NIPC News

Author   Chensiyuan   Licence CC BY-SA 3.0   Source Wikimedia Commons   Jane Lambert The scheme known as direct or public access by which members of the public may approach barristers without first instructing a solicitor or other intermediary came into being on 1 July 2004. The 20th anniversary of the start of that scheme has coincided with the Bar Council's launch of a new Direct Access Portal  and three YouTube videos entitled What is Direct Access? , What does a Direct Access Barrister do?  and How to use the Direct Access Portal?    I was one of the first barristers to qualify for direct access.  I received my first instructions through the scheme within days of finishing the course.   I have continued to receive a flow of direct access work ever since. The scheme implemented the recommendations of a report by a working party chaired by Sir Sydney Kentridge KC with the title  Competition in Professions.  The   re...

St Salvator's College, St Andrews © 2018 Jane Elizabeth Lambert:  All rights reserved:   Jane Lambert It is often forgotten that law was once taught at St Andrews though not always in the town itself. St Andrews lost its law school in 1967 when Queen's College in Dundee became a separate university. Many St Andreans continued to make their way to the law after 1967 but they obtained their legal education elsewhere. In 2015. an Institute of Legal and Constitutional Research was established at St Andrews.  According to its website, it is "the home of outstanding cross-disciplinary research in the fields of law, legal history and constitutionalism."  The Institute's website also states that the University is home to a vibrant student law society .  I visited that society's website and noticed that its  partners included several leading law firms but no English or Welsh chambers or Scottish stables.  Curious as to why that should be, I contacted the soci...