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News

Attempt to quash QASA is rejected by Supreme Court

updated on 25 June 2015

The Supreme Court has refused to quash the introduction of the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA), which assesses the competency of criminal barristers.

The judgment, handed down earlier this week, said that the scheme was proportionate to the aims it pursued and could go ahead. As The Lawyer reports, the judgment continued: “A precautionary scheme of this kind provides a high level of public protection, precisely because it involves an individual assessment of each provider wishing to practise at an upper level, and it places a corresponding burden on those affected by it.”

The scheme has faced intense scrutiny since it was approved by the Legal Services Board two years ago. After the Court of Appeal upheld a High Court ruling that the scheme was lawful, the appellants were given permission to appeal on the basis that it was to examine the EU law on proportionality.