Last 3 months headlines – Page 1200
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‘Common sense’ test proposed for prosecutions
Prosecution decisions would have to be tested for ‘proportionality’ under a proposed revised Code for Crown Prosecutors published by the director of public prosecutions yesterday. The revised, ‘more succinct’, code would supplement the existing public interest test with a question about whether the likely outcome ...
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Society ‘dismayed’ at AML penalty stance
HM Treasury has decided to retain criminal penalties for breaches of anti-money laundering (AML) regulations and not to exempt even the smallest firms from the administrative burden of compliance. The decisions, published last week in the Treasury’s response to a consultation that began in 2009, have ...
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Deech hits back over bar tribunal ‘collapse’ claim
The chair of the Bar Standards Board (BSB) has defended the process for disciplining barristers following a claim that it is in a ‘state of collapse’ amid allegations of secrecy, maladministration and incompetence. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Lady Deech said: ‘It is totally ...
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The incredible shrinking legal aid statistics
Worrying signs that clients could already be finding it harder to access legal advice, even before next year’s legal aid cuts come in to force, emerge from the latest annual statistics from the Legal Services Commission. The LSC’s annual report, published last week, reveals that the ...
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Borders agency slammed for under-performance
Members of Parliament today criticised the UK Border Agency (UKBA) for failing to clear a 276,460 cases backlog - equivalent to the ‘entire population of Newcastle upon Tyne’. The backlog includes 150,000 individuals in the migration refusal pool and 3,900 foreign national prisoners who should have ...
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Negligence
Causation - Breach of duty causing or contributing to damage Wilkin-Shaw v Fuller and Kingsley School: Queen's Bench Division (Mr Justice Owen): 28 June 2012 The Queen's Bench Division, ...
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Disclosure
Confidential information - Intellectual property Phillips v Mulcaire: Supreme Court (Lords Hope DP, Walker, Kerr, Clarke and Dyson SCJJ): 4 July 2012 The Supreme Court dismissed the defendant's appeal in ...
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No one cares and we will pay
As a property specialist, our firm is likely to be the one to thwart property fraud. I had not realised how little anyone else cared until I tried to report a property crime today. Through a vigilant estate agent, we found out that someone is pretending to be our client, ...
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Over surcharged
The Gazettedrew attention to the increase in the extent of the ‘victim surcharge’ which is soon to be imposed on those who receive custodial sentences. It is unclear how the government proposes to extract payment from the impecunious defendant who receives a prison sentence. If it ...
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Utter shambles
Who is in charge of the asylum? The Legal Services Commission’s Jarrow office now routinely mislays correspondence or fails to deal with it for weeks on end. Telephone calls take over 20 minutes to be answered. Even a complaint sent by recorded delivery is not acted ...
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No costs savings
Since 19 March we have been required to send all CPR Part 7 designated money only claims to the County Court Money Claims Centre at the Salford Business Centre. The goal is to reduce costs and processing time.
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International regulation of unmanned military drones needed
Let’s hear it for the Methodists. I declare an interest. I am from non-conformist stock on both sides - dour, pledge-signing, earnest folk. No surprise to me and my kind that the established church spent its recent synod counting the number of women bishops that you can get on the ...
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Intellectual property
Patent - Infringement - Design HTC Europe Co Ltd v Apple Inc: Chancery Division, Patents Court (Mr Justice Floyd): 4 July 2012 The Chancery Division, Patents Court, held that a ...
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Rise in NHS negligence claims expected
Claims against the NHS are likely to rise this year as cases are pushed through ahead of funding reforms, according to the new head of the NHS Litigation Authority.
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No extra pay for ‘speedy’ justice
Solicitors could end up working seven days a week without extra pay to cover anti-social hours under government plans to extend court sittings. Proposals to introduce early morning and evening sittings and Sunday courts were among measures set out last week in a white paper ...
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Turn to arbitration and slash costs, town halls told
Local authorities could save 95% of the typical cost of taking cases to court by turning to specialist arbitration, according to a not-for-profit organisation providing such services. The London-based Centre for Justice said public bodies are losing up to 10% of their budgets annually in ...
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‘Frumpy legal profession’ in need of revolution
The threats and challenges faced by lawyers can be blamed on the ‘egregious failure of a frumpy profession’ to reform itself in line with the rapidly changing legal landscape, a Canadian law professor told the Legal Education and Training Review (LETR) Symposium in Manchester last week.