Legislation

It’s a time of uncertainty in the legal services sector, but Simon Garrod explains how the BSB is helping the new regime develop.  

What does the Legal Services Act 2007 mean for the future of the Bar? This question has been the subject of extensive consideration, consultation and activity at the Bar Standards Board (BSB) for some time. In many ways, the consequences of this significant statute represent the great unknown: it facilitates a potential fundamental shift in the way in which legal services are provided to consumers in. 

The SRA plans to commence the regulation of legal disciplinary practices (LDP) in March 2009. The consultation paper proposes that barristers should be able to join an LDP as either an employee or as a manager. 

Subject to the outcome of the consultation, the amendments to the Code necessary to enable barristers to practise as managers of LDPs will be finalised and then hopefully submitted to the Ministry of Justice for approval in June 2009. Barristers will not be able to join an LDP as a manager before then, and possibly not until the rule changes have been approved by the Ministry of Justice. However, by
this time, the regulatory powers of the SRA in relation to barrister managers should have ‘bedded down’ and the Board will have been
able to consider the views of the Bar following the consultation. But a barrister can be an employee of an LDP under and subject to the existing provisions of the Code (Part V) that apply to employed barristers generally. 

The EU has adopted a world-leading Climate and Energy Package. The package of measures imposes legally binding targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20%; to establish a 20% share for renewable energy; and to improve energy efficiency by 20%, all by 2020. There are also agreed revisions to the emissions trading system; the distribution of the reduction effort outside of the emissions trading system; a legal framework for environmentally safe carbon capture and storage (CCS); and on the related proposals on CO2 emissions from cars and on fuel quality. Developments on these and other current issues are reported on in Brussels News, the regular newsletter of the Brussels Office for members of the Bar of England & Wales. Please e-mail: evanna.fruithof@barcouncil.be 

The Legal Services Commission has toned down its plans for complex criminal cases, following sustained lobbying. 

At the end of 2008, the JHA Council adopted a report on the Common Frame of Reference for European contract law (“CFR”), reiterating its April 2008 position that the CFR would be a non-binding legal instrument, shaped as a set of guidelines to be used by lawmakers at Community level, on a voluntary basis, as a common source of inspiration or reference in the lawmaking process. See:
http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/08/st15/st15306.en08.pdf
The European Commission is expected to issue a White Paper in 2009 setting out its plans, including what it is keeping of the Academic CFR, finalised in 2008. 

Secondment: 2-3 days a week, 12 months duration starting February/March 2009 (daily rate payable, dependent on seniority/experience) The Bar Standards Board is currently considering the impact of the Legal Services Act 2007 on the provision of legal services. In particular, the Board is focussing on how barristers who wish to work in the new business arrangements proposed under the Act should be regulated. 

The Board has a comprehensive programme of work over the next 12 months and wishes to ensure that it has available the right resources and expertise for the effective completion of this important work. The Board therefore seeks expressions of interest from senior practice managers/chambers’ directors or equivalent who would be interested in contributing to the Board’s development of policy and a new regulatory framework in the light of the Act. 

The Commission is making no secret of the fact that it intends to re-issue its proposal for a Framework Decision on minimum procedural safeguards for suspects and defendants in criminal cases. The Swedish Presidency of the Council (second half of 2009) is saying that it will try hard to broker Council agreement. 

The Bar Council has produced a parliamentary briefing on the Policing and Crime Bill 2009, which received its second Commons reading last month.

The Bar Council has set up a working group to examine the Coroners and Justice Bill 2009, published last month.

THE Annual Law Reform Lecture was delivered on Thursday 20 November, with the Attorney General, the Rt Hon Baroness Scotland of Asthal QC, delivering a speech entitled ‘Justice for All: closing the gap for fraud victims’. The speech set out the Government’s ongoing agenda against fraud – a crime which costs the country an estimated £14bn a year – and the challenges facing criminal justice.
Baroness Scotland spoke of the need for the legal profession to engage positively with ongoing reforms and to see the criminal justice system as a public service. 

Following the speech, the winners of the Law Reform Essay Competition were announced. Sponsored for the fourth consecutive year by the Bar Council Scholarship Trust, the Essay Competition was judged by the Chairman of the Law Reform Committee, Stephen Worthington QC, with input from the vice chairs, Richard Drabble QC, Alison Green and Tom Dumont.