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International Edition

Editor's Comment: Laissez very fair

It may seem an odd question at a time when US policymakers are gearing up for FDR-style interventionalism on Wall Street, but what was wrong with leaving the market to settle the issue of costs in complex commercial litigation? I ask because following the furore surrounding the collapse of BCCI creditors' case against the Bank of England back in November 2005, it became the widespread view among litigators and the judiciary that something must be done! With broadsheet condemnation ringing in the profession's ears, a working party chaired by Mr Justice Aikens was set up in 2006, ultimately producing fairly uncontroversial recommendations the following year.
2 minute read

International Edition

Bar Council chair Dutton takes Fountain Court helm

Bar Council chairman Timothy Dutton QC is to replace Michael Brindle QC as head of Fountain Court Chambers.Dutton will take the helm at Fountain Court on 1 October with Brindle stepping down at the end of this month when his five-year term comes to a close. Brindle, who will remain a tenant with Fountain Court, was joint head of chambers alongside Michael Lerego QC until 2007.Dutton will continue to serve as Bar Council chairman until the end of December, before being succeeded by 5 Raymond Buildings' joint head of chambers, Desmond Browne QC on 1 January, 2009.Dutton was called to the Bar in 1979, taking silk in 1998, and has a practice covering commercial, public law and professional negligence work. He was leader of the South Eastern Circuit between 2004 and 2006, during which time he was heavily involved in legal aid issues.Dutton, who will serve a five year term as head of chambers, said: "It is a privilege to be the head of such a distinguished set which is stabled with a great deal of talent in it." In April, Fountain Court appointed Old Square Chambers' senior clerk John Taylor to the newly-created position of director of clerking.
2 minute read

International Edition

Ex-Sullivan partner quits Bar over billing fraud

A former Sullivan & Cromwell partner has resigned from the New York Bar for billing his clients and firm more than $500,000 (£270,000) in fraudulent travel and entertainment expenses, reports the New York Law Journal. Carlos Spinelli-Noseda, a banking and finance specialist who joined Sullivan in 1994 and became a partner in 2003, is facing a disciplinary investigation over a pattern of improper billing dating from July 1998 to February 2008.In a 3 June affidavit of resignation, Spinelli-Noseda admitted he could not successfully defend himself against charges of professional misconduct. Such resignations are frequently tendered when further proceedings are almost certain to lead to disbarment.
3 minute read

International Edition

Trials disrupted as barristers boycott high-cost case panel

The Government is in crisis talks with the Bar Council after the poor uptake of the very high-cost criminal cases (VHCC) panel has threatened the number of major trials going ahead.The Ministry of Justice (MoJ), Bar Council and Legal Services Commission (LSC) are in last-ditch talks to bolster the VHCC panel after the majority of barristers boycotted the panel over poor fee arrangements. The shortage of barristers - only 110 advocates out of the 2,300 offered contracts signed up by April because of the reduced fees - has left a number of major criminal trials at risk of disruption and delay.Peter Lodder QC, chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, said: "Barristers have not signed up to the contract offered by the Legal Services Commission as fees have been set at such a low rate - ludicrous levels! As a result there are not enough people available on the panel to do the work." A working group comprising the MoJ, Bar Council and LSC has been set up to create a new system for the VHCC panel, which will come into effect from next July, but the Government is hoping to come up with an interim solution until that point to prevent disruption. Critics argue the current solution to the poor take-up - proposing that panel solicitors will be able to instruct non-panel barristers at negotiable fees that do not exceed those on the VHCC contract - has not worked. The Bar Council wants to see a graduated fees system which would effectively remunerate advocates per case rather than by the hour.The current VHCC contract offers QCs a rate of £476 for each day spent in court. Top junior barristers will receive £390 and a junior acting alone will be paid £285 per day. For preparatory work, silks will earn £91-£145 an hour while junior barristers can earn £43 a day. Earlier this year Bar Council chairman Timothy Dutton QC warned that lawyers do not provide commoditised services and said the proposed changes to the funding of certain cases in England and Wales could "create a second-class service unless we can agree an approach [that] recognises that a case is not a commodity".
2 minute read

International Edition

Swedish leaders cry foul as local Bar snubs conflicts reform agenda

The Swedish Bar Association has backtracked on its proposals to relax the regulations governing controlled auctions by allowing law firms to represent more than one bidder in an auction.The country's Bar Council voted against its own proposal of a compromised relaxation at a meeting last month (29 August). The decision has provoked criticism from significant players in the country including Linklaters and Vinge. The pair had lobbied the Bar Council, along with firms including Mannheimer Swartling, White & Case and Hammarskiold & Co, for the strict rules against acting for more than one client in a company auction to be changed. However, the council members opted to support small and mid-sized local firms opposing any relaxation of the rules on the grounds that it could cause them to lose market share, as well as leading to conflicts of interest and jeopardising lawyer integrity. Linklaters' former Stockholm head, Joergen Durban (pictured), who is set to leave the firm in November, hit out at the Bar Council's decision. He told Legal Week: "For Link-laters it is inconvenient that there are different rules in different jurisdictions. We want the same rules to apply wherever we operate. We need to carefully analyse this outcome to see what we will do next."
2 minute read

International Edition

BSB kicks off process to fill top two posts

The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has begun the hunt for a new chair and vice chair following the announcement today (10 September) that Ruth Evans and George Leggatt QC will not stand for another term. Evans and Leggatt - the BSB's inaugural chair and vice chair, are set to step down when their term ends on 31 December, after serving for three years in their respective roles.
1 minute read

International Edition

Commercial and Chancery Bar: An inequal footing

"The glass ceiling remains a serious problem at the Bar. There still appears to be a preference by some clients to instruct male barristers, particularly in the senior echelons of commercial work." This damning indictment from Tim Dutton QC, chairman of the Bar Council, echoes the belief of Cherie Booth QC that "the law is sexist" and a "very family-unfriendly" profession.
11 minute read

International Edition

Commercial and Chancery Bar: To the manor bought

As a result of the conversion of copyhold into freehold in 1926, manorial courts were no longer needed for the transfer of title and manors ceased to be of any practical significance. However, the title 'Lord of the Manor' was not abolished. Neither were most of the property rights vested in Lords of the Manor. In the latter part of the 20th century, pandering to the vanity of those people who were not content to be a plain 'Mr' or 'Mrs', lordships were put up for auction. Those selling the titles did not always exclude the property rights which pass as parcel of the lordship. This gave rise to a new breed of businessman who buys ancient titles at auction and then seeks to exploit commercially the property rights that come with the title.
6 minute read

International Edition

Commercial and Chancery Bar: Big brother, big bother?

On 15 July this year, the Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas, published his annual report. At the launch of the report he commented on the Government's proposed Communications Data Bill. Referring to media suggestions that the Bill would make provision for a massive government database holding details of everyone's telephone and internet communications, he stated that any such proposal would be "a step too far for the British way of life".
7 minute read

International Edition

Commercial and Chancery Bar: Counsel of choice

"We start with the proposition that it is desirable that a litigant should be free to instruct the lawyer of his choice." So begins the discussion section of the judgment of the Court of Appeal (Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, Lord Justices Jacob and Lloyd) in British Sky Broadcasting Group and another v Virgin Media Communications and others [2008] . A more detailed statement of this proposition is the 'powerful dictum' (as it was described by the Court of Appeal in Sarwar v Allam [2002]) of Mr Justice Neuberger in Maltez v Lewis [2000]: "It has always been a fundamental right of every citizen to be represented by advocate and/or solicitors of his or her choice. That right is not of course absolute; circumstances may cut it down.
6 minute read

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