June

28 June 2011 - The Bar Council, which represents barristers in England and Wales, has written to MPs to voice serious concerns about the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, which is scheduled for its second reading in the House of Commons tomorrow afternoon.

21 June 2011 - The Bar Council, which represents barristers in England and Wales, with University College London, will tonight host a seminar to consider the interim findings of research into the viability of a Contingent Legal Aid Fund (CLAF), bringing together a panel of experts comprising Chairman of the Bar, Peter Lodder QC, Guy Mansfield QC, Chairman of the Bar Council’s CLAF Working Group and a former Chairman of the Bar, Bob Young of Europe Economics, and Professor Dame Hazel Genn, Dean of the Faculty of Laws at UCL. The seminar will include discussion with Members of Parliament, Judges, officials from the Ministry of Justice, academics, and legal practitioners.

21 June 2011 - The Bar Council, which represents barristers in England and Wales, has today warned that access to justice will be systematically deprived as the Government published the response to its legal aid consultation.

17 June 2011 - As many members of the Bar will be aware, the CPS published a new Advocate Panels Scheme on 31 March 2011. The new scheme followed discussions between a Bar Council group consisting of Circuit, CBA and YBC representatives and the CPS.

14 June 2011 - The Bar Council, which represents barristers in England and Wales, and the Bar Standards Board (BSB), which regulates the Bar, have commissioned the first survey of the working lives of barristers. The results, which will be published in the autumn, will inform both organisations’ short, medium and long-term strategic planning.

10 June 2011 - The Bar will hold its Annual General Meeting of subscribers at 10:30 on the Saturday 18 June 2011 at the offices of the Bar Council, 289-293 High Holborn, London WC1V 7HZ. The AGM will be preceded by a Bar Council meeting.

8 June 2011 - Since the Legal Services Commission (LSC) took over responsibility from the Crown Courts for processing, validation and payment of criminal legal aid fees under the Advocates Graduated Fee Scheme (AGFS), the Bar Council has received a growing number of complaints from advocates regarding delays and other problems with payment. The Bar Council has been in regular communication with the LSC in an attempt to understand, monitor, and resolve the issue, and has forwarded and discussed with the LSC the concerns expressed by its members.

6 June 2011 - When an assisted (legally aided) person succeeds in a civil case and recovers a costs order against the unassisted (privately funded) party, the assisted person's solicitor will then submit a bill to the paying party which will include fees for solicitors and counsel at full inter-partes rates (not at restricted legal aid rates). That bill will then be agreed or assessed. The sum due will be paid to the assisted person's solicitor and the solicitor should pay counsel.