The Criminal Bar Association of England and Wales (CBA) has voted to support solicitors in their strike action over the 8.75% cut to legal aid fees that was imposed at the start of July this year.
Strike action: Solicitors and barristers to boycott legal aid cases from 1 July following ‘untenable’ cuts
Solicitors and barristers in London and across the UK have agreed to boycott legal aids cases from tomorrow (1 July) following ‘untenable’ further cuts of 8.75% in fees for duty solicitors.
BSB considers QASA’s timing after Supreme Court dismisses long-running appeal
The controversial Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA) is set to go ahead after the Supreme Court dismissed an appeal against the scheme this morning (24 June) though the Bar Standards Board (BSB) has said it will need to consider the timing of its introduction given the delays caused by the legal challenge.
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Deregulating education: BSB proposes to put barristers in charge of pupillage
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has today (20 February) announced in a new report that chambers and employers are best placed to decide how to plan and provide pupillages and should be put in back in charge of designing the experience for aspiring barristers.
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From suits to silks: the rise of the solicitor QC
The five solicitors to take Queen’s Counsel in the latest round of appointments had one thing in common: they were all arbitration specialists. While the number of solicitors taking silk remains low, the latest round, announced in January, saw the highest percentage of applicants from law firms, with 4% of the 223 applications coming from solicitors and a record percentage of successful solicitors taking silk, with 5.4% of the 93 new QCs coming from law firms.
Clifford Chance (CC)’s Audley Sheppard, Hogan Lovells’ Simon Nesbitt, Boies, Schiller & Flexner’s Wendy Miles, King & Spalding’s Thomas Sprange and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s Paris-based Peter Turner all made the cut.
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Heading to the bar: Hogan Lovells streamlines dual management role as former arbitration co-head leaves
Hogan Lovells’ former co-head of international arbitration, Simon Nesbitt, is set to depart the firm and join the Bar, a move which coincides with the firm’s decision to streamline the dual management structure of the practice and continue with a single head.
Bar shuffles: Matrix hires media silk Millar from Doughty Street
High-profile silk Gavin Millar QC is set to join Matrix Chambers from Doughty Street in a bid to enhance its media, employment and sports law teams.
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‘Costs disputes is a growth area’: Thirty Nine Essex Street appoints former Senior Costs Judge
Leading set Thirty Nine Essex Street has yesterday (26 November) announced a major appointment, with Peter Hurst, former Senior Costs Judge of England and Wales at the Royal Courts of Justice, joining as an arbitrator and mediator.
News in brief – October 2014
LORD CHANCELLOR ACTED ‘UNLAWFULLY’ IN LEGAL AID CONSULTATION
Kingsley Napley and 11 KBW last month acted for the London Criminal Courts Solicitors’ Association and the Criminal Law Solicitors’ Association in their successful challenge against the Lord Chancellor’s failure to disclose the contents of two reports during the legal aid reforms consultation process. The Treasury Solicitor instructed Blackstone Chambers’ James Eadie QC and Fraser Campbell, and 4 New Square’s Richard O’Brien on the case.
Monckton Chambers secures largest ever award from European Court of Human Rights in second historic Yukos ruling
In what becomes the second multibillion dollar award against Russia in the space of a week, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasburg has ruled that the country must pay 50,000 Yukos shareholders €1.9bn ($2.5bn) for unlawful tax penalties and disproportionate enforcement in the run up to the oil company’s bankruptcy.