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International Edition

The future of the Bar: Tipping points

'Core values' is a theme that traditionally features heavily at the Bar Council's annual conference. This year - with deep cuts looming to legal aid and huge upheaval expected with the implementation in 2011 of the Legal Services Act (LSA) - was no exception. Speakers including Kim Hollis QC and Lord Neuberger paid customary tribute to the concept, before Mayor of London Boris Johnson took to the stage to deliver a gag-filled address. With laughter still echoing around the Hilton Metropole on Edgware Road, delegates filed out into a foyer full of stalls from upmarket wealth management and luxury goods companies.
29 minute read

International Edition

Linklaters spin-off firm hires Bird & Bird litigation partner in Sweden

Linklaters' Swedish spin-off Kastell has hired Bird & Bird litigation partner Henrik Bielenstein. The hire gifts Kastell, which was launched earlier this month by former Linklaters competition partners Kent Karlsson and Erik Soederlind, with a litigation capacity.
2 minute read

International Edition

A serious man - the Bar makes a real attempt to modernise

It's far too easy to ridicule the Bar's attempts at modernisation, but I usually don't let that stop me. So it's personally disappointing that the Bar Council, under Nicholas Green QC, has moved to ditch the cosmetic attempts at flogging Brand Bar in favour of something far more substantive. The focal point of this was the blueprint Green unveiled in June in a wide-ranging report, The Future of the Bar. Don't let the title put you off - the 85-page report lives up to it in scope and ambition. The vision Green puts forward is relatively simple. The publicly-funded branch of the Bar is set to contract, alternative business models are needed to complement (but not replace) chambers and barristers must be ready to hugely expand their efforts to advise clients directly.
3 minute read

International Edition

Herbert Smith's Gold made Tory life peer ahead of consultancy launch

Herbert Smith's former senior partner David Gold is among a handful of lawyers to be made a life peer in the latest round of appointments announced today (19 November). Gold will take up his life peerage for the Conservative Party, with the appointment conferred by the Queen having been vetted by the House of Lords Appointments Commission. Gold's links to the Conservatives include last year sitting on the party's scrutiny committee looking into its MPs' expense claims.
3 minute read

International Edition

Eversheds helps Beatles and iTunes come together for downloading deal

Eversheds has taken a lead role on the negotiations that have seen The Beatles agree to make their music available to download on iTunes, reports The Am Law Daily. The deal was announced yesterday (16 November) by Apple, EMI - the band's record label - and The Beatles' company, Apple Corps, with the agreement bringing an end to years of speculation as to when the group would embrace the digital downloading revolution. Apple Corps turned to Eversheds for advice on the negotiations, with commercial litigation partner Nick Valner advising alongside senior associate Neil Mohring.
2 minute read

International Edition

Hanging up my wig - an ex-barrister on why he chose to jump the track

Three months after my pupillage finished in 2002, I decided to 'cross the floor' to become an assistant solicitor. A few years later I re-qualified, and now, as a senior associate at Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (RPC), I look back with no regrets. Unsure about the long term after leaving school, I knew I wanted to go to Edinburgh University. There was no point in studying law there, so I did philosophy and politics instead, with a view to possibly converting afterwards.
8 minute read

International Edition

UCL launches institute to teach students about workings of the judicial system

The University College London (UCL) Faculty of Laws is launching the UK's first-ever judicial institute, in an effort to help law students better understand the judicial system and its workings. The institute, which is launching with immediate effect, will be dedicated to the study of how judges are appointed, how they reach decisions, the operation of the courts, and the relationship between the judiciary, other social institutions and other branches of government.
2 minute read

International Edition

MoJ details legal aid cuts and plans for Jackson reforms: market reaction

The Ministry of Justice today (15 November) unveiled plans to withdraw public funding from swathes of civil cases as part of the Government's plan to slice £350m from the annual legal aid bill. The move will be coupled with a substantial shake-up of civil litigation that is set to see the MoJ implement the majority of the funding reforms proposed earlier this year by Lord Justice Jackson in his much-touted report. Unveiling the proposals, MoJ minister Jonathan Djanogly said that civil aid funding will be redrawn from most cases involving family disputes, debt, education, immigration, employment, housing, welfare and benefit cases.
9 minute read

International Edition

UK Bar should remain independent despite the Legal Services Act

In September, the Bar Standards Board (BSB) launched its third consultation addressing the implications of the Legal Services Act (LSA). The Bar Council (via its specifically-appointed task force) has been monitoring the process and canvassing the views of the profession to ensure the most advantageous future for everyone concerned. The general feeling among barristers at the criminal Bar has been that there will be an inexorable drift towards much closer ties with forms of solicitors. The principal reasons for this are self-evident. It was thought that prosecution work would be increasingly handled by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) while most of the larger firms of criminal solicitors were organising themselves to bring much of their advocacy work in-house.
3 minute read

International Edition

Clydes expands New Jersey arm with hire of partner trio

Clyde & Co has grown its New Jersey arm with the hire of three litigation partners from local firm Connell Foley. Bryan Couch, Jeff O'Hara and Matthew Bauer, all of whom are litigators with a focus on insurance, joined the firm last month, taking the number of partners in the office to five.
2 minute read

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