Society's News

Corporate Members 2022

3PB Albion Chambers Ashfords Barcan + Kirby Beale & Co Bevan Brittan BLM Burges Salmon Clarke Willmott CMS CMNO DAC Beachcroft The Family Law Practice Foot Anstey (including Enable Law) Freeths Fussell Wright GL Law Guildhall Chambers Irwin Mitchell Solicitors Lyons Davidson Marc White & Co Meade King Osborne Clarke Paragon Costs Solutions Queen Square Chambers Royds Withy King Simmons … more

BLS features in Bristol Post oldest thriving companies in Bristol

Excerpt from the article: How Bristol’s oldest companies are still thriving after more than 100 years in business They include the city’s last-surviving chocolate maker a wine merchant and a tannery. Why do some companies struggle to survive beyond a year while others flourish for hundreds? Although more than 90 per cent of small companies in Britain will survive one … more

No 12, The Meeting Rooms – Conference, Meeting and Mediation Rooms for Hire

Please note that the BLS office is shut to members at present as we continue to work from home during the pandemic.  Bristol Law Society’s suite of conference and meeting rooms including a suite of mediation rooms are conveniently located in the centre between the Waterfront Area and the Old City in a modern building situated on the corner of … more

SUSPECTS RIGHT TO LEGAL ADVICE SECURED FOLLOWING LAW SOCIETY INTERVENTION

The Law Society has welcomed an assurance from the Home Office that police should make it clear to any suspect who speaks voluntarily to the police, that free legal advice is available to him or her at any place, and not just at a police station.

The Law Society was concerned that police interviews were increasingly taking place at the suspect’s home in order to avoid the need for the police to advise the person of the right to legal advice. The Society had written to the Home Office to outline its unease, following a number of reports.

 

Law Society’s concerns about this issue have now been eased following agreement by the Home Office to propose an amendment to Code C, made under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE), which will soon be tabled in parliament.

 

The Code will make clear that free legal advice is available under the Legal Services Commission duty solicitor scheme  for any suspect volunteering to speak to the police (i.e. who has not been arrested) at any place, not just at police stations, and that police should inform such people of this. The Home Office issued last week the proposed amendment, which is likely to be included in the next tranche of PACE Code amendments

 

Law Society President John Wotton said; “We are very pleased that the Home Office has taken on board our concerns.  The right of access to legal advice for those suspected of a criminal offence is one of the most important and fundamental rights of a citizen, and should not depend on whether the suspect is present at the police station or is interviewed elsewhere, for example, in their home. Circumvention of this right is not only wrong from the perspective of the rights of the suspect; it is also likely to put at risk the admissibility of any confession that may be obtained in such an interview.’