The Bar Council
The abbreviated name for The General Council of the Bar of England and Wales. It is the authorised body under the terms of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 for regulation of the barrister's profession and the certification of its members to exercise rights of audience in the courts. Its regulatory powers extend to legal education and responsibility for validation of the institutions offering the Bar Vocational Course (BVC).

Bar Council's Education and Training Department
All aspects of training and qualification for the Bar.

Pupillage vacancies in England and Wales
The Bar Council site providing access to all pupillage vacancies in England and Wales. It is packed with information from chambers offering pupillages as well as handy hints.

Bar Pro Bono Unit
Established in 1996 to provide pro bono – free – legal advice and representation in deserving cases where public funding (Legal Aid) is not available or where the applicant is unable to afford legal assistance.

Western Circuit Free Representation Unit (FRU)
Free representation or pro bono work has been undertaken on the Western Circuit since its inception in 1993 and was based on a similar unit established some 3 years earlier by the Northern Circuit.

The Inns of Court
The Inns of Court are institutions which for centuries have had a special place in the English legal structure. The proper title of each Inn is 'The Honourable Society of . . . .', whether it be Gray's Inn, the Inner Temple, Lincoln's Inn or the Middle Temple. They are voluntary societies, bound by the same rules and founded upon similar constitutions. Although the four Inns are equal in rank and status, they nevertheless retain their own traditions and customs.

Gray's Inn
There has been law teaching on the site of Gray’s Inn since the reign of Edward III. The first habitation known to have been on or close to the site of the present Hall was the Manor House of the ancient Manor of Portpole, meaning "the market by the lake". The Manor House was the London residence of the De Grey family, who had strong links with the Wales and Chester Circuit, and a number of lawyers and their families came to live and work here and formed the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn.

Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple occupies the eastern half of a site, known as the Temple, which was chosen by the crusading Knights Templar in the twelfth century as their London headquarters. The round church which they constructed there, modelled on the Church of St. Sepulchre in Jerusalem, still forms part of the Temple Church. By the mid-fourteenth century, when the royal courts became permanently sited in Westminster, the Temple had become a home for lawyers who formed two societies there, the Inner and the Middle Temple, each occupying one of the halls constructed by the Templars on the site. Their status was formally recognised in 1608, when James I granted the land jointly to them in perpetuity for the accommodation, entertainment and education of students and practitioners of the law. Further Education plea - click here.

Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is said to take its name from Henry de Lacy, third Earl of Lincoln, who died in 1311. His own great house was adjacent and he is credited with being the Society's patron. Although the other three Inns of Court are of comparable antiquity, having evolved from uncertain origins in the fourteenth century, Lincoln's Inn can claim the oldest extant records, the Black Books, which record its principal activities from 1422 to this day. The Inn lies to the north of the Strand (and the two Temples) and to the south of High Holborn (and Gray's Inn). The present character of Lincoln's Inn owes much to the fact that its precincts and buildings - the medieval Hall and Gateway abutting onto Chancery Lane, the late seventeenth century New Square in the centre, and the magnificent Victorian gothic Great Hall and Library beside Lincoln's Inn Fields - survived nearly unscathed the devastations of the Blitz.

Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple ("the Inn") occupies the western half of the land known as the Temple formerly the London headquarters of the Knights Templar which lies between Fleet Street and the Embankment on the edge of the City of London. The Middle Temple has occupied its present site since the mid-14th century when this Society rented the land from the Knights Hospitaller, who had acquired it following the fall of the Knights Templar. After the Reformation the Temple became the property of the Crown until 1608 when King James I conveyed the lands of the Temple to the Societies of Inner Temple and Middle Temple. The records of the Inn date back to 1501.

Inns of Court School of Law (ICSL)
The Inns of Court School of Law, based in and around Gray's Inn, became part of City University in 2001. It is the first law school in London to educate students and practitioners at all stages of legal education. Originally the Council of Legal Education (CLE), which had been established by the Inns of Court in 1852, was entrusted with the power and duty of superintending the education and examination of students. ICSL was formally established in 1967, becoming an incorporated body in 1996. The following year the CLE transferred most of its responsibilities and assets to ICSL. CLE's responsibility for supporting education and training for the Bar was passed to a new body, the Inns of Court and Bar Educational Trust (ICBET), while its regulatory function was passed to the General Council of the Bar.

