Chair’s update: Extended operating hours latest, judicial review + more

Small Change for Justice

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Issue 140 | 6 August 2020

Judicial review is our “prized possession”
"If Lord Chancellor fails, justice will regress": Bar Council backs new MPs’ report
New research reveals justice system hanging by a thread
Counsel: Judicial diversity – everyone has to play their part
In the news…
New ‘dummies guide to the Bar’ for Bounce Back Loan Scheme banks

Meet the winners – the Bar Council’s Employed Bar Awards
New courts join digital ID card scheme
Parliamentary update
Blogs
Vacancies
Fundraising
Partners for the Bar

Chair’s update: Extended operating hours latest, judicial review + more

In her latest update to the Bar, Chair of the Bar, Amanda Pinto QC, gives further detail on the MoJ’s extended operating hours plans, shares her views on the Government’s eagerness to focus its attention on judicial review, the importance of the mobility of international lawyers, plus more.

Read the Chair’s update 

Judicial review is our “prized possession”

The Government’s decision to launch an independent review of judicial review, headed by a former government minister, was met with an immediate response from the Bar Council. Chair of the Bar, Amanda Pinto QC, said that judicial review should be regarded as our “prized possession” and she cautioned against any “unnecessary barrier to the public’s right to challenge their government.”

Read the full reaction

"If Lord Chancellor fails, justice will regress": Bar Council backs new MPs’ report

A Justice Select Committee report on the impact of Covid-19 on the legal professions has been backed by the Bar Council. The report includes recommendations to enable the most junior, struggling barristers to benefit from the Self Employed Income Support Scheme by providing reliable evidence other than tax returns.

Responding to the publication of the report, Amanda Pinto QC, Chair of Bar, said: “The justice system was withering before Covid-19 and its weakened body is now so poorly that, if it isn’t given a life-saving injection, it will not recover…The Lord Chancellor said he is working hard to help. If he fails, justice will regress to society’s detriment.”

Read the full Bar Council reaction 

New research reveals justice system hanging by a thread

The Bar Council’s latest survey of the barristers’ profession has revealed the profound impact of Covid-19 on justice and the future of the Bar, including a huge reduction in work and income, forecasting an exodus that could drain the Bar of diversity and diminish access to justice in the future.

Read the headline findings 

Counsel: Judicial diversity – everyone has to play their part

In this month’s Counsel magazine, Amanda Pinto QC, Chair of the Bar, looks at whether diversity in the judiciary will be a victim of Covid-19. She warns that whilst the Bar Council and the Bar is doing its part to improve judicial diversity, “those closely involved in the processes must also take responsibility for their part: the recruitment process, perceptions of bias and attractiveness of a judicial career, as well as opportunities for promotion once on the Bench.”

Read the Chair’s Counsel column 

In the news…

The Bar Council regularly hits the headlines in the media as a leading voice on key issues affecting the Bar, wider legal profession and the justice system.

Recently, the Bar Council’s top spokespeople have appeared in the news on a range of topics:

• Evening Standard reported that Amanda Pinto QC, Chair of the Bar, announced that a new ‘race working group’ has been set up by the Bar Council to improve diversity.

• The Independent reported on the Bar Council’s reaction to a Justice Committee report warning that there had been no evaluation of how remote hearings affect verdicts and sentences, or access to proceedings for participants, the media and public.

• The Times and many other media outlets reported on the Bar Council’s July survey of the barristers’ profession that illustrated the damage dealt to the justice system and the Bar by the Covid-19 pandemic.

• The Daily Telegraph, The Sun and over 300 other media outlets reported on the Bar Council’s Small Change for Justice report, which sets out how shockingly underfunded the justice system, including the police, has been over the last decade.

• Evening Standard – reports that the Bar Council has reacted furiously to the Lord Chancellor’s claim that there is “a lot of support” for extending court hours to deal with the coronavirus backlog.

