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When sorrows come…….
Marc Beaumont considers how the
Bar’s Complaints process might be made more tolerable
"When sorrows come - they come not single
spies - but in battalions." Hamlet’s Uncle Claudius may
have been a psychopathic killer, but he spoke the language of a
wise and just monarch. When accusation is heaped on accusation,
the world can be a lonely and frightening place. And it is no less
so for Barristers.
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Where there is no publicity there is no justice?
By Stephen Cobb
QC, family law specialist
Jeremy
Bentham, the Eighteenth Century jurist, philosopher and social reformer,
believed that “…in the darkness of secrecy, sinister
interest and evil in every shape have full swing. Only in proportion
as publicity has place can any of the checks applicable to judicial
injustice operate. |
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Minds
By Thom Dyke, Barrister
The
Court of Appeal in Ferguson v British Gas [2009] EWCA Civ 46 sent
a strong message that it was not prepared to accept any attempt
to escape liability for criminal and tortious acts by hiding behind
what was termed by Sedley LJ as ‘the privilege of incorporation.
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When the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) came into being
in April 2006 I know not everybody was convinced about the need
to set up an independent body to select judges
By Baroness Prashar, Chair, JAC
The Lord Chief Justice, Lord
Judge was kind enough to say this year that in his view the debate
over whether there should be a Commission, and whether judges should
be selected in open competition on merit is for the past not the
future. |
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Enhancing
the Participation of Children in Family Proceedings
By Nicholas Crichton, District Judge, sitting
at the Inner London Family Proceedings Court
The issue of whether or not children
should have the opportunity to play a greater part in proceedings
where decisions will be made which will affect the rest of their
lives is becoming the subject of increasing debate . |
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Review of the Public Access rules
Christopher Gibson QC, Bar Standards Board
The public access scheme allows
lay people to instruct barristers directly, without the need for
the involvement of a solicitor or other professional client. The
scheme is limited in the areas that can be covered and the different
sorts of work that must be done by both barrister and client. There
are currently over 800 barristers offering public access services
to a wide range of clients in different areas of practice |
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Witness Anonymity under the spotlight
By Tim Dutton QC,2008 Chairman, Bar Council
The right of every defendant to ‘know and see’ his accusers
has been a pillar of our justice system because it prevents those
with a grudge from falsely accusing defendants with impunity. This
has become particularly prevalent in cases which have emerged from
police campaigns which target gun crime and gang culture |
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When Memory is the Evidence: Key Points from the Science of Human
Memory
By Professor Martin A. Conway, Institute
of Psychological Sciences, University of Leeds
It is not unusual to encounter
cases where the only evidence are accounts of what are claimed to
be memories. This frequently occurs in cases of historic sexual
abuse but can occur in many other types of case too |
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A
new Framework for Plea Negotiation in Fraud Cases
By Stephen
Hockman QC, Head of 6 Pump Court Chambers
The management of long and complex fraud cases has for some years
been a concern in our legal system. The Lord Chief Justice’s
Protocol already requires the prosecution and defence to resolve
issues and agree evidence where possible prior to the trial. Formal
Criminal Procedure Rules encourage this and build opportunities
for discussions into the court timetable. |
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Call to ban magistrates from sending minor offenders to jail
By Carol Hedderman, Professor of Criminology at the University of
Leicester
Anyone who questions whether we need to be sending quite so many
people to prison risks being labelled soft on crime and being more
concerned with the rights and needs of offenders than the rights
and needs of victims.
The National DNA Database:
crime solving tool or violation of civil liberties?
By Sir
Bob Hepple QC, FBA, Emeritus Master of Clare College and Emeritus
Professor of Law, University of Cambridge.
DNA profiling has had a dramatic
impact on the detection and prosecution of crime. But this rapidly
developing technology has also given rise to many concerns, for
example the indefinite retention of DNA samples from those who are
not charged or are acquitted;the
irrevocability of consent given in fraught circumstances by victims
and witnesses.
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A
new era dawns: Are we awake?
Andrew Butler, Barrister at Tanfield
Chambers, considers the arrival of the Legal Services Act and what
this means for how barristers should market their expertise, and
reviews his chambers’ experience so far in embracing the new
era. The aim is clear: the Act seeks to encourage change in the
legal marketplace, but how, as barristers, will this affect our
profession? . |
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