Civil

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. 

EU law

The Bar Council has called on the European Commission to show restraint on controversial proposals to harmonise contract law. The European Commission has set out seven options for change, including full harmonisation of national contract laws through an EU Regulation. Its goal is to boost cross-border trade by bringing more legal certainty on contract law for businesses and simpler rules for consumers.

Civil litigation

Proposals to implement Lord Justice Jackson’s recommendations on civil costs could lead to “acute” problems for litigants.

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. 

Job title - Barrister, Atkin Chambers
Qualifications - Call 1989
CV - Core areas of practice: Litigation and arbitration, domestic and international, in the construction, civil engineering, energy, oil and gas sectors 

You practice from a specialist set of fewer than 40 members. What do you think are the advantages? 

For me, it is important to belong to a small set where all of us specialise. Atkin Chambers has expanded organically largely by recruiting pupils. I would expect rapid or large expansion would dilute our expertise, and be perceived as such. 

An outline of the Bar Council’s strategy 

Contributor
Peter Lodder QC  

A few weeks into the year and the predominant issue remains clear: the challenges of the proposed spending cuts which will have a profound effect on both the Civil and Criminal Justice Systems. 

Job title: Silk, 3 Verulam Buildings
Qualifications: Call 1979; QC 1997
Core areas of practice: Commercial litigation, corporate insolvency and banking. 

How do you see the year 2011 for practice at the Bar? 

I know the position of the publicly funded Bar is difficult and is likely to remain so for some time. The position of the specialist Bar, however, is quite different. There is likely to be considerable growth in most specialist fields, in particular commercial, chancery, technology and construction. Asset price deflation, recession and market volatility inevitably lead to a substantial increase in disputes between businesses. 

Nick Green QC reviews the events that shaped his year as Chairman and looks to the Bar’s future 

This is my final chance to express my thoughts as Chairman, before returning to civvy street. There is so much that has happened this year that it is hard to pull the threads together; but let me try. 

The Civil Procedure Rules were updated on 1 October. The changes include extending the remit of court enforcement officers to enforce ACAS settlements, and a cost cap of £50,000 for liability claims in low value intellectual property cases. 

St Albans Syndrome, Woolwich Worm and other ailments. Christopher Kinch QC reports on the latest outbreaks.  

You might think that things were hard enough at the criminal Bar these days without the judiciary starting to show signs of reverting to the bad old days of cantankerous and difficult judges. It is within living memory that when counsel failed to curtail his submission before the then resident judge at Southwark he was allowed a period of reflection in the court cells. Isn’t it all supposed to be different now with a modern judiciary all schooled and refreshed by the JSB at those arduous seminars at Warwick? There are signs that some judges may be falling into bad habits, or perhaps there is something in the judicial water flasks that is proving a source of infection. Whatever the cause, it seems about time for some health advice to any member of the Bar finding themselves confronted by signs of judicial malady.