International News March 2007
Cooperation With Kazakhstan
As reported in November, in Kazakhstan a new commercial court and an arbitration tribunal have been established in a special economic zone around Almaty, the main commercial centre of the country. The Kazakh government is interested in foreign assistance in training the judges for these dispute resolution institutions and the IRC has offered to help. A training session has now been agreed for mid-March and the Chairman of the IRC, together with two judges from the Commercial Court. The objectives are to try to encourage independent decision making, familiarisation with procedures in our commercial court, discussion of other judicial skills and to build links between their judiciary and ours.
Rule Changes Planned To Assist International Practice
In December the GMC discussed three changes to the international practice regime. The first change proposed is to permit members of other EU legal professions who are not established in England & Wales to instruct a barrister for court work without any involvement of a solicitor, in cases where the interest of the client does not require such involvement. Since this is likely to require a change in legislation the Bar Council has now written to the DCA to begin discussions on this matter.
Two other changes relating to office-sharing with solicitors abroad and relating to the definition of international work still require further discussion.
First International Rule Of Law Lecture Of The Bar Council
On 19 February the International Relations Committee held the first International Rule of Law Lecture of the Bar Council, which was given by Philippe Kirsch, President of the International Criminal Court who spoke on the theme of "The International Criminal Court: Establishing Accountability for the Most Serious International Crimes." At the time of writing over 200 barristers had registered for the event.
Visit To India In April
The Chairman of the Bar will visit Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi, together with a small delegation from the IRC, between 8 and 14 April 2007. The purpose is to strengthen relations with the Indian legal profession and will include seminars in each of the three cities as well as meetings with local lawyers, government representatives and the judiciary.
