Practice Toolset

Felicity Gerry and Catarina Sjolin explain why they believe jurors should be made aware of the psychiatric effect of a sexual attack on the consistency of a victim’s evidence.

In February 2007, in Counsel, we suggested that the jury could be given a judicial direction on the psychiatric effect of a sexual attack on the consistency of a complainant’s evidence without the need for expert evidence (see “Inconsistent Victims”). Four years on, the signs are that Judges are starting to give an “experience shows” rape trauma direction. 

From 2012, chambers will be required both to set up and contribute to a “qualifying pension arrangement” for clerical and administrative   staff. Careful preparation will prevent an adversely negative impact  on chambers’ budgets, advises Neill Millard.  

For over a year, the Bar Council has been engaging with barristers to introduce “ProcureCos”, the model procurement company which will allow sets of chambers to contract directly with those who purchase legal services. It is anticipated that in the future chambers will need to become more corporate and to offer an enhanced and robust service that will survive any future due diligence requirements that Government may introduce. 

Adam Sampson reviews the first few months of operation of the Legal Ombudsman, the new scheme which handles all consumer legal complaints. Although it is too early to predict any trends, the number of complaints made about individual barristers was very low, he says. 

The run-up to the launch of the new Legal Ombudsman (“LeO”) on 6 October 2010 (only six months ago but it feels longer) was a time of high interest and high excitement. The arrival of a lay body to replace a system of complaints handling owned and operated by lawyers themselves attracted a surprising level of media attention, including interviews on the Today Programme, Breakfast News and The One Show. Behind the scenes, recruiting, training and deploying some 300 staff largely new to handling complaints in the legal arena was a major challenge, to say nothing of sourcing and fitting out a building and designing and implementing a state-of-the-art IT system. All adrenaline; all attention. 

The Employed Barristers’ Committee represents the interests of the Employed Bar. Major David Hammond, Royal Marines, highlights the breadth of roles carried out by employed barristers.  

The Employed Barristers’ Committee (“EBC”) represents the interests of employed barristers from all sectors within the legal community in a fair, unbiased and collegiate manner. It has worked steadily – invariably out of plain sight and often without the knowledge of its existence by the very barristers it represents – to discreetly raise profile, support activities and promote opportunities for members of the Employed Bar. 

Does the 2010 Crown Court Benchbook, which moves away from specimen directions to ones specifically tailored to the individual case, help jurors understand the summing up – or is it still like a foreign language to them? Should trial judges abandon legal language in their speeches or are written questions to the jury the answer, asks Daphne Perry

If anyone knows how to talk to a jury, it should be the experienced barristers who now sit as judges. 

David Wurtzel talks to Peter Moffat, the screenwriter of the new BBC series Silk.  

Had he remained at the Bar, Peter Moffat at 48 might now be considering an application for Silk. Instead the BBC is screening his six-part series called Silk, about two 30-something barristers who have reached that turning point in their careers. Moffat is probably the most prolific screenwriter of criminal justice dramas and has two BAFTAs to attest to his success. 

Roger Smith OBE spells out what the consultation means for practitioners 

The legal aid cuts advanced by the consultation paper Proposals for the Reform of Legal Aid in England and Wales are so deep that they will force major change to the very structure of both branches of the legal profession. 

The aim of the BSB’s new chambers’ monitoring scheme is to help chambers comply with their regulatory requirements. Sam Stein QC and Oliver Hanmer talk to David Wurtzel about the issues raised so far.  

Sam Stein QC, Chairman of the Quality Assurance Committee of the Bar Standards Board (“BSB”) since January 2010, sees his role as one in which he is helping the Bar by enabling it to comply with the world of modern regulation. 

Andrew Neish QC believes there is evidence to suggest that the Commercial Bar has a tendency to select applicants like themselves, an academic elite. 

In order to extend access to the Bar, COMBAR’s Equality and Diversity Committee have mooted a Wild Card Scheme. The aim is to unearth potentially outstanding and unusual applicants who would otherwise have no prospect of being selected for pupillage interviews 

BLAGG provides both a social group and a support network for gay barristers. It also campaigns for equal rights, writes Christopher Rogers.  

Unlike other minorities it is not immediately apparent whether someone is gay. Most minorities, whether women, ethnic minorities or the disabled, have spent decades battling for equal access to the Bar, whereas there have always been large numbers of gay barristers; the difficulty many have faced is in being comfortable being open about their sexuality.