From January 2013, as QASA (Crime) starts to roll out across the country, judges will be the evaluators of the advocacy in Crown Courts. Here, Counsel looks at the training the judiciary is receiving and the criteria it will have to apply.
An essential element of any quality assurance scheme is confidence in the integrity of the process. When the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (Crime) (‘QASA’) begins to roll out in January 2013, all Crown Court advocates who do trials will be evaluated by the judiciary. How can the judges, given the role of assessing the quality of advocacy in their courts, produce results which are consistent and based on the advocacy itself? To answer that question, and before the scheme goes ‘live’ on any circuit, every judge who has agreed to take part must undergo a seminar training.