The Independent today reported that barristers who step out of line and find themselves before the Bar Standards Board on serious misconduct issues will be named and shamed.
“Under the scheme, barristers and the charges they are facing will be published along with the date and time of the tribunal hearing. All findings of guilt and resulting sentences will also be made public within seven days of the end of the hearing. Suspensions and disbarments will remain on the website indefinitely, with other findings removed after two years”
Minor misbehaviour will not be disclosed, nor will hearings involving alcohol, incapacity or health matters. Liability rises from £5000 to £15000 and there is also the possibility that a miscreant barrister will be made to apologise to the victim. Independent Story
Well… I feel I have done my bit for serious commentary this week. I have been assiduous in pursuing the new degree awarding powers of BPP story. I have done a podcast with Nigel Savage. I do a podcast with Peter Crisp of BPP at 9.00 tomorrow. I have invited Giles Proctor of Kaplan-Nottingham to do a podcast on the matter (and he has accepted)…. it is time, now, for me to have a glass of Rioja, set up an espresso and nip outside for a cigarette.
Rather bizarrely, a friend of mine suggested that smokers may well be advantaged by sitting outside smoking. Greater absorption of Vitamin D. I just can’t look up this hypothesis on the net, but I am able to relate that the weather is turning cold. I am prepared. I am thinking of buying a Naval Duffle Coat, of the style worn on the Atlantic Convoys in WW II and in the film The Cruel Sea. That should do the trick. I may even buy some binoculars so that I can keep an eye on those inside the pub or bar. And I quite like the look of those hats.
The news that Boris is to take on “King Newt” in the mayor grab is fascinating, in a ‘car crash’ sort of way.
Although I have voted Labour/New Labour all my voting life, I feel that London deserves a bit of Boris. Boris managed to win 3/4 of the vote for the Tory candidate nomination. Good to see democracy at work. Must have been a bit of a waste of time for the other candidates – but, democracy must be seen to be done. Gordon, of course, was not opposed – or should we say ‘Re-Hash Brown’ after the allegations today that Gordon’s speech writers copied bits of Clinton and Gore speeches for Brown’s Castro style Conference speech to the ‘believers’.
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I was amused to see a friend of mine, Chris McLaughlin, Editor of Tribune, on television last night explaining why a left-wing fringe meeting hosted by Tribune had been cancelled. It was absolutely nothing to do with the fact that there are, actually, no left-wing members of the Labour party now. The real reason was that a room booking had been messed up. Excellent stuff. Meanwhile, the Labour Party machine seemed to be ruthlessly airbrushing Tony “Who” Blair out of the proceedings and crushing all resistance from potential dissenters. There are only Brownnoseites now in Labour… possibly?
And so… to the news that Lord Goldsmith, the former Attorney General, has joined top US law firm Debevoise & Plimpton to head its European litigation practice. Times Story
Legal Week reports: “Lord Goldsmith himself dismisses allegations that his prime motivation was the lucrative pay-packet, claiming (probably accurately) that he could have made more money had he returned to the Bar”
What a start to the new academic and legal year. First Monday in October. Far more interesting this year than last October?
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My search logs for my blawg show, today, that three people reached my blog by searching the term “geeklawyer binge drinking”. I did, in fact, suggest on Geeklawyer’s blog the other night that the UK blogger social should not take place at Cafe Royal but at some other more interesting venue. I may have mentioned ‘binge-drinking’ in my post on GL’s blog. Why would anyone search Google to ask the question “Geeklawyer binge-drinking”? Geeklawyer enjoys drinking Mead. Chacun a son gout, as we like to say down at the Gulag. Mind you…why would anyone get to my blog after searching ‘airline stewardesses’? The net is a truly wondrous thing.
Please let me know who did this search and I will go and knee-cap them!
[…] fondness for a drop of mead is not going unobserved. One CharonQC’s visitors reached his site by Googling on the phrase Geeklawyer binge-drinking – one can understand why but frankly […]