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31 March 2021 / Jane Bewsey KC
Issue: 7927 / Categories: Features , Legal services , Covid-19 , Profession
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A year like no other: a chambers’ perspective

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How have chambers changed in the face of the COVID crisis? One year on, Jane Bewsey QC of Red Lion Chambers provides a status report

With 23 March 2020 marking the anniversary of the first lockdown, it seems like a good time to look back over the year of COVID-19—and what a very long year it has felt. In April 2020, I wrote about how our chambers, Red Lion Chambers (RLC), was coping with the nature of the crisis and what impact it was expected to have on our work and working practices. I wrote at a time when the courts were shut, the work pipeline had been turned off, and there were very real fears about the future survival prospects for many chambers and individuals practising at the independent Bar.

One year on, we have seen some courts reopening, we have learnt how to do remote hearings, and Teams/Zoom meetings have become a routine part of all our lives. Each of us has had our

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Gary Walsh

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Gary Walsh

Marine finance partner strengthens Penningtons Manches Cooper's banking and finance practice

Anthony Collins—20 promotions

Anthony Collins—20 promotions

20 promotions mark major people investment at national law firm, Anthony Collins

Sidley—Elaine Whiteford

Sidley—Elaine Whiteford

Sidley adds competition litigator Elaine Whiteford in London

NEWS
The cross-party Justice Select Committee has warned legal aid is now a ‘service in managed decline’ due to ministers’ ‘inadequate’ and ‘disappointing’ response to its concerns
It would not be in the public interest to bring contempt proceedings against MI5 for providing unreliable evidence about its policy of ‘neither confirming nor denying’ someone worked for the intelligence services, the High Court has held
The Civil Justice Council has recommended a practice direction (PD) be drawn up to advise lawyers on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in court documents
Courts modernisation champion and technology enthusiast Sir Geoffrey Vos has retired after an extraordinary career
Practitioners have welcomed two autumn budget reforms relating to inheritance tax on pensions
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