Last 3 months headlines – Page 1289
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Off to the gulag
It was suggested following the summer riots that teachers should be given more power to discipline pupils. This reminded me of the late magistrate David Fingleton, who liked to say that since the death of Sir Robin Day he was now the rudest member of the Garrick.
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Civil advice phone gateway plan slammed
Government plans to make phone calls the main conduit for publicly funded advice in civil cases could increase the average time needed to give advice, according to new research. The government has proposed making a telephone helpline the ‘gateway’ to all legal aid advice in civil ...
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Chief magistrate praises defence solicitors over riots
The chief magistrate has praised the ‘exemplary skill and professionalism’ of defence solicitors in the summer riot courts, calling them ‘unsung heroes’. Senior district judge Howard Riddle said that without defence solicitors’ efforts the criminal justice system would not have been able to respond as it did to the unprecedented ...
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We must not swallow the argument that the police and courts initially responded well to the riots
I absolutely agree with Julian Young in respect of the under-acknowledged efforts of defence practitioners at the time of the riot arrests and courts.
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One-sided review
I read with interest the article by Joshua Rozenberg, and the letters from David Bermingham and Jago Russell.
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The state we’re in
Under the auspices of austerity measures, we are heading for cuts to legal services which will prevent most citizens, apart from the wealthy, challenging those in authority; particularly the state. Legal aid was never available for tribunals. It was removed for personal injury claims. Now it ...
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Jargon is not new
For those readers who rail at the gobbledegook that often seems to inhabit modern legislation and yearn for the golden age of law, when statutes were brief and drawn with clarity and care, here is an extract from a 1935 case (Wickhambrook PCC v Croxford) grappling with section 2.3 of ...
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How confidential?
We all know that confidentiality is the bedrock of a solicitor’s duty to his client. But how many conveyancing solicitors freely discuss their client’s business on the telephone with the selling agents of other parties, solicitors not connected with the client’s own transaction? And how ...
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Supreme Court’s ruling on cohabitees welcomed
Family lawyers have welcomed the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment on the division of assets between former cohabiting couples - but say the case highlights the need for law reform. The long-awaited judgment in Jones v Kernott concerns beneficial interest in property where the legal ...
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‘Long way to go’ on diversity, warn lawyers
The legal profession’s progress towards diversity may be about to falter, lawyers warned at this week’s launch of the Black Solicitors Network’s sixth annual Diversity League Table. They warned that women and black and minority ethnic (BME) lawyers remain under-represented in the higher echelons of the ...
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Coalition to lobby Lords on referral fees
A coalition of insurers and lawyers is to lobby for tougher measures banning referral fees. The Civil Justice Group aims to promote a private member’s bill introduced by the former justice secretary, Jack Straw, which would make paying or receiving referral fees a criminal offence. A ...
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End of the line for Solicitors From Hell
The founder of the controversial Solicitors from Hell website has finally admitted defeat after the High Court ordered him to remove the site from the internet. Rick Kordowski said he will bow out from what he described as a ‘campaign to expose apparent wrong-doing’ in the legal profession. ...
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Fiduciary duty revisited: I’m unlawful - strike me down!
American comedian Bob Newhart (famous for his monologue sketches) imagined Sir Walter Raleigh as a salesman phoning base about his discovery of tobacco. The response to Sir Walter was not, however, encouraging: ‘I think you’re gonna have rather a tough time selling people on sticking burning leaves in their mouths… ...
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This has never truly been about ‘greedy’ lawyers and saving money
It has been said of the English that they prefer pets to people; but perhaps they prefer petrol to people. A cynical observation perhaps, but as the Lords prepares to sound the death knell for civil legal aid, a peak at No 10’s e-petitions website is instructive. Over 110,000 signed ...
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Labour peers are preparing to mount a last stand against legal aid cuts
By the Rt. Hon Sadiq Khan MP, shadow lord chancellor and shadow secretary of state for justice and constitutional affairs Earlier this month, despite opposition from the Labour Party, charities and campaigning groups from the Law Society to the Women’s Institute, government plans to slash social ...
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Regulation of surveillance remains unsatisfactory
Power does not always corrupt but it certainly complicates. Office brings a curious restraint to ministers once so principled in opposition. They must look back fondly to once glad, confident mornings. Then, David Cameron could wail that ‘the Labour Party has given up on civil liberties’. How bright still shone ...
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Extradition
Extradition hearing - European Arrest Warrant - Extradition Act 2003 Assange v Swedish Judicial Authority: QBD (Divisional Court) (Sir John Thomas (president), Mr Justice Ouseley): 2 November 2011 The appellant ...
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LASPO may ‘undermine access to justice’, says Lords committee
A House of Lords committee has warned that the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill threatens the rights of access to justice and availability of legal advice to those in police custody. The Constitution Committee published a report today considering the constitutional implications of ...
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Under starter’s orders - but they’re off already
There’s a wonderful moment of organised chaos at the start of every Grand National. No-one knows when the starting tape will lift, so the horses jostle and fidget, overcome by nervous tension and desperate to get started.
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Referral-fee refusenik enters PI market
A new law firm has entered the personal injury market promising neither to pay nor charge referral fees. Acorn Law, backed financially by national firm MTA Solicitors, says it is the first to be set up since the government announced plans to ban referral fees in ...