UK lawyers in UN mission

Senior British lawyers have been training UN prosecutors acting in the International War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

A delegation, led by Justice Hooper and including the 1998 Bar chairman Heather Hallett QC, was in the Hague over the weekend to improve the advocacy techniques of the international prosecution team.

Hallett, who was one of six Queen's Counsel in the group, says: "We are privileged to be asked to help the court in this way. It is in the interests of humanity that these trials are conducted fairly and effectively."

Examination in chief and cross-examination through an interpreter and handling serious and emotive crimes in court were some of the key techniques covered.

Bar Council chairman Dan Brennan QC says: "The advocacy skills and the ethical integrity of the English Bar rightly merits this international recognition."

Two British lawyers are already playing key roles in the tribunal. Geoffrey Nice QC, of Farrar's Building, is acting as a senior prosecutor while Steven Kay QC, of 3 Gray's Inn Square, is on the defence team.