Copy
The Criminal Bar Association Weekly Update

CBA Monday Message:
Jaime Hamilton
Nine St John Chambers


Monday 22 September 2014
 

 
When Tony Cross asked me to contribute to the Monday Message he suggested "nothing too controversial." For those of you, like me, who have spent twenty years sitting in Circuit meetings with Tony will appreciate that this is a little like having the Big Bad Wolf suggest you give vegetarianism a go. 
 
So what can I, a middle of the road, middle aged criminal hack, write for inclusion in the MM? It is not for me to issue the parish notices. It is not for me to state the official CBA policy. So I have settled on this - what I would like to see the CBA doing in the next twelve months.
 
And it is this: Continue being controversial.
 
The last eighteen months have seen the CBA tackle the issues facing the Bar with dynamism, gusto and tactics previously unheard of. It has moved itself from minor irritant to major representative body. Now is not the time to look back but to look forward.
 
At the forefront of all that the CBA do must be the preservation and improvement of the Criminal Justice System. Quality should be placed at the very core of everything the CJS seeks to do. Yes efficiency is important. Yes cost is a factor. But the CBA must drive the system out of failure, beyond competence and to a landscape where quality is the overriding feature.
 
To that end I want to wake up every morning with Tony Cross QC. And no, my head has not been turned by that sleek head of hair. I mean that I want to hear Tony on the Radio, read his words in the national press and see him in the Sky News studio. I want him getting the message out there, to the public, that the CJS is currently in disarray. It is a national scandal.
 
I dread being a victim of crime. Not because I fear for the lack of a "voice" or because I need a victim's law but because I know that the prospect of a successful prosecution is hindered by cost cutting. I know that the progress of the case through the courts is getting slower every week. Not because lawyers ask for adjournments. Not because defendants drag the case out. But because a lack of funding means the courts lose hundreds of sitting days a year and the waiting times get longer and longer.
 
And I am afraid to say that remuneration for the lawyers is still a part of this. Solicitors are still facing cuts in their fees that will damage the availability of quality representation. There exist inadequacies and iniquities in every facet of the graduated fee scheme. And I still have not had an increase for inflation since Carter. The CBA have to negotiate, argue, advocate and then fight to improve the situation of all practitioners within the CJS. 
 
Of course everyone with the desire of seeing the CJS prosper and succeed has that unity of purpose. We must preserve that unity. However unity does not always equal unanimity. It also does not mean that friends need always be on exactly the same page. The Criminal Bar Association has a very important word in the middle there. BAR. And naturally there are times when the CBA must advance the cause of its members. That may sometimes conflict with other protagonists within the CJS. That difference should be recognised and not misconstrued as antagonism.
 
Some of you reading this will know that I was vehemently opposed to the "deal". Notwithstanding that, TC still asked me to write this today. Friends and allies can disagree, can tell each other difficult truths, can have differing views of the way forward. Sometimes they can even have competing interests. Overcoming these differences is unity, not pretending they do not exist.
 
This is where the message and the language can sometimes be so important. So extolling the virtues of the junior Bar is very different from attacking solicitor advocates. Preserving and improving the future for the Bar can still provide strong and vital support for the cause of criminal solicitors.  So the Bar can still stand up for itself whilst also standing strong with our colleagues, our friends, amongst the the other side of the legal profession.
 
To that end, and you must forgive me one parish notice here, we must have all cheered to the rafters when news of the judicial review judgment filtered out. A hearty congratulations to the CLSA, the LCCSA and their officers for fighting the fight on this front. Now let us join together once more in an effective coalition. Not the coalition of convenience like the Government, where the will and wishes of each member of the coalition is subverted, but a powerful coalition where we have right on our side and an understanding of our differences.
 
To tap into the zeitgeist one might say we are "Better Together". 

 

CBA News:

The Bar Council Extends Survey Deadline:
The Bar Council has extended the deadline for the Survey (Consultation) for the Criminal Bar by one week to Sunday 28 September. 
 
