Weekly Round Up 04.05.12
CBA News:
Chairman’s Update:
The National Heads of Chambers meeting is confirmed for 5.30pm on Wednesday 9th May, to be held at the Bar Council offices. I hope that your voice will be represented by your Head of Chambers; or you may even listen in if your HoC is using the dial-in facility. I seek guidance on what to do next, following our CBA Survey. I have a clear view on the way forward, which I shall share at the meeting and which will form the basis for my speech at our Annual Dinner on 18th May. There are a few Dinner places left. Contact Aaron if you have not yet booked.
Thank you to those who took the time to meet me in Cardiff on Tuesday this week. I learned a great deal about the interests and concerns of the Bar in Wales, and I hope that there will be greater contact between us in future. On Wednesday, I had a constructive meeting with Theo Huckle QC, Counsel General to the Welsh Government. I am setting up a CBA Working Party to respond to the Consultation on ‘A Separate Legal Jurisdiction for Wales’, work to be completed by 19th June. I intend that there should be a majority of Wales & Chester Circuit CBA members on this Working Party. If you have a particular interest, please make contact now. The consultation issues are interesting and challenging. For the avoidance of doubt, let me say now that I do not envisage separate registration or Calls to the Bar of England and the Bar of Wales in the foreseeable future. I believe all are agreed that this consultation is about broadening horizons for the criminal Bar, not narrowing them. It will be fascinating to see what the Working Party recommends.
I am pleased to report that the CPS has conducted a separate application process to the Panel for those who did not apply last year but who were members of the Attorneys Unified List and who conducted work for governmental departments whose cases are now subsumed by the CPS, specifically including the DWP. Applicants from London, Leeds, Liverpool and Birmingham have come forward. Good luck.
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 the chairman on twitter
https://twitter.com/#!/TheCriminalBar
Special offer from Oxford University Press – Save 20% on select Criminal Law Titles
More information and a list of titles can be found here
CBA Events:
CBA Old Bailey Lecture
Recent Developments in Criminal Law (Hearsay, Bad Character etc)
Professor David Ormerod
Tuesday 8th May 2012
17:15
Central Criminal Court, Bar Mess (5th Floor)
CPD – 1 Expected
For further information and to book please contact Aaron Dolan
CBA Annual Dinner
Friday 18th May 2012
Middle Temple Hall, Middle Temple, London
Guest Speaker – The Hon Mr Justice Calvert-Smith
For further information and to book please contact Aaron Dolan
Middle Temple Hall holds 300 and there are less than 100 places left; booking is advised
CBA Conference
Conviction and Beyond
Saturday 26th May 2012
All day Saturday event (venue to be confirmed) which will include speakers from the Judiciary, Academia and Court of Appeal.
The event will focus on post-conviction matters including (a) recent developments in sentencing (b) confiscation (c) ancillary orders, including Sexual Offences Prevention Orders (d) Sentencing Guidelines (e) A practical guide to the process for Attorney General references and (f) sentencing issues in the Magistrate’s Court
Further details will be circulated and posted to the website next week.
CPD – 6 Expected
2012 Kalisher Scholarship Trust Event
The 2012 Kalisher Scholarship Trust event will be a staged reading of two Agatha Christie plays, ‘Butter in a Lordly Dish’ and ‘Personal Call’. Those hoping to participate include Martin Shaw, Felicity Kendal, Maxine Peake, Ray Fearon, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Mark Farrelly, and will be performed thanks to the generosity of Agatha Christie’s estate and Bill Kenwright Ltd. Set in the world of the 1950s, the plays will be fully miked and promise an evening of laughter, legal intrigue and murder mystery.
The event will be held in Middle Temple Hall, at 6.30pm on Sunday 20th May. Tickets cost £50, and are available now from Middle Temple (0207 427 4800).
All proceeds from the event go toward scholarships for talented students who, without the support provided by the Trust, would be unable to reach the Criminal Bar.
For more information about the Kalisher Scholarship Trust, please go to www.thekalishertrust.org
Half a Century of Crime: A Valedictory Summing Up
A lecture by the Right Honourable Lord Justice Hooper
Inner Temple Hall
Monday 18 June 2012 – 6.30pm
Followed by a Drinks a Reception
The CBA have been allocated 50 places in total to attend the lecture.
