Lord Goldsmith snubs return to the Bar for private practice role with US firm; Bar Standards Board gets tough on complaints-handling; and the Bar Council makes headway on the Legal Services Bill. Claire Ruckin reports on the latest news from the Bar

Former Attorney General Lord Goldsmith QC's decision to return to private practice certainly sparked some City-wide gossip last week, raising questions among barristers about why he had decided to re-qualify as a solicitor instead of going back to chambers.

Goldsmith joined the London arm of US law firm Debevoise & Plimpton in a move that will see him take up the role as head of its European litigation practice. He has conceded that he has turned down offers from chambers to go to Debevoise.

The hire came after three months' gardening leave following Goldsmith's decision to end his six-year stint as Attorney General in June. It ended weeks of speculation over the high-profile figure's next move.

Goldsmith, a close ally of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, will become an equity partner in the coming months. He will continue to work as
an advocate in the UK courts but will also re-qualify as a solicitor.

Goldsmith explained his decision to join the US firm at a press conference on 26 September. He said: "I believe the future lies in international law and Debevoise will give me a tremendous base [from which to practise]. There has been a lot of growth in international dispute resolution and litigation."

He added that he liked the strong sense of public interest and pro bono work the firm was involved in and said he had known Debevoise New York and London litigation partner David Rivkin for a number of years.

Commenting on the hire, Shearman & Sterling UK litigation head Jo Rickard said: "He is a big-name catch and I think it is an interesting move. It is surprising that he has gone to a US firm rather than returning to the Bar and that they think they have the work to keep him busy."

A former Fountain Court tenant, Lord Goldsmith has had an extremely varied career. He was called to the Bar in 1972, taking silk in 1987 and became the youngest-ever chairman of the Bar Council when he took up the role in 1995.

In his role as Attorney General, Goldsmith has overseen some of Whitehall's most controversial legal decisions in recent years, including the ruling on the legality of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the move to terminate the Serious Fraud Office's investigation into BAE Systems' Saudi Arabian arms dealings, and the decision on whether prosecutions were necessary in the cash-for-honours affair.

His resignation was one of a string of cabinet departures towards the end of former Prime Minister Tony Blair's term and came in the same week that Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, Home Secretary John Reid and Cabinet Office minister Hilary Armstrong all stood down.

Fountain Court head of chambers Michael Brindle QC commented: "We are very pleased for him and we are sure he will be a great success. He wanted a more international role then he had before he became a minister, as well as having the opportunity to get involved in public law matters."

See Editors' Blog for more comment.

BSB throws spotlight on redress in complaints-handling push

The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has put the spotlight on complaints-handling in a
raft of moves designed to toughen up the policing of barristers' work.

The regulatory body announced last week (25 September) that details of disciplinary hearings against barristers will be published on the BSB website. Information including the name, Inn and date of call of the barrister as well as the time, date, type of hearing and relevant code of conduct paragraphs under which the charges have been laid are all set to be posted on the BSB website 14 days in advance of the hearing.

The new information is expected to complement the BSB's existing coverage of findings of guilt and resulting sentences, which are published on its website within seven days of a hearing.

BSB director Mark Stobbs said: "Our arrangements in the past have been criticised because it can be difficult to discover details of the hearings. This section of the
website will meet these concerns and provides further evidence of the BSB's determination that its regulatory arrangements should be transparent and open."

Meanwhile, consumers will be able to claim up to £15,000 in compensation if their barrister is deemed to have let them down, following the introduction of new measures by the BSB.

The move, which was announced last week (24 September) trebles the maximum compensation available for 'inadequate professional services' from £5,000 to the new benchmark.

The increase, which is due to take effect by the end of the year, follows a review by BSB's complaints redress working group, which made the recommendation in May.

It has also been agreed that the Bar disciplinary panels should be able to order barristers to apologise in the event of a complaint being upheld, whether or not that person was the barrister's client.

Commenting on the changes, BSB chair Ruth Evans said: "The BSB recognises that there are a small number of complainants who have suffered significant financial loss as a result of poor service and, as a result, it was appropriate for the compensation limit to be increased to provide the flexibility for those situations to be addressed."

In addition to these measures, the BSB launched a consultation earlier this month to look into proposals to improve the effectiveness of complaints-handling by chambers.

The consultation will be seeking responses to issues such as mandatory complaints procedures as well as the best way to promote complaints-handling training.

Evans said: "Effective complaints handling by chambers is in the public interest. Clients should be able to have confidence that a complaint sent to chambers directly will be dealt with in a transparent and fair manner."

Bar Council succeeds in regulatory amendments

The Bar Council has made headway in pushing through changes to the Legal Services Bill after the Ministry of
Justice tabled a number of amendments over the summer.

The Government has accepted that the Legal Services Board (LSB) should be appointed by the Lord Chancellor, having consulted the Lord Chief Justice (LCJ).

Bar Council chairman Geoffrey Vos QC said the agreement is a compromise – members of the Bar had lobbied for the LCJ's involvement in appointing the LSB to be mandatory.

Vos added: "After all, if the LCJ ever disagreed with the Lord Chancellor, he or she would be bound to make that disagreement public, and a situation would develop that would have to be resolved in Parliament."

The Government has also accepted in essence that barristers will not have to pay the costs of a complaint if they are cleared of the accusations against them.

The Government has also recognised the BSB's powers to investigate and advise on complaints against barristers and will make changes to the powers of the Office for Legal Complaints to accommodate this.

Vos said: "These developments are the culmination of a huge amount of work by the Bar Council's Clementi Group and are to be welcomed. We should now be able to go forward with a regulatory regime that we can support."