New ‘dummies guide to the Bar’ for Bounce Back Loan Scheme banks

The Bar Council has had to publish a guide about the Bar specifically to help banks understand what a barrister is when considering a loan application from a member of the profession. In response to one of the Bar Council’s recent surveys, which indicated that only 33% of the self-employed practitioners who have made Bounce Back Loan Scheme applications have been successful, the Bar Council’s Covid-19 Working Group has pulled together a briefing document for banks, which barristers can provide to the bank when applying for the loan. It is hoped that the briefing will go some way towards correcting banks’ clear lack of understanding as to the structure of the profession and that the document will be taken in to consideration when assessing a barrister’s applications under the scheme.

Download the briefing 

Meet the winners – the Bar Council’s Employed Bar Awards

Find out more about the winners from this year’s Bar Council Employed Bar Awards in August’s edition of Counsel magazine.

Meet the winners 

New courts join digital ID card scheme

Almost 100 courts and over 3,000 barristers now benefit from the HMCTS professional users’ court and tribunal access scheme. The scheme allows members of the Bar to use their Bar Council digital court ID app to access court buildings without the need for a full security search each time. Only members of the Bar are currently able to use this service.

New courts have recently joined the scheme, including Plymouth Combined Court, Lincoln Magistrates’ Court and Lincoln County (using Lincoln Magistrates’ entrance), as well as Stafford Crown Court, Stoke on Trent Combined Court and Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court. This week, Watford Crown Court has also started accepting the Bar Council’s digital ID cards.

Full list of participating courts 

Barristers can register for their digital ID via MyBar  

Parliamentary update

As Parliament is now in recess, things have quietened down in Westminster. The Justice Select Committee has just published two reports on the impact the pandemic has had on the courts as well as on the legal profession. A group of criminal barristers met with the think tank Institute for Government to discuss how criminal courts have coped and adjusted during the pandemic.

Blogs

Returning to chambers: check you are ready to go back

Despite HMCTS planning to have all court buildings in England and Wales reopened with appropriate social distancing measures by the end of July 2020 and members of the Bar expressing their desire to get back to work, a recent LPMA and IBC survey found that chambers have seen very little increase in the number of members returning to the office.

In this week’s blog, the Chair of our Covid-19 Working Group, Carolyn Entwistle, discusses the LPMA and IBC’s findings and the factors that are influencing chambers' decision-making processes, and highlights a new template risk assessment designed by the Working Group to assist chambers with the return to work process.

Read Carolyn’s blog 

Covid-19 and the rule of law in jurisdictions around the world

Toby Cadman of Guernica 37 Chambers and the Bar Council’s International Committee continues the focus on South America, this time considering the position in Colombia.  He paints a bleak picture, raising significant concerns about the impact of Covid-19 on the rule of law. Lack of resources, restrictions on access and an increase in organised crime during the pandemic have all affected the legal process.  Compliance with lockdown measures is being enforced by armed groups whose position is being strengthened by the crisis.  A rise in murders of human rights activists seeking to address the situation is also noted.

Read Toby’s article 

Much of the Bar Council’s work would not be possible without funding from the Bar Representation Fee (BRF): a £12.50 per month voluntary subscription. Find out more and sign up to help support the Bar.

The Bar Council (England and Wales) · 289-293 High Holborn  
London, London WC1V7HZ · United Kingdom

Chair’s update: Extended operating hours latest, judicial review + more

Judicial review is our “prized possession”

"If Lord Chancellor fails, justice will regress": Bar Council backs new MPs’ report

New research reveals justice system hanging by a thread

Counsel: Judicial diversity – everyone has to play their part

In the news…

New ‘dummies guide to the Bar’ for Bounce Back Loan Scheme banks

Meet the winners – the Bar Council’s Employed Bar Awards

New courts join digital ID card scheme

Returning to chambers: check you are ready to go back

Covid-19 and the rule of law in jurisdictions around the world

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