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05.Apr.2012

A lawyer who works for West Sussex County Council and a leading legal publisher has been named Young Solicitor of the Year in local government.

Kirsten Maslen works three days a week for the local authority and two days a week for PLC. At West Sussex she leads a team that provides a one-stop shop for the council's projects, procurement and legal advice.

The other finalists, who were commended for their work, were Sancho Brett of Cornwall Council and Lia Musto-Shinton of Wakefield Council.

Bev Cullen, Chair of Solicitors in Local Government, said: “The standard of applications was very high this year and Kirsten is a worthy winner. The award reflects the high quality work that is undertaken by young solicitors working in local government that is largely unrecognised in the wider legal community.”

The award, which has been running since 2005 and is sponsored by law firm Trowers & Hamlins, was presented last Friday at the Weekend School at the University of Warwick.

It is intended to “recognise the unique and valuable contribution that young solicitors make to their authorities and their communities”. The award is open to any local government solicitor who has up to 10 years’ post qualification experience.

Malcolm Iley, partner at Trowers and chair of the judges, said: "The judges look for evidence of innovation, material impact on an authority's performance, and best practice and/or contribution to raising the profile of local government lawyers. Kirsten more than demonstrated this and is a well-deserving winner."

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29.Mar.2012

Peers have called for a key part of the Equality Act 2010 to be applied to judicial appointments in a bid to create a more diverse judiciary.

In a report published this week the House of Lords Constitution Committee acknowledged that appointment based on merit was vital and should continue.

But the peers added that s. 159 of the 2010 Act would “allow the desire to encourage diversity to be a relevant factor where two candidates are found to be of equal merit”.

Arguing that a more diverse judiciary would improve public trust and confidence in the justice system, the committee also recommended that:

• The Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice should be placed under a duty to encourage diversity amongst the judiciary. This is already the case for the Judicial Appointments Committee (JAC);
• There should be a greater commitment on the part of the Government, the judiciary and the legal professions to encourage applications for the judiciary from lawyers other than barristers. “Being a good barrister is not necessarily the same thing as being a good judge”, the report said;
• The introduction of targets for the number of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) and women judges should be looked at again in five years “if significant progress has not been made”;
• The Lord Chancellor’s role in individual appointments should be limited. The power to reject nominations for posts below the High Court should be transferred to the Lord Chief Justice;
• A system of formal appraisals for judges should be introduced;
• The retirement age for the most senior judges – in the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal – should be raised to 75. The age for all other judges should stay at 70.

The committee ruled out suggestions that judicial candidates should be subject to US-style pre- or post-appointment parliamentary hearings.

“Political considerations would undoubtedly influence both the parliamentarians chosen to sit on the panels and the questions put to candidates,” it said.

The report cited statistics showing that in 2011 only 5.1% of judges were BAME and just 22.3% were women.

Baroness Jay, a member of the Constitution Committee, said: “It is vital that the public have confidence in our judiciary. One aspect of ensuring that confidence is a more diverse judiciary that more fully reflects the wider population. That even by 2011 only 5% of judges were from minority groups and only 22% were women suggest there is still work to be done in this area.”

She added that support for flexible working within the judiciary would be a good start to encouraging diversity.

“It is also important that solicitors, who are a more representative group of society than barristers, do not face any impediments to a career in the judiciary,” the Baroness added.

JAC Chairman Christopher Stephens said judicial diversity was increasing but faster progress would take “concerted and innovative action” from many different bodies, including the legal professions and the judiciary itself.

He added: “I am pleased to see the Committee recommend extending opportunities for flexible working and career breaks and increasing judicial appraisal. We have already planned to review the new protocol agreed with the senior judiciary for designating Deputy High Court judges and will do so within three years. The JAC is also considering how section 159 of the Equality Act could work in practice.”

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23.Mar.2012

The Bar Standards Board and the Solicitors Regulation Authority have patched up their differences over the structure of the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates.

This means that the joint assurance scheme for criminal advocacy will begin in summer 2012, with advocates notifying the regulators – the BSB, the SRA and ILEX Professional Standards – that they will seek accreditation.

Earlier this month the BSB publicly urged the “minority advocacy regulators” to press ahead with the scheme.

But it appears that the board has conceded on the main sticking point, which was the SRA’s suggestion that plea-only advocates should be allowed to undergo assessment by assessment centre only in order to do non-trial work above which they are judicially assessed to perform.

“Live evaluation by judges for all advocates who undertake Crown Court trials will be a central element of assessment,” the three regulators said in a joint statement.

A final consultation is also to be issued. Judicial evaluation will be phased in from late 2012 and available on all circuits by late summer 2013.

The three regulators said the scheme would see ongoing monitoring, evaluation and data gathering on all aspects for two years from implementation. The scheme will then be reviewed and amended, if that proves necessary.

SRA Chief Executive Antony Townsend said: "I am delighted that we are proceeding with a joint scheme for the quality assurance of advocacy in the criminal courts. This is a vital step to ensure that all those who are reliant upon advocacy services are able to access competent advocates to undertake their work.”

