News from 2006:
|
|
December 2006
: The
Chairman is featured in a prominent publication from the Commission for
Racial Equality and the Black Lawyers Directory which contains truly great
leader lawyers of international fame - such as Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Ghandi and Muhammad Ali Jinnah (the
Founder of Pakistan). The
publication is entitled “Black Letter Law - The presence of black and ethnic
minorities in the legal profession” and was
published in time for Click
here to read > the publication<
. |
|
|
The
Awards are run by the Further
details: www.paralegalawards.org |
|
|
|
|
|
Further information can
be downloaded from the JAC’s website: www.judicialappointments.gov.uk
|
|
|
|
|
|
In addition, the Chairman’s Legal &
Democratic Services Department has become the very first legal practice in the |
|
|
16th and |
|
|
|
|
|
5th September 2006 : The Chairman has written to the
Editors of the Telegraph and the Daily Mail to set the record
straight in terms of inaccurate reports in those newspapers relating to
the important role played by Monitoring Officers in Local
Government Click
on the hyperlink to read the full text of the letter >Letter< |
|
|
For
further information on LACORS, please contact them at Local Government House, |
|
|
Click
on the hyperlink to read the Chairman's article. >Article< |
|
|
Click
on the hyperlink to read the Chairman's article. >Article< |
|
|
April 2006 : Ethical
Standards and Community Governance. Important
issues for the Government to consider before embarking upon its 'Double-Devolution
Agenda' and passing massive public funds to people/organisations at the local
level who are currently not subject - unlike the elected members of
local authorities - to any regulation or governed by Codes of
Conduct relating to ethical conduct and behaviour. Click
on the hyperlink to read the Chairman's article. >Article< |
|
|
April 2006 : Black
Lawyers Directory - Lawyer of the Month: April 2006. The Chairman was named Lawyer of the Month
for April 2006. Click
on the hyperlink to read the Chairman's interview. >Interview< |
|
|
20 - |
News from 2005
|
|
30th November & 1st December 2005 , London: Ark Conference :Legal Connect for the Public Sector. The Chairman will be speaking at this event. > Details < |
|
|
2nd & 3rd November 2005, Copthorne Tara Hotel Kensington, London, Association of Council Secretaries & Solicitors Annual Conference - The Chairman chaired two sessions and presented his results on the 'ACSeS Top Lawyers Database 2005'. In addition, the Chairman was presented with ACSeS' very first 'Award for Excellence 2005'. |
|
|
|
|
|
5th &
6th September 2005, ICC Birmingham : Standards Board for England's '4th Annual Assembly of
Standards Committees 2005' - The |
|
|
22nd June 2005, London : LexisNexis Butterworth's Conference on 'Local Government Law Update 2005' . £100 public sector discount and the Chairman is chairing this Conference > Details < |
|
|
9th June 2005, Local Government Chronicle : The Chairman was named, today, as one of the top 5 lawyers in Local Government. > LGC Article - page 2 < The other top lawyers were : Gifty Edila (LB Kensington & Chelsea), Claer Lloyd-Jones (LB of Hackney ), Graeme Creer (Liverpool CC) and Geoff Wild (Kent CC) |
|
|
26th May 2005, London : LGG's
'Governance
Issues for Monitoring Officers'
. The |
|
|
18th May 2005, London : Local Government Chronicle's Conference on 'Complying
with the Freedom of Information Act' . The |
|
|
|
|
|
21 April 2005, Kenilworth : Capita Software Service's 2005 Annual User Conference - The Chairman will be speaking on Freedom of Information. > Details < |
|
|
20-21 April 2005, London : Ark Group's 'FOI SOS - Managing and responding to FOI and EIR requests post-implementation' Conference > Details < |
|
|
|
|
|
10 April 2005 : Advert for Head of Legal
Services, Northern Ireland Civil Service. > Details < |
|
|
|
|
|
9 April 2005 : Chairman's Newsletter has been
posted to all members of the Association. > Details < |
|
|
6 April 2005 : ODPM Parliamentary Committee's Report
on 'The Standards Board
for England and the Ethical Framework for Local Government' was published
today. The full report can be found at: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmodpm.htm
. The Chairman, on behalf of Birmingham City Council, gave oral and
written evidence to this Committee. Although the broad thrust of the
Committee's report is to be welcome, the Chairman is disappointed to note
that the 'centralised' system - whereby all written complaints are referred
to the Standards Board for England - found favour with the Committee on
the basis of 'uniqueness'. The Chairman favours local investigation and
determination by local Standards Committees, with more complex or sensitive
cases being referred by local Standards Committees to the SBE. |
|
|
4April 2005 : Birmingham Elections Courts - A High Court Judge, Richard Mawrey QC, delivered his judgement
in the two Electoral Petitions brought against 6 Councillors elected at the
local elections in 2004. The Judge found that there had been widespread and
systematic postal ballot fraud in the two wards. He disqualified the 6
Councillors and a local agent for corrupt and illegal practices. The Judge
praised the Chairman, as follows: -
|
|
|
|
|
|
14th March 2005: The Chairman's Legal & Democratic Services Department at Birmingham City Council was awarded Local Government Chronicle's 'Legal Team of the Year Award 2005' at a prestigious awards ceremony, in London, hosted by Lenny Henry, The other short-listed candidates for the award were Kent County Council, Liverpool City council and Uttlesford District Council. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
