Practice Toolset

Sara Nathan spent six years on the PCCC and another six at the Judicial Appointments Commission. Here she offers her reflections on the Bar.  

Six years on the Bar Council’s PCCC (Professional Conduct Committee of the General Council of the Bar, the precursor to the Bar Standards Board) and another six at the Judicial Appointments Commission mean that I have had more contact with barristers than most lay people ever can. And that’s a stimulating experience. Now both are over, I’m asked to reflect on over a decade of working with the Bar but never being one of you. 

In a two part feature for Counsel, John Newth reviews the special tax provisions that affect practising barristers.  

The taxation of barristers comes within the definition of ‘a specialised profession’ as far as UK taxation is involved. This article sets out the distinctive statutory and practical considerations that must be born in mind when dealing with the taxation affairs of individual barristers.

End of the cash basis 

The cash basis of preparing barristers’ accounts came to an end when section 42, FA 1998 was enacted, requiring accounts to be prepared ‘on a true and fair basis’. Reference to this basis was replaced by section 101(5), FA 2002 which required accounts to be prepared ‘in accordance with generally accepted accounting practice (GAAP)’. See also the HMRC Business Income Manual at BIM 74000- BIM 74015. 

Lucy Perman explains the work of theatre company Clean Break. 

Clean Break uses theatre to change the lives of women offenders. We were founded 33 years ago by two women in prison at HMP Askham Grange in Yorkshire and today we have grown to become a critically acclaimed theatre company, commissioning and producing plays by some of the UK’s best female playwrights on the theme of women, crime and justice; and providing high-quality theatre-based courses, qualifications, training opportunities and specialist support which are critical for the rehabilitation of women offenders. 

Christine Kings explains the changes currently being carried out to BARMARK. 

BARMARK, the quality standard for the Bar, is about to undergo radical change. The voluntary scheme, designed to recognise best practice, was launched in July 1999 with the sole aim of improving the administration of chambers. It now needs a major overhaul to make it suitable for a highly competitive 21st century legal services market. 

David Wurtzel reports on the first meeting of the Middle Temple Women’s Forum  

The recent survey Barristers’ Working Lives – released by the Bar Council and the Bar Standards Board – asked self-employed practitioners why they were working at the Bar. The respondents were provided with many choices from which a number could be ticked. Only 2% selected “work life balance (control over)”.  This fact, long felt but now starkly evidenced, was one of the underlying themes behind the decision to establish the Middle Temple Women’s Forum which gathered together in Middle Temple Hall for the first time on 6 March, 48 hours before International Women’s Day. Whether or not there were, as estimated, more women in Hall than there had been since 1570, the attendance of some 300 was an impressive turn-out. They included members of all Inns, women of all calls, judges, representatives from the Bar Standards Board and other bodies, the chairman of the Bar and the Lord Chief Justice. 

Chief Legal Ombudsman, Adam Sampson, provides guidance on how barristers can best avoid complaints about costs. 

You’ll have heard a lot about new financial models for barristers. The topic seems to be the common theme of most journals at the moment. The thrust of it all I agree with; a decent standard of financial literacy seems fundamental to making sure the legal profession keeps pace with its more commercially minded cousins, especially if, as we are all regularly told, consumers are expecting more and becoming increasingly savvy. 

The Supreme Court is getting sporty in the run-up to the Olympics with a unique exhibition charting the history of the Games and the law. The exhibition, “Playing by the Rules”, will include memorabilia from the 1908 and 1948 London Olympics as well as interactive displays, panels and interesting artefacts.  

Ethics, anti-doping, branding, commercialisation and the role of the Court of Arbitration for Sport are all issues tackled by the free exhibition, which is open to the public from July, a week before the Olympics begin, until the end of September. 

Having spent eighteen months examining the family justice system, the Family Justice Review, chaired by David Norgrove, reported their findings in November 2011. Stephen Cobb QC, Chairman of the Family Law Bar Association 2010-2011, studies the Government’s response. 

The creation of a Unified Family Court, a new Family Justice Board, together with significant changes to family law legislation, supporting regulations, and practice/procedure in the family courts, particularly in the field of public law, are all signposted by the Government’s response to the final report, issued last November, of the Family Justice Review (FJR). These obvious changes to the family law landscape are expected to be eased along by what may and indeed will need to be a cultural change to the delivery of family justice. 

As protestors from outside St Paul’s Cathedral are evicted, John Cooper QC, counsel for “Occupy”, considers the law surrounding the case 

The legal importance of the judgment in The Mayor, Commonality and Citizens of the City of London v Tammy Samede and Others, should not be underestimated.  In the context of the international ‘Occupy’ movement, it  ‘lit the blue touch paper’ in what is going to be an ongoing development of the law of public protest and how it is reacting to new forms of demonstration. On 13 February 2012, the case continued in the Court of Appeal, before the Master of the Rolls, as Occupy argued that the decision at first instance granted disproportionate relief to the City and failed to take appropriate regard to the appellants’ Article 10 freedom of speech and Article 11 freedom of association rights (under the ECHR). 

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.