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29 March 2018 / Richard Hoyle
Issue: 7787 / Categories: Opinion , Legal aid focus , Profession , Criminal
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The Criminal Bar: diminishing returns?

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Without an injection of faith & finance from the government, Richard Hoyle predicts a bleak future for the young Criminal Bar

The Bar at its best offers the chance to work in an endlessly stimulating environment, made up of increasingly diverse and socially mobile individuals. It still has much to do in these fields, and in others, but progress is being made, and the Young Barristers’ Committee (YBC), which I chair, is an active part of that.

To greater or lesser degrees, barristers operate flexibly, and properly considered, are extremely cost efficient from a client perspective, whether that client is the state or a private party. In percentage terms, the overheads in the form of chambers contributions and rent are generally low, and the vast majority of the barrister’s time is spent on income generation, or career development work, rather than on tasks to which barristers are less well suited. Young barristers are increasingly entrepreneurial, seeking new ways in which to market themselves and to tailor their expertise for different audiences. This

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NEWS
The controversial Mazur ruling, which caused widespread uncertainty about the role of non-solicitors in litigation work, has been overturned on appeal
Two landmark social media cases in the US could influence social media regulation in the UK, lawyers predict
Barristers have urged the government to set up Nightingale-style specialist courts, with jury trials, to prioritise rape, sexual assault and domestic abuse trials
Victims of violent crimes who suffer life-changing injuries receive less than half the financial support today than those in the 1990s, according to a senior personal injury lawyer
Rising numbers of cases, an increase in litigants in person and an overall lack of investment is piling pressure on the family court, the Law Society has warned
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