CDS News

The QAA project team, in partnership with the Bar Council, is running a series of focus groups in London and Manchester to understand more about the issues identified in last year’s barrister survey affecting practice for women barristers and barristers from black and minority ethnic groups (BME). 

Your help

We’re seeking women and BME barristers who’ve done legal aid work in crime or civil.  We need input from barristers who are willing to share their experiences about barriers and opportunities encountered in their practice, potential barriers or opportunities the QAA scheme might create or exacerbate and how we might meaningfully address these in the QAA pilot. 

The QAA pilot for criminal defence advocates is planned for early 2009 and it’s vital that we get first hand input from practitioners to ensure that the pilot proposals properly take account of and address possible barriers and impacts for particular groups of advocates. All focus groups will be held 6-8pm at accessible venues.

Focus group dates

	BME London	Gender London	BME Manchester	Gender Manchester
Chair	Oba Nsugbe QC	Kim Hollis QC	Khadim Al Hassan	Fiorella Brereton
Date	30 October	4 November	12 November	11 November
Time	6-8pm	6-8pm	6-8pm	6-8pm

If you’re willing to take part in this important initiative please contact Sinead McDonnell (Tel: 020 7783 7421) to register your interest.

Focus groups for solicitor advocates

Work is underway to engage with the Law Society, SRA and Solicitors’ Association of Higher Court Advocates  to agree a similar way forward for solicitor advocates. We hope to run an additional focus group specifically for solicitor advocates in the near future.  Further information. For further information on this work and the QAA project, please visit the Quality and performance pages on our website.

Further information

For further information on this work and the QAA project, please visit the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates pages on our website.