CBA Judicial Review Fund:
The CBA and the Circuits have agreed to provide an indemnity against costs for the individual claimants in the action.  A Protective Costs Order has been made in the sum of £150,000.
We ask you as members to consider making a collective donation to our fighting fund. We do not ask lightly. It is difficult to put a figure on what may be required, but we suggest an average contribution of £40 per person. We will of course be very grateful for contributions great or small. It is very simple, find the link to DONATE at www.criminalbar.com

CBA Bursary – Our Fund Raising:
The Bursary Fund is generously supported by leading legal publishers Thomson Reuters (Sweet & Maxwell), Oxford University Press and Lexis Nexis.   We are also pleased to announce that the Bursary Scheme, which was launched in September 2012, has already proved beneficial to several of our members.   The scheme is already being supported by the following Criminal Sets who have kindly agreed to pay £500.00 each year for the next three years in order to support the scheme.
  • 2 Bedford Row
  • 25 Bedford Row
  • 9 Bedford Row
  • 23 Essex St
  • Garden Court Chambers
  • Doughty Street Chambers 
  • 18 Red Lion Court
  • 3 Raymond Buildings
  • 9/12 Bell Yard
  • Furnival Chambers
  • 2 Hare Court
  • Carmelite Chambers  
  • Charter Chambers
  • 5 Kings Bench Walk 
  • 5 Paper Buildings 
  • 187 Fleet St
  • Atkinson Bevan Chambers
If your Chambers would like to contribute and assist with the Bursary Scheme, please contact the Treasurer, Thomas Payne at thomas.payne@18rlc.co.uk


CBA Bursary 2014 - Deadline Extended:

Have you worked with an intermediary?: 

Joyce Plotnikoff and Richard Woolfson (authors of the first suite of toolkits on The Advocate's Gateway) are writing a book about the first 10 years of the intermediary scheme. The project is funded by the Nuffield Foundation.
They would welcome brief feedback (even a few lines) about your experience with intermediaries and their role at the ground rules hearing and trial.  
Please send your comments (specifying whether they relate to intermediaries for a witness or defendant, or both) to jplotnikoff@lexiconlimited.co.uk
 

Health Support and Advice for the Bar - Law Care:

LawCare provides an independent and confidential service which assists members of the Law Societies of England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland and the Isle of Man; the Institute of Legal Executives; the Bar Councils of England and Wales, the Republic of Ireland, and Northern Ireland; the Faculty of Advocates in Scotland; the Department of Justice; the Institute of Barristers Clerks; and the National Association of Paralegals.  This is a confidential advisory service to help lawyers, their immediate families and their support staff to deal with the health issues and related emotional difficulties that can result from a stressful career as a lawyer, or working with lawyers. LawCare is there to support and assist you, too.  LawCare offers you the opportunity to discuss problems that are interfering with, or have the potential to interfere with, your work performance and / or your family life and to seek to help in resolving these problems.  Through LawCare, help is available to those who are suffering from stress and/or depression, or who have alcohol, drug or other dependency concerns, or eating disorders.

There is a helpline which is open 365 days a year:-
9am – 7.30pm, Monday to Friday
10am – 4pm Saturday, Sunday and UK Bank Holidays
0800 018 4299
Further details can be found on the website here
 

Follow us on Twitter:

Click to visit Twitter

 

CBA Events:

The Kalisher Lecture: Forensic Science 
Tuesday 14 October 2014
The Old Bailey
The Lord Chief Justice 

Old Bailey Lecture: The Ann Goddard Memorial Lecture 
Tuesday 4 November
The Old Bailey 
Mr Justice Sweeney

Old Bailey Lecture:
Tuesday 2 December
The Old Bailey 
Speaker TBC

Autumn Conference: Vulnerable Defendants and Witnesses
Saturday 6 December
Inner Temple 

For further information and to book a place please contact Aaron 

 

Other News:  

Criminal Law Week - updates:

Criminal Law Week - updates (issue 33):
Key updates from this week’s issue of Criminal Law Week:
 
Seizure and retention of property - whether section 59 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 enabled a person possessing goods seized under a warrant to apply for their retention after the warrant had been quashed:  R. (Panesar) v. Central Criminal Court and another, D.C. (CLW/14/33/4).  
 
