The receiver and the corporate veil Self-defence and the force of the law CRIMINAL BAR QUARTERLY ISSUE 1 | SPRING 2013 Contempt in the News Clarifying the reforms in social media CONTEMPT OF COURT Asperger Syndrome Publication of The provisions for defendants 2 CONTENTS VIEW FROM THE EDITOR Spring 2013 - Issue 1 | Criminal Bar Quarterly CBA COMMITTEE MEMBERS FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE EXECUTIVE OFFICERS Chairman Director of Education 2 Friends in the House Michael Turner QC Jonathan Laidlaw QC John Cooper QC writes on recent events Vice - Chairman Equality and Diversity Nigel Lithman QC Director Treasurer Kim Hollis QC 3 Protecting the Public Interest Thomas Payne Director of International Michael Turner QC Secretary Affairs Amanda Pinto QC Dermot Keating 5 Let the Receiver Beware Assistant Secretary Toyin Salako Geraint Jones QC and Marc Glover ELECTED MEMBERS Silks 8 The Umbrella Condition Eleanor Laws QC Sally Anne Hales QC Patricia Lynch QC Orlando Pownall QC Legal issues for suspects and defendants with Asperger Syndrome, Professor Penny Cooper writes Over 7 years’ call Under 7 years’ call Jane Bickerstaff QC Katrina Jamieson Mark Bryant-Heron Helen Lyle 12 The Current Law on Self-defence Eleanor Mawrey (deputy Emma Stuart-Smith Equality and Diversity director) Richard Gibbs on the proposed reforms of the laws of self-defence Martin McCarthy ELECTED CBA SUPPORTED 14 Contempt in the News BAR COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVES Danielle Waddoup on reforming the law of contempt by publication Alex Carlile QC James Hines (Lord Carlile of Berriew QC) Edward Henry Paul Mendelle QC Hannah Kinch Nigel Sangster QC Sailesh Mehta Lesley Bates Neil Ross Max Hardy Nicholas Worsley CIRCUIT REPRESENTATIVES MIDLAND CIRCUIT NORTHERN CIRCUIT Ian Bridge Simon Csoka QC Tom Schofield Nicholas Kennedy Ben Williams Ian Whitehurst VIEW FROM THE EDITOR NORTH EASTERN CIRCUIT SOUTH EASTERN CIRCUIT Caroline Goodwin Charles Burton Claire Larton Rosina Cottage QC Ian West Phillipa Page Friends in the House WALES AND WESTERN CIRCUIT CHESTER CIRCUIT Kate Lumsdon Paul Lewis QC William Mousley QC Jonathan Elystan Rees Christopher Quinlan QC Owen Edwards Editor CO-OPTED MEMBERS John Cooper QC David Hislop QC Ruby Hamid James Wood QC Dean George Paul Bogan QC Mark Trafford Kerim Fuad QC Sophie Shotton t is ironic that, at a time when MPs or just as importantly with the public Michael Duck QC Tom Wainwright Iare attacking the criminal Bar in at large. Ex Officio Administration misinformed and misleading ways, they The recent debate on the value of the Chairman Max Hill QC Aaron J Dolan Secretary Nathaniel Rudolf [email protected] seem to be calling upon our services jury system is an example of how vital Treasurer Edmund Vickers with increasing frequency. it is that we get our views out there. Editor of CBQ Perhaps this is good news for The first edition of 2013, of CBQ is John Cooper Q.C the Bar because it will enable some packed with thought provoking articles PUBLISHING DETAILS politicians to see at close quarters from a wide range of criminal practice, the diligence, expertise and courage for instance, Geraint Jones QC and All submission and editorial inquiries to John Cooper, 25 Bedford Row, London, WC1R 4HD exemplified by the criminal Bar, day Marc Glover write on the Proceeds [tel] 020 8686 9141 [email] [email protected] CRIMINAL BAR QUARTERLY is the Journal of the Criminal Bar in, day out in courts throughout the of Crime Act and Professor Penny Association. It is published 4 times a year by LexisNexis on country. Cooper on the Gary McKinnon case behalf of the Criminal Bar Association. It should also be stressed that there and the issues provisions for defendants Magazine Editor: Diana Rose [email] [email protected] [tel 020 7400 2828] are an increasing number of people in with Asperger Syndrome. Head of Display Advertising: Charlotte Witherden Parliament, who recognize the value [email protected] 25 Bedford Row [tel] 020 8212 1980 [mobile] 07919 690362 of what we do and support the work we are doing protecting publically Printed by Headley Brothers Limited, Ashford, Kent. The views expressed here are not necessarily the This product comes from sustainable forest sources. funded representation. It should not be The views expressed by CBQ’s contributors or advertisers are views of the Criminal Bar Association. not necessarily those of the publishers or the CBA. assumed that we are without friends in © CBA ® 2013 elected quarters. Author Guidelines Editorial schedule for CBQ Summer 2013 It is so important that we get our All editorial copy to John Cooper by April 8th message across and Chair, Michael Please include a HiRes image of the author and Turner QC is extremely persuasive and contact details.Any queries, please contact [email protected] Cover image: Getty images Cover effective, whether