According to data provided by the regulators, there are around 8,500 criminal advocates providing defence and prosecution services in the Crown Courts in England and Wales. Of these, 2,500 are solicitor advocates and 6,000 are barristers.

Another 10,000 or so solicitors, CILEx Advocates and CPS associate prosecutors provide advocacy services in the Magistrates' Courts.

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16.Mar.2012

A high-profile former local government lawyer is considering standing as directly-elected mayor of Birmingham if the city votes in favour of the role in a referendum in two months’ time.

Mirza Ahmad, former Corporate Director of Governance at Birmingham City Council and now a tenant at St Philips Chambers, is actively calling for a ‘yes’ vote on 3 May.

Writing on The Chamberlain Files last month, Dr Ahmad said he had been asked by a number of people whether he would stand.

“This is, of course, an inappropriate question – at this stage – as Birmingham must first vote in a referendum to have an elected mayor before any candidates can stand to become an elected mayor,” he wrote.

He added: “It is, however, true that I have had lots of positive feedback and been encouraged to stand as there needs to be a ‘credible alternative’ to the current usual suspects from the ‘old’ and out of touch political parties.

“It all depends, therefore, if Birmingham elects to have an elected mayor, and as previously declared, I hope the electorate see the advantages of having one running Birmingham.”

Dr Ahmad said he would prefer to run for directly-elected mayor as an independent candidate as no single political party represented all of his views. He also argued that parties were likely to consider the ‘usual suspects’ as their candidates.

In the article Dr Ahmad went on to set out his seven guiding principles for pursuing effective policies for Birmingham’s success.

In a previous posting, he said the strongest argument for a directly elected mayor was “the direct electoral mandate that such person will command for representing the whole city – not just the views of a narrow political party, as currently happens with existing politicians”.

Dr Ahmad said he had been in favour of directly-elected mayors since a study tour to the US in the early 1990s.

If the referendum on 3 May delivers a 'yes' vote, then elections for the post will be held on 15 November.

St Philips is meanwhile to hold its inaugural Local Authority Law Conference on 31 May, with presentations from QCs and other barristers in a wide range of areas including judicial review and governance, housing and community safety, trading standards and public health, and children and social services law. For full details, click here.

The set also launched a formal alliance with Leeds set Chancery House Chambers this month.

“The geographical combination of both sets means the Alliance can offer its services to a wider national clientele in its specialist areas,” the two chambers said.

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06.Mar.2012

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has vowed to learn the lessons from a chaotic first year of online renewal of practising certificates.

The watchdog was forced to extend the deadline for renewals until the end of February 2012 after problems with the mySRA system. The original deadline was in October 2011.

The SRA admitted today [6 March] that the process – which replaced the old, paper-based system – had “not run as smoothly as the SRA had hoped”.

It said a comprehensive review would be carried out to “keep any frustrations the profession face next time to a minimum”

The SRA is kicking off the review with an online survey that asks for “constructive and structured” feedback from the profession over its experiences of mySRA in recent months.

The watchdog said it would use this information to prioritise the issues that should be looked at. It also plans to hold a series of workshops across the country.

Mike Jeacock, SRA Chief Operating Officer, said: "Changing the way we carried out the renewals process was wholly necessary and the introduction of mySRA in the long run will save everyone time and money. However, we have no illusions about how frustrating this year's renewals process has been, for all concerned, and we want to avoid a similar situation next time around.

"So we're conducting this review as promptly as possible so we can incorporate the lessons learned quickly. The review will hopefully allow us to identify those problems that affected the profession most, and therefore draw up solutions.”

Jeacock admitted that the SRA would not be able to address every issue raised. "We have to focus first on those problems that, if alleviated, will benefit the majority, so as we say, we'll be prioritising the issues and dealing with those first," he said.

The online survey can be found here.

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01.Feb.2012

Solicitors in Local Government has launched its search for the Young Solicitor of the Year for 2012.

The award, which has been running since 2005, aims to “recognise the unique and valuable contribution that young solicitors make to their authorities and their communities”. It is sponsored by law firm Trowers & Hamlins.

Last year’s winner was Naomi Bentley-Lawson, a child protection solicitor at Warwickshire County Council.

The award is open to any local government solicitor who has up to 10 years' post qualification experience.

Nominations can be made by the applicant, their manager, a client officer or member or other local authority representative. The nomination form is available on the SLG’s website.

The judges will look for evidence of:

• Innovation;
• A material impact on an authority’s performance;
• Best practice; and/or
• A contribution to raising the profile of local government lawyers.

The closing date for applications is Friday 24 February 2012.

The winner will be unveiled at the SLG’s annual dinner on 30 March 2012, during the Weekend School at the University of Warwick. Special commendations have been made in the past as well, where the judges feel more than one applicant is worthy of recognition.

In addition to being named Young Solicitor of the Year, the winner will receive a Red Letter Days experience of their choice.

Any queries should be directed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. at the Law Society.