Inner Temple Library
The library provides a number of services for Inner Temple members - barristers, judges and students - and for barrister members of the other Inns of Court.

Inner Temple Further Education Department
Would you like to encourage undergraduates in your area to undertake a career at the Bar? Can you offer advice and assistance to BVC students? If you can help the Further Education department at the Inner Temple, please click here for further details.

Acts of the UK Parliament
Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) (formerly known as Her Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO)). The aim of their website is to publish all new Acts of the UK Parliament on the Internet simultaneously with or, at least within 24 hours of their publication in printed form. However, any document which is especially complex in terms of its size or its typography may take longer to prepare.

Army Legal Services (ALS)
The Army Legal Services is a Branch of the Adjutant General's Corps. It role is to provide the Army with the Legal Support it requires both in peacetime and on operations. All ALS Officers are fully qualified barristers or solicitors prior to commissioning. Many of the functions of the ALS were once carried out by the Judge Advocate General, whose own origins can be traced back to Medieval times. It was however the 17th century when the 'Marshal's Court' became the 'court martial' and the 'Advocate of the Army' first took responsibility for one of the main functions of ALS today - namely preparing the case for the prosecution of soldiers under Military Law.

Assets Recovery Agency (ARA)
The Assets Recovery Agency was established under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 with specific powers used to make sure crime doesn’t pay. These powers include the training and accreditation of financial investigators; specialist investigation to recover the proceeds of crime through criminal confiscation, civil proceedings and tax.

Charity Commission
The Charity Commission is established by law as the independent regulator for charitable activity in England and Wales. Unusually for a regulator, the Commission has quasi-judicial functions, and may, regarding a number of its powers, exercise the same jurisdiction and powers as are exercisable by the High Court.

Citizens Advice
The Citizens Advice service helps people resolve their legal, money and other problems by providing free, independent and confidential advice, and by influencing policymakers. Every Citizens Advice Bureau is a registered charity reliant on trained volunteers.

Commission for Judicial Appointments
The Commission is an independent body set up in 2001 to review the judicial and Queen's Counsel appointment procedures, and investigate complaints about the operation of those procedures.

Court Information and Addresses
Information includes a court's address and facilities, opening hours, contact details, how to get there and information relating to court type e.g. Civil, Family.

HM Courts Service (HMCS)
An executive agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), responsible for the administration of the civil, family and criminal courts in England & Wales.

Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC)
The independent public body set up to investigate suspected miscarriages of justice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA)
The Non-Departmental Public Body which administers the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme throughout England, Scotland and Wales.

Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel (CICAP)
CICAP is a non-executive Non-Departmental Public Body and a non-statutory tribunal with around 100 part-time Panel Members at any one time. Independent of CICA, the Panel’s role is to determine appeals against decisions made by CICA solely arising from claims for compensation for criminal injuries made on and after 1 April 1996 under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme.

Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)
Responsible for prosecuting criminal cases investigated by the police in England & Wales.

Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (CPSI)
The CPSI is an independent, statutory body responsible for inspecting and reporting on the operation of the CPS. Its inspection process aims to drive upwards the efficiency and effectiveness of the CPS through the process of inspection and evaluation, the provision of advice, and the identification and promotion of good practice.

Department of Trade & Industry (DTI)
The DTI is one of the main economic Departments of Government. The DTI Solicitor is the legal adviser to the Department and all its Executive Agencies: Companies House, the Insolvency Services, the Patent Office, the Radio-communications Agency, and the National Weights and Measures Laboratory). He leads a team including some 130 lawyers.

Employment Law advice
Daniel Barnett's website for solicitors and businesses who are seeking information about employment law, and about what a specialist employment law barrister can do to help defend employment claims and avoid employment disputes.

Family Law Week
General Editor, Stephen Wildblood Q.C. (a Western Circuiteer)
The current awareness and training site dedicated to Family Law. Selected cases 2005 onwards are available in digest or judgment form, as are judgments in earlier cases referred to on the site. Also a legislation updater with links to text of Statutory Instruments and Bills, an archive of articles 2005 onwards, and an archived newsletter March 2005 onwards, as well as a news service.