it be in Parliament Criminal Bar Quarterly | Issue 1 - Spring 2013 CHAIRMANS COLUMN 3 Protecting the Public Interest be refused representation on the basis of race, creed, colour, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin or disability.” They argue: “This rule is clear and unambiguous. It protects clients and Chairmans column it can apply to all lawyers, and we see an Michael Turner QC equivalent in the SRA Handbook. It has no need of exceptions and exemptions, f the exposure of the culture of the and that obtained the contract by falsely which presently serve only to confound Iprivate sector in the running of publi- claiming it had reputed translators on its and confuse clients. For the purposes of cally funded services in the health sector, books when it did not. Its contract has the client and consumer representation has not taught politicians from all parties been taken over by Capita Translation will be supplied and access to justice and a very costly lesson, nothing will. The Services, which provides the same service the upholding of the rule of law would report by Robert Francis QC catalogued or lack of it. be ensured by the profession. It would be failures at every level, resulting in the Delays caused by a partly privatized practicable, within the English context, to unnecessary death of 1,200 people “ failed prison service which has cut so many augment the rule by including references by a system which ignored warning signs corners to maximize its profit it has one to type of client, the nature of the case/ and put corporate self-interest and cost con- van servicing five court centres. The crime or the defence required. These trol ahead of patients and their safety”. The Government is currently proposing to would deal with the original aspects current proposals envisage handing pub- return half of all magistrate prosecutions – unpopularity of clients and heinous lically funded legal services to the private to police officers. Some of you reading nature of crimes – of the cab rank rule sector. If the private sector values profit this will remember how disastrous that that have since been overshadowed by over lives, what will they do when they system was some 30 or so years ago arguments over funding.” are charged with defending someone’s leading to the formation of the Crown The differences between the cab rank liberty? There can only be one answer. Prosecution Service. rule and the new proposal are glaringly Is there a business in the world that obvious. One dictates that a barrister institutes cuts and then fails to assess the Taxpayer Conned shall not refuse a case for a proscribed effect of those cuts on its profitability? The taxpayer is being doubly conned. set of reasons, race, gender etc. The cab Of course there are none and yet that They pay just as much as they ever did rank rule requires a barrister to take is precisely what this and the last for a legal aid service which lets down a case that is within their knowledge Government have done when it comes victim and defender alike. The Prime and expertise providing they are free to to its cuts in the legal aid sector. The Minister has responded to the scandal in do so. There could be nothing clearer. costs of delays in our criminal system far the Mid-Staffordshire Health Trust by It effectively outlaws any form of outweigh any costs savings. indicating that nurses will now be paid discrimination whether it is in the list or Delays caused by a system of on performance in relation to patient not. The purpose behind the proposed disclosure that is now broken almost care. Before wrecking the Health Service change is to ensure that when the Bar is beyond repair. I was invited to discuss nurses and doctors did not have to be forced into work with the likes of Eddie with the Directors Office modification incentivized to do their work; they were Stobart, because they have the contract, to the Criminal Procedure Rules. I was part of a vocation and a profession whose the public will be forced to accept the present with Brian Altman QC and a only driver was the care of patients. The barrister they are given, provided he or senior solicitor. They informed us that parallels with what has happened to she has the necessary QASA badge. The it was their intention to expand upon the Health Service and what is about proposed rule would allow an Eddie their system that only one lawyer would to happen to criminal legal aid are, I Stobart employed barrister to turn a case be tasked with understanding the non- hope. obvious. We are now regulated down on the basis that the consumer has disclosed material in a given case. That by the BSB and the LSB which have been offered a suitably QASA badged lawyer would not be trial counsel and either no concept of the public interest advocate but turned him/her down, the would invariably not be present during or no care for it.