Practice Toolset

Colin Smith looks at the issues arising when using digital evidence in court

How often is it now that none of the evidence in a case is digital? That a case has no information from a computer, mobile phone, company server, laptop? Digital evidence is all around us, but why does it often evade the robust challenging it probably deserves?
Any information that has come from digital sources must be treated diligently if the evidence is to prove reliable and strong. This is well known to digital forensic examiners. Being one myself I became very used to being reminded of the principles of forensics early on, which has resulted in me religiously maintaining the forensic standard of my evidence. 

Fiona Jackson reports back from the anniversary dinner held at the House of Lords to celebrate twenty years of the Association of Women Barristers.  

On Tuesday 4th October in the Cholmondeley Room of the House of Lords, our former President, Baroness Hale, hosted a memorable Dinner to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Association of Women Barristers. Another former President, Lady Justice Arden, also joined with the Solicitor General, Lady Butler-Sloss, Baronesses Deech and Scotland, our current President, Mrs. Justice Cox, and members and other distinguished guests in toasting the success of the AWB in its many campaigns. 

2012/13 applications for practising certificates will have to meet new requirements, Oliver Delany explains  

The practising certificate application process is fundamentally changing. Simply paying the fee will no longer suffice. All barristers who require a practising certificate for 2012/13 will be required to follow a new process. 

Asma Nizami looks at the founding of the Free Representation Unit, the UK’s largest single provider of free advocacy.  

Pro bono services are now an established part of the legal profession. The first organised attempt to deliver pro bono legal services from within the legal profession came in 1972 with the founding of the Free Representation Unit (‘FRU’). Then thought to be ‘untraditional and a bit radical’, it is now the largest single provider of free advocacy in the UK, and it will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2012. 

Counsel’s David Wurtzel interviewed Chair of the BSB, Baroness Deech, and Vice Chair, Sir Geoffrey Nice QC soon after their appointment. Three years into the posts, he interviews them again …  

Meeting with Baroness Deech, Chair of the Bar Standards Board, and Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, Vice Chair, was an opportunity to take stock as they reached the way point of three years in post. I had interviewed each of them early in 2009. The Bar had just discovered that it had a BSB Chair who understood how to talk to barristers - indeed she still gives a report at every Bar Council meeting. Back in 2009, Baroness Deech had said, “the Bar is going through hard times, many sections are worried about legal aid”. That much has not changed... 

October saw consultant editor of Counsel, David Wurtzel, interviewing incoming Chairman of the Bar Council, Michael Todd QC, about his plans for the role he was about to take on.  

“What I would like to see is a meritocracy. What I would like to see is the opportunity for people who have the ability to come to the Bar,” is how Michael Todd QC, the new chairman of the Bar, describes his personal vision. His own career is a perfect example. He comes from a family where there were no lawyers. His father spent most of his working life in a factory as a machine tool engineer, “but a brilliant one”. 

Giles Murphy and Rachel Stone suggest how to improve financial discipline and create a clear human resources policy within chambers. In any professional services business, having good people and sufficient cash are pre-requisites. However, in many chambers, both often receive insufficient attention. So what should you be doing to reduce risk and maximize the opportunity from both?   

As a minimum, the management team should receive a set of regular management accounts on at least a monthly basis. The management accounts need to be accurate, but more crucially, they need to be timely. It is much better to have a prompt set of management accounts, say within 10 days of the month end that incorporate some estimated figures, than to wait several months for precise data which is then out of date. 

Matthew Amey looks at the removal of recoverability of success fees and ATE insurance premiums, and the impact this will have on commercial litigation counsel

Losing recoverability means losing control. Over the past decade, not all barristers have  embraced the idea of sharing risk with their clients through conditional fee arrangements (‘CFAs’). Indeed, some  felt that it adversely affected their independence when providing advice to the client, particularly with regard to settlement offers. 

Dr Kevin Smith discusses the revised Achieving Best Evidence guidance aimed at improving the quality of video-recorded interviews in criminal proceedings. He also analyses the implications of recent amendments to special measures legislation 

Adam Sampson, Chief Legal Ombudsman, looks at the impact of Alternative Business Structures on the Bar itself and its reputation, and at whether it is ever appropriate to name a lawyer involved in a complaint.  

I know from the barristers I talk to that the term “Alternative Business Structures” is not exactly on the tip of every counsel’s tongue. So few of you I suspect have been following the fall-out from the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s recent announcement that the October deadline for their launch was not going to be met. But as with many of the changes the profession is facing, what is happening in one area of the profession potentially has major implications for their colleagues elsewhere.