Legal scholarship founded as a memorial to Kalisher

MICHAEL Kalisher QC has been described by his successor as head of chambers at 1 Hare Court as "among the most effective jury advocates of his generation".

Kalisher died of a brain tumour in September, aged 55. A memorial service is planned later this year for the former chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, and a yearly scholarship for a young barrister will be established in his memory.

Stephen Kramer QC, his successor as head of chambers, said the Bar had lost one of its most respected and popular members. "If it had not been for the onset of the illness which prematurely ended his life, he would have almost certainly have become chair of the Bar Council," he said.

"Alongside his hectic life in the courts he managed to devote an enormous amount of time to the interests of his fellow barristers and the efficient running of the legal system."

Kalisher began as a solicitor, but quickly moved to the Bar.

In 1984, after only 14 years of practising, he was appointed a Queen's Counsel, a year later he was appointed a crown court recorder, and in 1989 he was appointed a bencher at his Inn.

He chaired the CBA between 1991 and 1993, and in 1994 became chair of the Bar Council's legal services committee. He wrote a report on the granting of Silk, calling for the system to be more open.