Barristers in England and Wales Vote to End Strike Action Biden Signs Executive Order On US-EU Data Privacy Network 57% of barristers voted to accept a 15% pay rise and a package of further measures, according to the Criminal Barristers Association (CBA). President Biden has signed an executive order to limit the ability of US national security agencies to access private information. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said that the court’s decisions ought to be independent and binding. “These commitments fully address the Court of Justice of the European Union’s 2020 Schrems II decision and will cover personal data transfers to the United States under EU law,” she said. The decree will now be sent to Brussels, where the European Commission will transpose it into its own rules. from barristers regarding the state of the UK’s legal aid system that provides the bulk of their pay, has resulted in delays to hundreds of trials. It is not yet known how quickly this backlog may be cleared. “The criminal justice system remains chronically underfunded. The onus is on government to properly fund it,” said Kirsty Brimelow KC, chair of the CBA. “Barristers’ acceptance of this deal is a first step in working with government for long-term reform. If the deal falls short in implementation, the CBA will ballot its members again on taking action.” of privacy rights. The new ‘Data Protection Review Court’, which will exist within the Department of Justice, will allow citizens to file lawsuits via ‘special advocates’ to challenge how governmental agencies use their data. This has the potential to become a significant limit on the operations of the NSA and other bodies. In a briefing on Thursday, work, additional payments will be provided for a range of court preparation work that barristers have stated that they were not being properly paid for. The 15% rise in fees will also apply to 60,000 cases in the current national backlog, a key measure that has featured among striking barristers’ demands. Although the amount falls short of the 25% rise barristers sought, a majority of the 2,605 CBA members who voted on the new proposal agreed to accept the measures. The strike action, which began in June following several years of complaints The order, which comes as part of lengthy negotiations, will form a pillar of a transatlantic data sharing agreement between the US and EU. In addition to limiting US security agencies’ abiility to access information from European and American citizens, the decree will grant new powers to officials in the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence to investigate potential breaches The new Justice Secretary, Brandon Lewis, offered barristers a slate of measures that were not tabled by his predecessor, Dominic Raab. In addition to an immediate 15% increase in fees for government-funded defence MONTHLYROUND-UP 7
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