Civil

THE Bar Council explained the high quality and high value services which the Bar offers both at home and abroad when it hosted a seminar as part of City Week’s two-day UK International Financial Services Forum on 20-21 September 2010. 

John Kampfner sums up the current arguments on libel law reform 

Paul Farrelly, the Labour MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme, is what Tony Blair might have called a feral beast turned hunted prey. A former reporter, he opted for politics in 2001. Since then he has been a doughty human rights campaigner. It was his question to the Justice Secretary in October 2009 about the injunction obtained following publication of the Minton Report on the dumping by Trafigura of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast which brought home to Parliament the activities of claimant legal firms in getting “super-injunctions”. 

The criminal Very High Cost Cases (“VHCC”) Panel Scheme expired on 13 July. From 14 July 2010, litigators and advocates instructed on VHCCs with representation orders must operate under an individual case contract arrangement.  

Jonathan Herring claims that it is a divorce lawyer’s world 

A working party of about 100 barristers, clerks and practice managers from the criminal, family, civil, commercial and chancery Bar has been set up to advise sets of chambers on how to contract directly with the LSC.

Leading family law barristers have spoken out against the Legal Services Commission’s decision to drop many specialist solicitors firms from its contract pool. 

Mrs Justice Gloster has been appointed Judge in Charge of the Commercial Court with effect from 9 July 2010. She takes responsibility for the Commercial Court list, including assigning the judges of the court to cases.

Reform of the law of defamation became more likely following the second reading debate in the House of Lords on Lord Lester’s Defamation Bill on 9 July.

Dr Ann Brady argues that it is time to look again at local judge-directed court mediation schemes. The decision to abolish the Exeter Court Mediation Scheme and replace it with a national mediation scheme was premature, she believes 

The Bar Council is seeking views on the introduction of contractual terms as the standard terms for barristers accepting instructions from solicitors in privately funded matters. Sarah Asplin QC explains why the current system is unsatisfactory.  

Members of the Bar will recall that the Bar Council had been negotiating with the Law Society over many, many years with a view to introducing contractual terms as the standard basis on which barristers accept instructions from solicitors. These terms would replace the present usual terms, namely “The Terms of Work on which Barristers offer their Services to Solicitors and the Withdrawal of Credit Scheme 1988” (as amended), and the rarely used 2001 contractual version of those Terms, which are replicated in Annexes G1 and G2 of the Bar Code of Conduct.