Monday Message 23.06.14
CBA Chairman’s Update:
Nigel Lithman QC
Monday 23 June 2014
Personal Email: [email protected]
SPHERES OF INFLUENCE
This week is like last week save in two material differences. The first is that disasters engulfing the World seem to get greater. I would dearly love to speak of them but I shall not as this Message cannot be used as a political platform. The second is the loss of a special member from among our ranks.
I await the moment to announce the agreement for which we have been striving with the government over the Higher Cost Cases. There was a meeting this week. There will be another next week. I trust you will wait a few days longer, confident that even the most critical of you now realise we would never agree to sell the Bar short. I hope next week will be an announcement of the agreement, an assessment of where we have got to and a review of where we are going.
Is it worth mentioning the football? I don’t think so. Other than bringing a rather attractively coloured sphere from the Southern Hemisphere, it has brought us nothing else. But the ball is about to change shape.
This week I heard for the first time from a couple of individuals concerning cases in which they have a financial interest. I am afraid it did cross my mind more than fleetingly, that through this very difficult year in which Tony and I have fought against what we saw as the destruction of the junior Bar, they remained silent. The Criminal Bar is a community and as such it depends upon our being mutually supportive. It also needs leadership. Please give thought to the contribution you can make by standing for the post of Vice Chairman. Nominations close at 4pm on Tuesday 1st July.
The Bar is a grueling profession. It affects us all when we lose someone “larger than life” from our midst. Sadly I bring to your attention this announcement from 5 KBW, chambers of Sarah Forshaw QC and Mark Heywood QC:
“Richard Sones died on Wednesday. He was one of the finest criminal advocates at the Bar. He was larger than life. His fierce integrity, charm, generosity, humility, loyalty and sheer love of life marked him out as a giant among men.
We copy below a poem that Ed Fowler penned to celebrate what was then Richard’s 30th year in Chambers. It says it all.
“You don’t have to see him to know that he’s there,
Coz a cloud of thick smoke is choking the air,
And as you get nearer you can’t miss the laughter,
So booming, so loud it is shaking the rafters.
With pinstripes last seen in the days of the Shah,
And clamped in his jaw a burning cigar.
In court he’s the master, just has to be seen,
If you’ve co-defended you’ll know what I mean,
To those who join Chambers to each he will say,
“There’s magic in Chambers, you’ll find it some day,
And he’s right, there is magic in Chambers, it’s true,
The magic in Chambers, dear Richard, is you.”
You will recall that we only recently lost dear Rachel Lawrence. A dinner in her memory in aid of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust is being held on Friday 27th June at Thames Rowing Club. For more information or to make a donation, please contact Aaron Dolan.
I have also been asked to mention the Garden Court resilience training. It is designed to combat secondary trauma for barristers and solicitors in the criminal justice arena. They are giving away 2 tickets to attend to our members (send an e mail to [email protected]) and the first two picked at random can come for free. Other CBA members can pay at the reduced rate of £80.
Further information HERE
The balls are changing shape. Wimbledon is upon us. Enjoy the sunshine.