If you wish to take this very kind offer up, please be sure that you are able to make the lecture and then book with me, I will then pass the details to the Inn.
Further information can be found here
CBA NEWS FEED
Criminal Law Week – updates (issue 17)
Key updates from this week’s issue of Criminal Law Week:
Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 – this Act was given Royal Assent on May 1, and includes restrictions on legal aid, extensive amendments to the sentencing provisions in the Criminal Justice Act 2003, and new offences relating to squatting and scrap metal (CLW/12/17/3).
Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 – given Royal Assent on May 1, this Act rewrites provisions relating to the retention of biometric data and the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults, limits surveillance powers and powers of entry, increases powers of stop and search, and introduces two new stalking offences (CLW/12/17/4).
The international professional and legal development grant programme
Apply now for 18 May deadline
The Criminal Bar Association, Commercial Bar Association, Family Law Bar Association, London Common Law and Commercial Bar Association, Personal Injury Bar Association and Technology and Construction Bar Association together with the Bar Council Scholarships Trust, fund the 2012 grant programme. Now in its fourth year, the programme offers members of these specialist bar associations that are 7 years call or less and in practice, financial assistance to participate in international legal events and conferences of their choice. The event must contribute to their professional development and legal practice and take place this year.
The cost of participating in such events is shared equally between the applicant, his or her SBA and the Trust. The grant programme thereby funds up to two thirds of the cost of participating in an international legal event.
The next deadline for applications to the grant programme is 17:00 on 18 Maywith another application deadline on 28 September.
For more information and directions on how to apply for the programme please visit the Bar Council website or see the attached documents. Any queries as to the application process and administration of the programme should be directed to Sarah Richardson [email protected].
International News & Events
For the latest update and further information from Advocates for International Development click here
Other Events:
South Eastern Circuit Bar Mess Foundation Advanced International Advocacy Course
(Bank holiday) Monday 27 August until Saturday 1 September
Keble College, Oxford
The aim of the South Eastern Circuit Bar Mess Foundation Advanced International Advocacy Course at Keble College, Oxford course, is to encourage and develop the highest standards of advocacy amongst practitioners. The course is the most demanding and intensive of any advocacy course in the UK, and was described by a former presiding judge of the Circuit as the “Best Advanced Course in the UK”
The application form is now available to download:
The Inns of Court are each offering funding for up to five of their members towards the cost of attending the Keble Advanced Advocacy Course. The deadline for applications for the scholarships has been extended to 25 May 2012 and for further details, please click here.
South Eastern Circuit Florida Criminal Law Advocacy course
The South Eastern Circuit seeks a Silk with a criminal practice to attend the South Eastern Circuit Florida Criminal Law Advocacy course, held at the University of Florida, Gainesville, from Sunday 5 August to Friday 10 August 2012. The successful applicant is expected to take part in advocacy exercises, to provide feedback to participants and, he or she will demonstrate qualities marking him or her out as an appropriate ambassador of our profession. The course fees, accommodation and flights are funded by the Florida Bar Association. Successful candidates will be expected to travel to Gainesville in time to attend the course on 5 August 2012 and if you would like further details, please click here.
The Health & Safety Lawyers Association
Manchester Event – 3 presentations – each approximately 30 minutes, Followed by drinks reception
DWF LLP, 1 Scott Place, 2 Hardman Street, Manchester M3 3AA
Tuesday 8th May 2012
Further information can be found here
Children in the Criminal Justice System: What next?
Wednesday 16 May 2012, 6pm – 7.30pm
Doughty Street Chambers, 54 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LS
Further information can be found here
The 5th ICAC Symposium – Registration
Fighting Corruption in a Changing World
May 2012
Hong Kong
Further details can be found here
An Evening of Sacred Music
Temple Church
Wednesday 30th May 2012
7pm
Tickets £25
You can buy tickets by emailing [email protected] or through Temple Church box office: www.templemusic.org
Association of Military Court Advocates Annual Dinner
17th May 2012
The Old Hall, Lincoln’s Inn
17.30
Black tie
Contact Annelisa Eccles, Secretary [email protected]
The special guest speaker at the dinner is emeritus President of the National Institute for Military Justice in the USA, Mr Eugene Fidell.
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