Planning - as to when the offence of breach of an enforcement notice (Town and Country Planning Act 1990, s.179(2)) becomes complete, as to whether it is a continuing offence and as to the availability of the defences under subsections (3) and (7):  Sanger and another v. London Borough of Newham, D.C. (CLW/14/33/7).
 
Identification - on the scrutiny to be applied to comparison evidence from an expert in podiatry (dealing with feet and their associated structures), a technique still in its infancy:  R. v. Ferdinand and others, C.A. (CLW/14/33/3).
 
Common assault - where the prosecution put their case on the basis of a punch, whether magistrates could instead convict on the grounds of a verbal threat stemming from the same incident:  R. (Kracher) v. Leicester Magistrates’ Court, D.C. (CLW/14/33/5). 
 
Immigration - whether prosecution for possession of a false identity document with intent to mislead (Identity Cards Act 2006, s.25) at a border control could engage the defendant’s rights under the ECHR, Article 8 (privacy and family life):  S.X.H. v. Crown Prosecution Service, C.A. (Civ. Div.) (CLW/14/33/6).


Court Appointed Representatives - Information for the Bar:

The CBA has received a document from the Bar Council on 'Court Appointed Representatives' and they are seeking our views.  The paper can be found HERE and you are ask to submit any comments/suggestions to Sarah-Jane Bennett atSJBennett@BarCouncil.org.uk by 6 October 2014.


The Council of The Inns of Court: 


Pupillage Matched Funding Scheme
 
The Council of the Inns of Court is pleased to announce the launch of the 2015 & 2016 Pupillage Matched Funding Scheme.  The scheme encourages the provision of additional pupillages in those chambers (and other approved training organisations) whose work is predominantly publicly funded.
In short, the Inns will match the first six funding already provided by chambers.  If, but for this scheme, a chambers would offer one pupillage, then the chambers can apply for a matched funding grant of £6,000 to fund the first six months of a second pupillage.  If a chambers would, but for this scheme, have offered two pupillages then it can apply for up to two grants of £6,000 to fund up to two additional pupillages (i.e. four pupillages in total), and so on (hence matched funding).  Applications for a grant of £3,000 will also be considered from those chambers which have not recently provided a pupillage and would like to do so; chambers would provide £3,000 towards the first six months of pupillage.  Subject to the permitted set-off of the pupil’s earnings, the second six months of the additional pupillage(s) would be funded by chambers.
 
How and When to Apply 
Please follow the link below for more details and to complete and submit the online application by 5pm on Monday December 1st 2014.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
 
Julia Hawkins
jhawkins@coic.org.uk                                                                                                             www.innsofcourt.org.uk/ 
 

Fee-Paid Judicial Pensions:  

The Bar Council has published updated information about Ministry of Justice plans for fee-paid judicial pensions HERE
The Deadline for fee-paid judges to report to the Ministry of Justice any claims that arise from the decision in Miller v Ministry of Justice is 30 September 2014.
 

Entity regulation Consulation; The BSB want to hear your views:

The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has issued an open consultation paper outlining their ideas on how much they should charge for authorising entities.  Entities are organisations that provide advocacy, litigation, and expert legal advice services and which, in this instance, are owned and managed by barristers and other lawyers.

They want your comments on the proposed fee structure, which can be read in the consultation paper on their website. The deadline for receipt of submissions is Friday 10 October 2014.

Earlier this year the BSB applied to the Legal Services Board to become a regulator of entities. Subject to it approving our application, they plan to start authorising entities in January 2015.