28th January 2005 : The Chairman's PowerPoint Slides in respect of 'Ethics in Local Government' and 'The Freedom of Information Act 2000' are now freely available through this webpage. If anyone wishes to use the same, please ensure due recognition is given to the Bar Association for Local Government & the Public Service. |
|
|
|
News from 2004
·
·
December
2004 - The Chairman leads an
e-TV broadcast discussion on 'The Freedom of Information Act - Here and
Now'. The Panel includes senior
representatives from the Information Commissioner's Office and Department of
Constitutional Affairs, along with BT, Microsoft and an author. Check out the
following hyperlink. You will need to register - which is free! - in
order to view the 25 minutes on-line interview. The website also includes other
useful interviews for local government practitioners : http://www.egovtv.tv/site_content/20041215/_index.php
·
November
2004 : The Chairman urges
employed barristers to:
(i) register with the Bar Council to exercise rights to conduct litigation, if they are currently involved in litigation matters;
(ii) register as employed pupil-masters if they have the requisite experience (anyone so registering is encouraged to let the Chairman know, so that relevant experiences can be shared); and
(iii) ensure they keep an accurate record of training and other development events, if they are subject to continuous professional development hours.
·
November
2004 : A
copy of the Chairman's critique for Birmingham City Council's Standards
Committee (on the two Government
Consultation Papers on the Code of Conduct for Local Government Employees and
the Political Restriction of local government employees) is attached
for information purposes.
·
Saturday
6 November 2004 - Bar
Conference 2004 - Royal Lancaster Hotel, London. All who attend receive 6 hours
of CPD. In addition, those of 7 years' call and under are eligible for an
additional 1.5 hrs. For further details check out the programme and booking form.
·
October
2004 : Association of Council
Secretaries & Solicitors' Annual Conference - The Chairman was elected to lead on behalf of ACSeS
on Ethical Framework issues.
·
September
2004 : Review of Civil
Registration - Local Authorities need to be ready! See article prepared by Tony Elwood, Head of Local Government Implementation, Civil Registration Review,
General Register Office, on the 'REVIEW OF CIVIL REGISTRATION - IMPLICATIONS FOR LOCAL AUTHORITIES'.
·
August 2004 :
The Bar Council has published some Guidance for Employed Barristers: Check out www.barcouncil.org.uk or >>
CLICK HERE ! <<
·
August
2004 - The Government has
issued Consultation Papers with
regard to a proposed Code of Conduct for Local Government Staff, Political
Restrictions re such staff and proposed changes to Schedule 12A of the Local
Government Act 1972 (as amended) to prepare for the full implementation of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. The Chairman was involved in the ODPM Working
Group looking at the Schedule 12A changes. Further details on the
Consultation Papers can be found on the Government's website.
|
|
August 2004 - Government's Proposed Best Value Performance Indicator for Legal Services. The Chairman has responded to the ODPM over their proposed BVPI, along the lines that it is totally unnecessary, bureaucratic and unlikely to add any value to local government or be meaningful to citizens : See Letter 1 and Letter 2. |
·
14 & 15th September 2004 - Public Sector People Management Expo 2004 - London. Check out their website: http://www.pspm-expo.co.uk for advance
booking special offer.
·
9th June 2004
- Birmingham City Council's Legal Services Department attained ISO
9001:2000 Quality Assurance and Law Society's LEXCEL Practice Management
Standards. The Chairman is possibly the only UK lawyer to have attained such
awards for two local authorities - Birmingham City Council and Bolton
MBC. The Legal Department is now submitting an application to Midlands
Excellence's Awards 2004 - by using the European Foundation for Quality
Management Model - and is scheduled to become the first law firm in the West
Midlands to apply for such awards.
·
15th March 2004
- Birmingham City Council's Legal Services Department was 'Highly
Commended' in the Local
Government Chronicles' Excellence Awards 2004 in the Legal Team of the Year
category. Check out the extensive Briefing Notes on local government issues
produced by the Chairman's Department on their website at www.birmingham.gov.uk. A Guide on
Constitutional Issues relating Birmingham City Council's Constitutional /
District Committees is also published on that website under 'Legal
Services'.
·
News from 2003
·
·
7th November 2003
- The Bar Association responds to the Department of Constitutional Affairs'
Consultation Paper on ' Constitutional Reform: The future of Queen's Counsel'.
A copy of the Bar Association's response will be placed on the website - later
this month.
·
15 October 2003
- The Chairman is speaking at the Capita Conference on Freedom of Information
in Local Government. Chairman's PowerPoint slides > Click here <
·
Other PowerPoint slides produced by the Chairman on the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 :
Local Government Association Conference :
·
Other Previous News