Last 3 months headlines – Page 1251

  • News

    MPs’ caseloads will bear the brunt of legal aid cuts

    2012-03-14T00:00:00Z

    MPs will face a ‘rising tide of need’ from constituents with unmet legal needs if the government’s legal aid cuts are implemented, according to a report published today by the Young Legal Aid Lawyers (YLAL) group. The study warns that increasing numbers of people are turning ...

  • News

    How long can the USA hold off ABSs?

    2012-03-14T00:00:00Z

    With David Cameron and Barack Obama currently cementing their special relationship, the focus is very much on the links that bind the UK and US.

  • News

    CPS monitor warns of advocacy gap

    2012-03-13T00:00:00Z

    The Crown Prosecution Service has saved £26m over the past five years by increasing its use of in-house advocates - but done little to improve those advocates’ quality, the CPS inspectorate reports today. In a follow up to its 2009 report on the CPS’s advocacy strategy, ...

  • News

    CFA reform will not be retrospective, MoJ says

    2012-03-13T00:00:00Z

    The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) today sought to quell fears that Jackson reforms would be applied retrospectively to cases launched before April 2013. Changes to civil litigation are set to be implemented next year once the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders bill has been ...

  • News

    Government blocks bid for immigration and debt amendments to LASPO

    2012-03-13T00:00:00Z

    Opponents of the government’s legal aid reforms suffered defeats in two votes last night as peers continued to debate the controversial Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) bill. In the third sitting of the bill’s report stage, the government defeated amendments that would have ...

  • News

    Women in boardrooms: have the zombies won?

    2012-03-12T00:00:00Z

    European Union justice commissioner Viviane Reding recently surprised herself, and the world, too. She walked up to the microphone, after having rehearsed all morning before her bathroom mirror an announcement to bring in quotas for women in company boardrooms. She had threatened as much a year ago, when she said ...

  • News

    Federal court strikes down attempt to overturn ownership rule

    2012-03-12T00:00:00Z

    A New York personal injury firm has failed in its attempt to overrule the state’s ban on non-lawyer ownership.

  • News

    Subsidiarity and Gypsies

    2012-03-12T00:00:00Z

    They are called didicoys or pikeys in Kent and they are the subject of an admonishing letter sent to the UK government by the Strasbourg court, which is again venturing into a part of the British psyche where even angels fear to tread. First the European ...

  • News

    Can the Fiji government’s sensitivities be exploited?

    2012-03-09T00:00:00Z

    When it comes to the topic of their legality, dictators are a surprisingly needy bunch, and Fiji’s current rulers are no exception. Following the Gazette’s report on the rule of law (or lack thereof) in Fiji , its attorney general, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, and director of public prosecutions, New Zealander Christopher ...

  • News

    Survey shows top 100 fee income up by 7.2%

    2012-03-09T00:00:00Z

    Firms just outside the top 25 are prospering more than anyone as fee income continues to rise across the upper echelons of the legal market. The latest quarterly survey by Deloitte of the legal service market - covering the third quarter of 2011/12 - found strongest ...

  • News

    Concern at move to make success fee recovery ban retrospective

    2012-03-09T00:00:00Z

    Alarm has been raised at a move by the government that appears to give the Jackson reforms retrospective effect. Radical changes to the no win, no fee system are due to come into force in April 2013 as part of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment ...

  • News

    Immigration

    2012-03-08T00:00:00Z

    Appeal - Weight to be given to expert evidence SS (Sri Lanka) v Secretary of State for the Home Department: Court of Appeal, Civil Division (Lords Justice Maurice Kay VP, Stanley Burnton and Lewison): 21 February 2012 ...

  • News

    Criminal

    2012-03-08T00:00:00Z

    Prosecution - People trafficking - Child trafficking for labour exploitation R v N; R v E: Court of Appeal, Criminal Division (Lord Judge CJ, Mr Justice Royce and Mr Justice Globe): 21 February 2012 ...

  • News

    Online system will transform services

    2012-03-08T00:00:00Z

    I am strongly aware of the serious frustrations that have been expressed over the problems and delays with mySRA, our new online application system. The introduction of this enormous IT project has not been a smooth process and, on behalf of the SRA, I would like to apologise to everyone ...

  • News

    Terrorism

    2012-03-08T00:00:00Z

    Criminal law - Military Dissemination of terrorist publications R v Gul: Court of Appeal, Criminal Division (Sir Anthony May P, Mr Justice Silber and Mr Justice Kenneth Parker): 22 February 2012 ...

  • News

    Human rights

    2012-03-08T00:00:00Z

    High Court Appeal - Defendant protesters setting up camp outside St Paul’s Cathedral - Freedom of expression City of London Corporation v Samede and others: CA (Civ Div) (Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury (Master of the Rolls), Lord Justices Stanley ...

  • News

    Driving lessons

    2012-03-08T00:00:00Z

    Case law about liability for road traffic accidents is sparse. Now, oddly, within the space of a month, no fewer than four cases have been reported concerning driving habits. They are instructive both for those of us who are drivers and also for those who have to deal with the ...

  • News

    Non-disclosure of assets in divorce proceedings

    2012-03-08T00:00:00Z

    Is the non-disclosure of assets a common problem within divorce proceedings or not? Is it simply the case that suspicious spouses expect the worst of their soon-to-be former partner? Is it just the case that family lawyers are a ­cynical bunch? The 2011 Grant Thornton matrimonial ...

  • News

    Reform could curtail Strasbourg

    2012-03-08T00:00:00Z

    The government has high hopes of reaching an agreement in Brighton next month that will lead to major reforms to the European Convention on Human Rights and the court in Strasbourg that enforces it. Britain’s proposals are set out in a draft declaration which the government hopes will be approved ...

  • News

    The justice equation

    2012-03-08T00:00:00Z

    Stepping on to a single-engine aeroplane from Kathmandu to Pokhara in Nepal, my legal partner Martin Howe and I decided to divert our attention away from the frightening prospect of the flight over the Himalayan mountains by continuing our discussion about the meaning of justice and seeking to create an ...