Features

“Advocacy, past, present and future – Constant values for a modern Bar” is the theme for this year’s ICAB conference, to be held in London in June. Desmond Browne QC offers a glimpse of what is in store.  

Every two years the International Council of Advocates and Barristers (“ICAB”) organises a conference in a different city around the globe. ICAB, currently co-chaired by Stephen Hockman QC and Noelle McGrenara QC of Belfast, is an organisation formed by the Bar Associations in those jurisdictions where there is an independent Referral Bar. Past conferences have been held in places as far apart as Edinburgh and Cape Town, and as Dublin and Hong Kong. The memorable fifth World Bar Conference was held in Sydney over Easter 2010. Little did I think, as I swallowed white wine and oysters at the opening reception on the terrace of the Opera House, that the next conference would be in London and I would end up holding the short straw of being the programme’s organiser. 

The importance of recognising young people with speech, language and communication needs is increasingly being accepted and understood by the Youth Justice workforce. Anita Kerwin-Nye explains the benefits for all of raising awareness of this hidden disability 

A court appearance can be a complex and bewildering experience for anyone. But for a young person with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) the process can be a minefield of jargon, misunderstanding and confusion. Research shows that over 60% of young people in the youth justice system have SLCN (Bryan, K 2008). This means they have difficulty communicating with others, a skill most of us take for granted; being able to say what you want and to understand what others are saying are the most important skills we need in life. However, young people with SLCN find it hard to articulate what they want to say, might have difficulty understanding what is being said to them or simply don’t understand social rules such as how to take turns in a conversation or to respond to what the other person has just said. Crucially, they may not be able to communicate effectively at a police interview or a court appearance, which could have profound implications. Indeed as the The Audit Commission Report, A Review of the Reformed Youth Justice, states “If a young person is inarticulate, inhibited or lacks understanding...this may lead to misunderstandings and even the passing of an inappropriate sentence.” 

Child and Youth Justice

There is no longer a presumption against children giving evidence in today’s family courts. Francis Wilkinson examines the recent Family Justice Council guidelines. 

“Guidelines in relation to children giving evidence in family proceedings” was issued by the Family Justice Council in December 2011. A Working Party was set up following the Court of Appeal’s recommendation in Re W [2009] EWCA Civ 644, the case which later went to the Supreme Court [2010] UKSC 12. In his Foreword, Sir Nicholas Wall, President of the Family Division, writes that following the Supreme Court decision, ‘there was no longer a presumption or even a starting point against children giving evidence in such cases’. However, the occasions on which children give evidence of abuse they have suffered continue to be very rare.  In contrast, according to the Crown Prosecution Service, 48,000 children were called to give evidence in criminal proceedings in 2008-09. That had risen from 30,000 in 2006-07.  Why is that? 

Child and Youth Justice

Brenda Campbell and Shauneen Lambe examine the report on the Youth Justice System recently released by the Centre for Social Justice.  

In February 2010, the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), a think-tank founded by Iain Duncan Smith, launched a review of the Youth Justice System. January 2012 saw the release of the CSJ’s report on the Youth Justice System, “Rules of Engagement”. The thorough and well researched report is the result of 2 years work for the centre, gathering evidence country wide and from a diverse range of professionals. 

Toby Craig prepares for the London Marathon and asks members of the Bar also taking part how they have fitted training around their busy working lives. 

As a child, I spent more than one April morning on the Embankment cheering my dad through another of his five London Marathons. Last year, after a rather long hiatus, I was a spectator once again, this time watching my older brother compete. It’s fair to say that joggers run in my family.  This year, the gauntlet well and truly laid down, it’s finally my turn to tackle the daunting 26.2 miles of the most famous marathon course in the world. A subjective view perhaps, but as far as I’m concerned, New York, Chicago, Berlin and even Marathon to Athens itself have their attractions, but nothing beats London. 

Big wins or hollow victories? Toby Craig and Charles Hale consider crunch time for LASPO 

The business end of the Bill

As the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill begins to round the bend preceding the home straight, the many months of hard lobbying by a significant and varied number of opponents to the Bill has begun to yield fruit. The Government has been left with a bloody nose after losing a succession of key votes in the House of Lords during the Bill’s Report Stage. What we don’t yet know, is whether that fruit will remain intact or wither on the vine as the Bill returns to the House of Commons, where a more effectively whipped and partisan lobby awaits. 

Putting the pieces together. Toby Craig and Charles Hale try to make sense of how the multitudinous legal issues currently before Parliament fit together.  

Sometimes, one could be forgiven for looking across the political terrain; counting up the multitude of issues being debated and wondering if any of it really makes that much sense at all. It is all too easy to focus on particular issues which, understandably, exercise our minds. But, by stepping back and looking at the broader policy framework, sometimes different perspective develops. 

Hon. President: The Rt. Hon. Lord Justice Jackson

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Tuesday 28 February 2012
Seminar: “Experts – their use and abuse”
Moderated by The Hon. Mr Justice Akenhead 

Regret at the loss of beauty, simplicity and mystery from language and the unstoppable spread of “lifeless modern civic terminology”

St. Valentine’s Day, 2012: To assume is to presume” Jude Morgan, Indiscretion.

However classless society becomes, you never turn down an invitation from a High Court judge. That covering of scarlet, flashed with white fur and black scarf, still thrills the senses in a way sadly.not achieved by circuit purple. The difference is that the original robes evolved from real costumes worn in a genuine context when the House of Plantaganet was in its final flower. You cannot create uniforms any more than you can create cities...hence Milton Keynes.

Deveral Capps examines the largest review of legal education for 40 years 

It has been over 40 years since legal education as a whole was reviewed in England and Wales. In 1971, the Ormrod review investigated the relationship between the legal profession and universities and considered how lawyers should be trained. The review took three years to complete and has, by and large, led to the system of legal education that we have today. Since then, large-scale reviews of the law, legal practice and legal training have taken place, though these have focused more on the practise of law rather than the training of lawyers. For example in 1979 the Benson Report, or more formally the Royal Commission on Legal Services, gave rise to the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 and in 2004, the Clementi Review led to the Courts and Legal Services Act 2007.