Last 3 months headlines – Page 1294
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Sentencing
Principles - Sentence appeals - Sentencing in context of national public disorder R v Blackshaw and other appeals: CA (Crim) (Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge, Sir John Thomas (president), Lord Justice Leveson): 18 October 2011 ...
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Solicitors have qualities to hold higher judicial office
Towards the end of last month I had the honour of presenting Lord Collins of Mapesbury, the first solicitor to serve as a Justice of the Supreme Court, with the Law Society’s lifetime achievement award, recognising his long and distinguished career.
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Blacklaws joins Co-operative in family law coup
The Co-operative Legal Services (CLS) is to offer a family law service spearheaded by leading family lawyers from London firm TV Edwards in the first move by a high street brand into the sector, the Gazette can reveal. Christina Blacklaws, Law Society council member for child care and TV Edwards ...
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Scott Baker review lacks vital ingredient that would have served it best - humanity
As one of the ‘NatWest Three’, I have first-hand experience of the workings and impact of the Extradition Act, to which Joshua Rozenberg refers.
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A wider problem
The case of Gary McKinnon and the unpopular US/UK treaty dominated coverage of the extradition review in the mainstream press. So it made a pleasant change to read Joshua Rozenberg’s piece in the Gazette. While I share concerns about the treatment Mr McKinnon might face if extradited, the problems with ...
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Credit where it’s due
Down here in West Sussex they don’t do rioting, but if they did I am confident that the criminal defence fraternity would have stepped into the breach and ensured representation for all those who needed it. And not just because they did need it, but because that would be the ...
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Clarification
Two articles appeared in the 6 and 13 October 2011 editions of the Gazette, which contained a number of assertions concerning the arrangements employed by Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance plc (‘RSA’) for recovery of charges relating to repair of motor vehicles from other insurers.
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Rolls with it
biter had the chance last week to have a gander inside the newly opened Rolls Building for the launch of Unlocking Disputes, a campaign to promote London as the global dispute resolution centre. Still bearing that scent of new furniture, the spacious complex of no fewer than 31 courts, including ...
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Top secret
Does the lord chief justice object to TV cameras coming into his court? We don’t know. But how else might we explain why the Judicial Office refuses to divulge the contents of his letter on the subject to the Ministry of Justice?
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Commentators point to an oversubscribed profession which has doubled in size in 20 years
‘Is £65,000 of debt worth it, when you have to fight for a job and your chances of being a partner/business owner are virtually nil with the introduction of ABSs?’ That was the bleak response of one web commenter to Gazette Online’s report last week of ...
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Defence lawyers should be praised for handling riot cases
by Julian Young, a solicitor-advocate and senior partner of Julian Young & Co in London In August we saw the worst outbreak of violence and civil disorder in London and other major cities for many years. It came as a surprise to everyone who had to ...
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Hood stuff
It looks as if someone at the Ministry of Justice is taking ‘hug a hoodie’ a bit literally. Newly released itemised details of government credit card purchases of £500 or more show that, in August, the department spent £655.20 at polo-shirts.co.uk, purveyor of ‘wholesale polo shirts, T-shirts and hoodies’. ...
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This Life goes on
It all seems a world away now, but the mores of lawyers depicted in the 1990s TV drama This Life are still current. At least according to a survey commissioned to plug the series’ return to UK TV. The survey of 2,000 white-collar professionals found ...
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Unqualified success
Simpson, my principal, was in good humour for some days after he learned of the dismissal of the managing clerk of the highly respected - and he thought snobbish - firm down the road. He wrote to the senior partner offering both condolences and help in the certain knowledge both ...
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Jackson keeps a firm hand on the tiller
Last Monday, a group of leading experts in civil justice - many of them solicitors - gathered for a comprehensive discussion on some of the crucial detail concerning the rules required to implement Lord Justice Jackson’s radical reform of civil litigation costs. With the reforms ...
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‘Whole generation’ of lawyers could disappear post-LASPO
Government proposals to slash legal aid have passed through the Commons, amid suggestions the legislation will wipe out specialist lawyers. The bill will now move to the Lords, following a heated debate during which opposition MPs also rejected the suggestion that lawyers are only interested in self-preservation. ...
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Guarded welcome for family justice review
Lawyers and judges have welcomed proposals to end the ‘culture of delay’ in the family justice system, published in the Family Justice Review’s final report. One of the key recommendations of the review panel, chaired by David Norgrove, is to set a statutory six-month limit on ...
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Straw’s bid to make referral fees a criminal offence fails
Conservative MPs have voted down Jack Straw’s attempt to make referral fees in personal injury cases a criminal offence. The former justice secretary tabled an amendment to the ban, included as part of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, which was debated in ...
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Courts for the foreign rich, not the indigenous poor
As the bill slashing civil legal aid speeds through parliament, a leading academic has exposed the ‘doublethink’ of the government, which appears to have one set of rules for the rich and another set for the poor. Dean of Laws at University College London, Professor Dame ...
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Jackson: civil justice reforms are balanced
‘Lawyers leave no stone unturned when it comes to arguing about costs,’ the architect of the civil justice reforms being introduced by government said this week.