News in Brief

WOOLER RE-APPOINTED

The attorney general has reappointed Stephen Wooler as HM Chief inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate until 31 March 2010.

SECRETARIAL CAREERS

Legal secretaries are to have their own national competency standards and career structure for the first time. More than 40 law firms, legal regulatory bodies and other organisations are involved in the plans, which have been drawn up by the Institute of Paralegals in partnership with the Council for Administration. The standards are set at introductory, intermediate and advanced levels to match typical secretarial career development.

COMPLAINTS HANDLING

How chambers handle complaints will be monitored under a series of measures approved by the Bar Standards Board. Ruth Evans, the board’s chairman, says: “Chambers should be the first point of contact for dissatisfied clients and as such their complaints procedures need to be transparent, independent and fair.”

DRIVING SAFELY

The European Commis sion has revealed legislative plans to improve road safety and cross-border prosecution of traffic offences. Under the proposed Directive adopted earlier this month, EU drivers will potentially be identified and prosecuted for offences committed in a member state other than the one in which their vehicle is registered. Currently, a driver committing a highway code offence in a car registered in another EU country escapes prosecution. The proposed Directive, IP/08/464, covers speeding, drinkdriving, not wearing a seat belt and failing to stop at a red light—factors which are involved in nearly three-quarters of all road deaths. Jacques Barot, the Commission’s vice-president, says: “In 2001 we set ourselves the goal of reducing by half the number of deaths on our roads over a 10-year period. If we are to reach this target, we need to make additional efforts now.”