client. 

Paul Mosson explains the background to BARCO, its modus operandi and its role within the growing area of public access  

First launched to the Bar in April 2013, BARCO was established to provide a unique solution for handling client money that allowed the Bar Standards Board (BSB) to uphold its prohibition on barristers and BSB regulated entities holding client money themselves.  

Escrow has quickly become an essential part of chambers’ public access offering. Senior clerk and practice manager, Mike Ryan, explains  

In the past few years, chambers has witnessed a significant growth in public access work.  

Yuri Rapoport considers how barristers can assure revenue in low to middle quantum cases, despite the “big squeeze” on legal funding  

Two years since the latest round of legal aid cuts, the soaring number of unrepresented cases being heard in the courts have all but crushed the Government’s hopes of people pursuing less expensive and less confrontational means of settling disputes.  

Marie Crawford explains the biggest child abduction law reforms in 30 years and why unmarried fathers without parental responsibility must protect themselves  

When family lawyers consider the issue of child abduction, in contrast perhaps to the general population, we don’t necessarily think of what is termed stranger abduction , which tends to grab the headlines and dominate gritty TV dramas.  

In Counsel’s first interview of the series, Penny Cooper speaks to human rights blogger, Adam Wagner  

Blogging – not so different from squirreling on skeles