Chambers Blog

New Walk Chambers is currently taking applications for Third Six Pupillages.

Direct access for Chambers to lay clients has been extended as per the following press release from the Bar Council:

1 April 2010

The Legal Services Board approves Bar Standards Board applications designed to relax provisions in Code of Conduct for barristers' working practices  
Significant changes to the Code of Conduct now for the first time permit barristers to:
�¡Become managers of Legal Disciplinary Practices (LDPs)
�¡Work in partnerships
�¡Work in both a self-employed capacity and employed capacity at the same time (although not in the same case)
�¡Hold shares in LDPs
�¡Share premises and office facilities with others
�¡Investigate and collect evidence and witness statements
�¡Attend police stations
�¡Conduct correspondence
In addition, there has been a significant extension to the Public Access Scheme.
The Legal Services Board (LSB) approved three applications, submitted by the BSB, that change or relax provisions in the Code of Conduct relating to barristers' working practices. The code amendments and the guidance approved by the LSB take immediate effect.
The LSB (which has taken over responsibility to approve such amendments from the Ministry of Justice), approved the following applications:
�¡LDP Application - This application arises from the Board decisions in November 2009 to permit barristers to work as managers in Legal Disciplinary Practices (LDPs), to work in a ‘dual capacity', to hold shares in LDPs, to work in partnerships.
�¡The Structure of Self-Employed Practice Application - This application also arose from the November 2009 Board meeting and in many ways complements the first by enabling the Bar to offer services to consumers in a variety of flexible ways, including permitting barristers to: share premises and office facilities with others, investigate and collect evidence and witness statements, attend police stations, conduct correspondence.
 
�¡The Public Access Scheme Application - This application follows the review of the public access scheme in 2009.  It is a further set of changes designed to enable greater direct access to barristers' services for consumers and permits barristers to: offer services in an enlarged area and to engage in correspondence between parties.
Commenting on the LSB's approval of the BSB's Code amendments, Baroness Deech, BSB Chair, said:
"The BSB is committed to making appropriate changes to permitted practice at the Bar to benefit its clients in terms of greater access to barristers' services, broadening the range of services available from the Bar, giving consumers more choice and bringing down costs whilst maintaining the high standards associated with the Bar. The BSB is therefore very pleased that the LSB has approved these three applications as submitted."
 
Notes to the Editor
1.The following link takes you to application decisions on the Legal Services Board's website:
http://www.legalservicesboard.org.uk/what_we_do/regulation/applications.htm
2. For more information please contact the Bar Standards Board Press Office on 020 7067 0123
3.Visit the Bar Standards Board website at www.barstandardsboard.org.uk

In late February new laws came into force to stem illegal working in the UK. The changes to the Asylum, Immigration and Nationality Act 2006 provided for employers knowingly employing illegal workers to be given large fines or be imprisoned for up to two years. Recent statistics shows that in the two months since the new powers came into force, the UK Border Agency has caught out 137 employers. This is 10 times the figure from 2007. Businesses can protect themselves by taking simple steps to verify which employees can legitimately work in the UK under current immigration law.

Written by Fayyaz Afzal, Barrister at New Walk Chambers, specialising in Immigration Law.

Rule 297 of the Immigration Rules (HC 395) contains the requirements for leave to enter as a child of a parent, parents or a relative present and settled (or being admitted for settlement) in the United Kingdom.  This Rule clarifies the criteria that needs to be satisfied prior to permission for leave to enter and remain are granted.

One of the requirements is that under R 297 (v), the child can, and will, be maintained adequately by the parent, parents or relative the child is seeking to join, without recourse to public funds.

In the recent case of MW (Liberia) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2007] EWCA Civ 1376, (2008) Times, 15 January, the Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal by a 13 year old child, under the Immigration Rules (HC 395).  The mother had no income and instead relied on state benefits.  There were third parties who were willing to give the mother money in order to support her child.  The Court of Appeal held that the requirement of Rule 297 is not met if the child shows he will be maintained by adequate financial support from one or more third parties.  Tuckey LJ confirmed that this was true even if the money was given to the parent to enable the child to be maintained. 

MW was indeed remitted under Article 8 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, but not under the Immigration Rules. 

Written by Kajal Dasani, Barrister at New Walk Chambers, specialising in Immigration and Civil Law.