The BSB becoming a regulator of entities could enable barristers to set up businesses in new ways and, in doing so, significantly help broaden the public's choice as to how they access legal services. Under our proposals, barristers and other advocacy-focussed lawyers could pool together resources and share the risks of investing in their own business, without having to change regulators.

The consultation paper explains our approach to authorisation fees and why they are needed to cover the additional resources required for the BSB to regulate entities. There needs to be a new and distinct fee structure for regulated entities because these costs will not be covered by the barristers’ Practising Certificate fee.
The proposed fee structure for entities includes:

The consultation paper outlines the actual proposed fees.

The BSB has tried to ensure their entity authorisation fees are affordable for all prospective entities. The level of fee charged will depend on the size of the entity. For example, an individual seeking authorisation for a single person entity will pay just under £600, followed by an annual fee of less than £400.

The BSB are directly contacting barristers about this but they have encouraged CBA members to submit a response in its own right.

If you  are thinking of setting up a BSB-regulated entity, the BSB are especially interested in hearing from them. You can get in touch with them via entityregulation@barstandardsboard.org.uk.
 
 
Other Events:

Inner Temple Lecture Series:


Human Rights Law Conference: 


The Sweet & Maxwell Human Rights Law Conference is now in its 16th year and a key event in the calendar for human rights law practitioners. This year our full-day programme includes both domestic and EU law plenary sessions, in-depth analysis in six breakout sessions throughout the day, and a final session to explain how headline human rights rulings can help your clients . An excellent line-up of speakers from across private practice, charity and government organisations will provide a well-rounded and comprehensive insight into the important issues and developments in the area.
 
We are pleased to offer £100 discount to members of the Criminal Bar Association which can be claimed by entering the code ‘1941001A’ in the booking form when prompted.
 
For full details of the conference agenda and speakers visit legalconferencespd.com/human-rights

Date: 22 October 2014
Venue: Church House Conference Centre, London

Annual Bar Conference 2014: 
Annual Bar Conference 2014: five days remaining to book at the Early Bird Rate
 
The Annual Bar Conference provides a forum for the Bar community to come together to discuss key issues affecting careers, opportunities and life at the Bar, listen to a group of influential service sector speakers and participate in specialist workshops. The Conference is constructed to ensure delegates are fully aware of all the opportunities available to them, and in what areas of practice these opportunities should be explored.
 
Over the last few years, the Bar has had to operate in a testing environment. This year under the title of 'Celebrating Excellence', whilst making sure all are prepared for any future challenges that may arise, the Conference will be a place to highlight all that is great about the Bar and how the skills that are present in abundance can continue to be developed to tackle any obstacles that may present themselves.
 
There are still a few discounts remaining for those travelling from the North Eastern, Northern, Wales and Chester, Midland and Western Circuits. Please contact TrainingandEvents@BarCouncil.org.uk to make the most of these discounts.


Justice Human Rights Conference:
Booking is now open for one of the highlights of the human rights lawyer’s CPD calendar, the annual JUSTICE Human Rights Law Conference, offering a key opportunity to update your legal knowledge and gain valuable insight into the human rights issues of the year.

This year's programme includes keynote speeches from leaders in the field (Gareth Peirce, Birnberg PeirceLord Pannick QC, Blackstone Chambers), breakout session updates on disability, surveillance and privacy, criminal law, judicial review and immigration and an unequalled review of essential case-law developments in our now renowned ‘Review of the Year’ with Nathalie Lieven QC, Landmark Chambers

This is the first year in over a decade that JUSTICE has decided to run the conference without a corporate partner.  We have taken this route so that we can offer the event at a cheaper price point (particularly for JUSTICE members) in order to make the conference more accessible.   All income from the day will support the work of JUSTICE.  Booking information is here:  http://www.justice.org.uk/events.php/71/justice-human-rights-law-conference-2014-book-now

Date: 20 October 2014
Venue: Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Tudor Street, London, EC4Y 1HT
 
The Law Reform Committee Essay Competition 2014:
Copyright © The Criminal Bar Association, All rights reserved.