Food Standards Agency (FSA)
The FSA is a non-Ministerial Government Department which was established in 2000. Its main objective, set out in section 1 of the Food Standards Act 1999, is to protect public health from risks which may arise in connection with the consumption of food and otherwise to protect the interests of consumers in relation to food. A small legal team of 8 lawyers provide in-house legal services to the FSA and to the Meat Hygiene Service which is an Executive Agency of the FSA.

Government Legal Service (GLS)
The GLS includes almost all the major Departments of State, Regulatory bodies and other Governmental organisations. It employs nearly 2000 lawyers and trainees who work in some 40 Government organisations, from Departments of State like the Home Office to public bodies such as the Office of Fair Trading.

Hansard
The Official Report (Hansard) is the edited verbatim report of proceedings in both Houses of Parliament. Commons Hansard covers proceedings in the Commons Chamber, Westminster Hall and Standing Committees. Lords Hansard covers proceedings in the Lords Chamber and its Grand Committees.

Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) are responsible for protecting people from most of the risks to health and safety arising from work activity in Britain. HSE employs about 25 lawyers, split into two divisions; the Advisory and Drafting Division, and the Litigation and Corporate Advisory Division.

Home Office
The government department responsible for internal affairs in England and Wales. It works to build a safe, just and tolerant society, to enhance opportunities for all, and to ensure the protection and security of the public is maintained.

House of Lords Judgments
The House of Lords is the final court of appeal on points of law for the whole of the United Kingdom in civil cases; and for England, Wales and Northern Ireland in criminal cases. Judgments delivered since 14 November 1996 are available on their website.

Information Commissioner's Office
The Information Commissioner is an independent official appointed by the Crown to oversee the Data Protection Act 1998, the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

Judge Advocate General (JAG)
The main duties of the Judge Advocate General are to appoint judge advocates to conduct proceedings at Service Courts and judicial officers to hear custody applications and applications for search warrants. In addition, he is responsible for giving the Army and Royal Air Force reviewing authorities post trial advice on courts-martial, and for the keeping of courts-martial records of proceedings. He also has a broad residual duty to monitor the Army and Royal Air Force criminal justice systems to ensure that they work fairly, properly and efficiently.

Judiciary of England and Wales
An insight into the working lives of the judicial office holders in England and Wales.

Judicial Studies Board (JSB)
Set up in 1979, the JSB is directly responsible for training full and part-time judges in England and Wales, and for overseeing the training of Lay magistrates and chairmen and members of Tribunals. An essential element of the philosophy of the JSB is that the training of judges and magistrates is under judicial control and directions.

Land Registry
The Land Registry is responsible for registering title to freehold and leasehold land in England and Wales and for giving effect on the register to all subsequent dealings. Some 180 lawyers employed in the Land Registry resolve a variety of problems on first registration and on dealings with registered land. These involve a wide range of legal questions and the handling of disputes. They also advise on wider legal issues that affect the Department.

Law Commission
The statutory independent body created to keep the law under review and to recommend review where it is needed.

Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers
The Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers' objective is to provide high-grade legal advice and support to the Attorney General and the Solicitor General (the Law Officers). The Attorney General, assisted by the Solicitor General, is the chief legal adviser to the Government. The Attorney General also has certain public interest functions, for example, in taking action to protect charities.

Legal Services Commission (LSC)
Responsible for legal aid in England & Wales, as well as ensuring that people get the information, advice and legal help they need to deal with a wide range of every-day problems. The LSC administers the Criminal Defence Service (CDS) fund (previously Criminal Legal Aid) and the Community Legal Service (CLS) fund.

Legal Term Dates Calculator (including historical note)
© Copyright Head of Chambers for the time being of New Square Chambers, 2003

Lord Carter's Review of Legal Aid Procurement
In July 2005, the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs asked Lord Carter of Coles to examine how to improve the arrangements for purchasing publicly funded legal services. Lord Carter was asked to produce a plan by early 2006 to implement a package of reforms to the way publicly funded legal advice and representation is procured by the state. The interim report, "Procurement of Criminal Defence Services: Market Based Reform", was published on 9th February, 2006.

Office of Fair Trading (OFT)
The Office of Fair Trading is a non-ministerial Government Department whose purpose is to help markets work well for consumers. There are currently about 50 OFT lawyers, most of whom advise on consumer protection and competition law issues.

Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM)
ODPM is responsible for local and regional Government, housing, planning, fire, regeneration, social exclusion and neighbourhood renewal. Its Legal Directorate is headed by its Solicitor and Legal Adviser and includes about 50 lawyers who advise Ministers and administrators on legal issues arising from ODPM policy.

Official Solicitor and Public Trustee
The office of the Official Solicitor to the Supreme Court, and the Public Trustee exists to represent in legal proceedings persons under a legal disability (either children or adults who lack mental capacity) to protect their welfare or rights and to administer estates or trusts which it has accepted where there is no other suitable person or agency willing or able to act. It also undertakes the functions of the Central Authority for England and Wales under international conventions relating to child abduction and access and in relation to the Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders.

HM Prison Service
The work carried out in prisons throughout England & Wales, including a Prison locator (address, contact nos., visiting hours, etc.).

Ministry of Justice (MoJ)
The Ministry of Justice was created on 9 May 2007, replacing the Department for Constitutional Affairs. Its core components include responsibility for criminal, civil, family and administrative law; administration of the civil, family and criminal courts in England and Wales through Her Majesty's Courts Service; judicial appointments via the newly created Judicial Appointments Commission, the Judicial Office and Judicial Communications Office, and Legal Aid and the wider Community Legal Service through the Legal Services Commission.

Privy Council Office
The Privy Council Office provides Secretariat services for the Privy Council (that part of Her Majesty's Government which advises on the exercise of prerogative powers and certain functions assigned to The Queen and the Council by Act of Parliament). The Privy Council Office also has responsibility for the administration of the Office of the Leader of the House of Commons, and his Deputy.

Public Guardianship Office (PGO)
The PGO is the administrative arm of the Court of Protection and part of the Department for Constitutional Affairs. It provides financial protection services for clients who are not able to manage their financial affairs because of mental incapacity. It will be replaced by the new Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) in early 2007.

Queen's Counsel
The application and selection process for the award of Queen's Counsel which "serves the public interest by offering a fair and transparent means of identifying excellence in advocacy in the higher courts".

RAF Directorate of Legal Services
The legal branch of the Directorate of Legal Services (RAF) comprises 40 uniformed officers all of whom are legally qualified. The headquarters of the branch, whose Director is an Air Vice-Marshal, is located at Headquarters Personnel and Training Command, RAF Innsworth, Gloucester.

Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office (RCPO)
With staff in London and Manchester, the RCPO is responsible for prosecuting some of the UK's largest criminal cases involving drug smuggling, money laundering and tax fraud. Established in April 2005, the RCPO is independent from, but works closely with, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.

Sentencing Guidelines
This website represents the work of two closely-related independent bodies: the Sentencing Advisory Panel and the Sentencing Guidelines Council. They work together to ensure that sentencing guidelines are produced which encourage consistency in sentencing throughout the courts of England & Wales and support sentencers in their decision making.

Serious Fraud Office (SFO)
The SFO is a government department and is part of the UK criminal justice system. Its aim is to investigate and prosecute serious and complex fraud and so deter fraud and maintain confidence in the probity of business and financial services in the UK.

Statutory Instruments
With effect from the first printed Statutory Instrument of 1987, the full text of all published Statutory Instruments are available on this website.

The Barrister
An independent quarterly magazine, aimed at practising barristers. Articles from the current issue are available online, together with an archive from issue 17 (June 2003) onwards.

The WLR Daily (or Daily Law Notes)
from the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting. Contains summarized reports of cases heard by the House of Lords and Privy Council, Court of Appeal, Chancery Division, Queen's Bench and Family Division as well as the Court of Justice of the European Communities.

Treasury Solicitors
Treasury Solicitors serve the public by providing legal services to central government departments and other publicly funded bodies in England and Wales and by collecting and managing bona vacantia on behalf of the Crown.

Victim Support & Witness Service (England & Wales)
The independent charity which helps people cope with the effects of crime. It provides free and confidential support and information, and also works to promote and advance the rights of victims and witnesses. A Standard for Communication between Victims, Witnesses and the Prosecuting Advocate was published in February 2006.

Administrative Law Bar Association (ALBA)
The Association exists to promote knowledge and development in the field of public law.

Association of Women Barristers
The objects of the Association include representing, supporting and furthering the interests of women barristers.

