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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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NEWS
Criminal juries may be convicting—or acquitting—on a misunderstanding. Writing in NLJ this week Paul McKeown, Adrian Keane and Sally Stares of The City Law School and LSE report troubling survey findings on the meaning of ‘sure’
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has narrowly preserved a key weapon in its anti-corruption arsenal. In this week's NLJ, Jonathan Fisher KC of Red Lion Chambers examines Guralp Systems Ltd v SFO, in which the High Court ruled that a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) remained in force despite the company’s failure to disgorge £2m by the stated deadline
As the drip-feed of Epstein disclosures fuels ‘collateral damage’, the rush to cry misconduct in public office may be premature. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke of Hill Dickinson warns that the offence is no catch-all for political embarrassment. It demands a ‘grave departure’ from proper standards, an ‘abuse of the public’s trust’ and conduct ‘sufficiently serious to warrant criminal punishment’
Employment law is shifting at the margins. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ this week, Ian Smith of Norwich Law School examines a Court of Appeal ruling confirming that volunteers are not a special legal species and may qualify as ‘workers’
Refusing ADR is risky—but not always fatal. Writing in NLJ this week, Masood Ahmed and Sanjay Dave Singh of the University of Leicester analyse Assensus Ltd v Wirsol Energy Ltd: despite repeated invitations to mediate, the defendant stood firm, made a £100,000 Part 36 offer and was ultimately ‘wholly vindicated’ at trial
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