Features

Recruitment of BAME judges is still slow, but diversity and community relations judges are working at grass roots to alter our judiciary’s future face, writes Jacqueline McLean  

Equal treatment and diversity in the law has rightly come under much scrutiny in recent years. 

Gemma Lindfield and Amelia Nice look behind the headlines at Spain’s extradition request of the ex-Catalan Leader and its subsequent withdrawal. Does the concept of ‘political offence’ have broader import?  

On 3 November 2017, Spain issued a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) for the deposed Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and four former regional ministers.  

Avoid the pitfalls of probabilistic reasoning and examine expert evidence with more confidence: Colin McCaul QC introduces new guidance from the Inns of Court College of Advocacy and the Royal Statistical Society  

‘No practising lawyer should underestimate the difficulty involved in preparing and mounting an effective challenge to a well-prepared expert’s evidence by cross-examination, even when assisted by his or her client’s own expert. 

In the first of a new Legal Practice Management Association column cultivating innovation in chambers, Stewart Thompson looks at corporate social responsibility at the Bar: going far or far to go?  

Ten years ago, if a barrister wanted to take positive action on social responsibility, it was a personal matter, just for them. 

Danny Robinson explains the complex issues raised by an absent defendant and Helena Duong reports from the Bar & Young Bar Conference on the launch of the new online ethics hub for barristers  

Mark Hatcher examines the impact of Theresa May’s new year reboot. After the night of the blunt knives, how does Justice fare in the reshuffled line-up?  

Peter Murphy
Foreword by His Honour Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC, The Recorder of London
Publisher: No Exit Press, November 2017
Format: Paperback
Extent: 416pp
ISBN: 9780857301222 

We all need direction sometimes  

Every year it seems to come around again with increasing speed.  

Amidst official inquiries, media exposes and NGO research condemning the UK’s immigration detention practices, lawyers’ accounts reveal a system riddled with injustice. Dr Anna Lindley reports  

‘You are not much of a lawyer if you are not startled by the State’s power of indefinite detention, or the poor decision-making which results in many remaining in detention when they plainly should not be.’ 

Jonathan Fisher QC shares his experiences after a year of practising through a BSB authorised entity and the tensions between maintaining relationships with professional referrers whilst encouraging direct access  

It is a little over 12 months since I started to practise through a Bar Standards Board (BSB) authorised entity, which has enabled me to embrace the modernity of legal practice whilst maintaining the heritage of a barrister’s chambers.