Bar Association for Commerce, Finance & Industry (BACFI)
Established in 1965 to promote the interests and status of barristers working in-house or providing legal services outside chambers.

Chancery Bar Association (CHBA)
Represents those members of the Bar with specialist expertise in advocacy, mediation and advisory work across the whole spectrum of finance, property and business law.

Civil Court Users Association (CCUA)
The CCUA exists to represent the interests of organisations that use the Civil Courts in England and Wales. The members of the Association are organisations and individuals that use, or have an interest in the operation of, the Civil Courts.

Civil Mediation Council (CMC)
The Civil Mediation Council is an unincorporated association of members established in 2003 by the UK’s mediation providers, independent mediators, leading academic, legal professional bodies and government departments. Its Purpose is to represent the common interests of Mediation Providers and Mediators in promoting mediation; to do so through the performance of the Council’s objects; and, generally, by improving the understanding of the uses and applications of mediation. Interested in training to become a Mediator? Click here for further details.

Commercial Bar Association (COMBAR)
Formed in 1989 to bring together self-employed barristers who practise in the field of international and commercial law.

Criminal Bar Association (CBA)
Formed in 1969, the CBA exists to represent the views of the practising members of the independent criminal Bar in England & Wales. Four of the series of CBA lectures held during 2002/2003 are available on videotape via the "CPD on CD" page.

Employment Law Bar Association (ELBA)
Formed in 1994, ELBAs principal aim is to be a forum of consultation on behalf of those barristers throughout the UK, in private and employed practice, who work in employment law.

Family Law Bar Association (FLBA)
The Bar association for family barristers specialising in the area of law that deals with separation, divorce, child custody, division of marital assets and adoption. A series of recent FLBA lectures is available on CD via the "CPD on CD" page.

Human Rights Lawyers Association (HRLA)
Membership of the HRLA is open to all connected with the law and the legal professions who have an interest in human rights law in the United Kingdom. HRLA members include solicitors, barristers, advocates, judges, government lawyers, legal academics, legal executives, in-house lawyers, pupils, trainees and law students.

Institute of Barristers' Clerks (IBC)
Formerly the Barristers' Clerks Association, the IBC was founded in 1922. It aims to promote and protect the interests of all its members and further good relations with members of the Bar and other legal representatives.

Intellectual Property Bar Assocation (IPBA)
The specialist Bar association for barristers practising intellectual property law in England and Wales. ("Intellectual property" is a generic term which includes patents, registered trade marks, passing off, copyright, registered and unregistered design rights, performers' rights, trade secrets and breach of confidence.)

Justices' Clerks' Society
A professional body representing the principal legal advisers to lay magistrates in England and Wales and is committed to improving the quality of justice in Magistrates' Courts.

LawCare
A confidential advisory service to help barristers, their staff and their immediate families to deal with the health issues and related emotional difficulties that can result from a stressful career as a barrister. Help is available to those who are suffering from stress and/or depression, or who have alcohol, drug or other dependency concerns.

The Law Society of England and Wales
The regulatory and representative body for 116,000 solicitors in England and Wales.

Legal Practice Management Association
Exists to help those involved in the legal sector who have the responsibility for managing and leading organisations such as Barristers Chambers and Solicitors.

Personal Injuries Bar Association (PIBA)
The specialist Bar association for barristers who practice in the field of personal injuries.

Professional Negligence Bar Association (PNBA)
Founded in 1990 to promote the idea of a specialist professional negligence Bar supported by continuing professional education.

Revenue Bar Association (RBA)
The RBA brings together English barristers who practise in the taxation field. The majority of members are exclusively taxation specialists. Tax barristers also deal with professional negligence and other litigation involving tax and judicial review where the Revenue or Customs have exceeded their powers.

Society of Asian Lawyers (SAL)
Formed in 1990, members of SAL are from a cross section of the legal community; partners in large City firms, principally London based; partners in and owners of niche practices; leading and junior barristers; assistant solicitors; trainees; high street practitioners, in-house counsel; legal executives and students.

Technology and Construction Bar Association (TECBAR)
The specialist Bar association for barristers in independent practice who practise or who intend to practise regularly in the Technology and Construction Courts, both in London and in the provinces, or who do similar work in other courts or tribunals.