Last 3 months headlines – Page 1303
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Colombia overtures obscure deep-rooted human rights issues
by Bryan Nott, partner at Simpson Millar ‘Colombia: isn’t it a bit dicey?’ It is possible that the lawyers Michael Cross spoke with when he visited Colombia showed irritation at that question.
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Care crisis looms without more funds, Society says
The Law Society has warned that greater resources are needed to prevent a crisis in the care system as the number of applications soars to record levels. Annual figures released by the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) show that for the ...
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Ruling highlights ministerial passivity in the face of US aggression
Sometimes you just can’t win - particularly with the Daily Mail. ‘A glimpse of common sense from Strasbourg’ was its headline hailing the government’s victory at the European Court of Human Rights in the case involving both Babar Ahmad and Abu Hamza. The subsequent piece was the usual attack on ...
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The third degree
In the House of Lords recently, a Liberal Democrat peer pointed out that third-party funding used to be ‘both a crime and a civil tort’. But unusually for a practice that was previously considered illegal, third-party funding is now basking in the warm glow of judicial approval; and while the ...
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The scope of legal professional privilege
The question before Mr Justice Akenhead in Walter Lilly & Company Ltd v Mackay and another [2012] EWHC 649 (TCC) was this: does legal professional privilege (LPP) attract to documents produced by a claims consultant, even one which retains legally qualified personnel?
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Why self-help makes business sense
District Judge Richard Chapman asks us for help with problems for the judge and the parties when litigants have to represent themselves. For many years, my firm’s Law Shop service has been giving advice to clients who have to self-represent in the Small Claims Court, in exactly the way that ...
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‘Impossible’ practice
Richard Chapman writes persuasively about the role of solicitors giving assistance to self-represented litigants. I am sure that if it were just a matter of helping a professional colleague, many would be happy to oblige. The matter is, however, deeper than that. These problems are arising ...
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Taxing issues
I refer to Robert Forman’s piece about the political stance taken by the Solicitors Regulation Authority over Stamp Duty Land Tax schemes.
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Fees and LDPs
I write in response to the letter ‘Raw deal for LDPs?’, concerning the process of passporting to an alternative business structure. To clarify, there is no fee for a non-lawyer manager LDP which elects to transition to the ABS regime ahead of the transition period (which the author is correct ...
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Musical truth
What a bunch of old rockers Gazette readers turned out to be. Obiter’s plea for songs to accompany Gazette news stories evidently had a few of you thumbing through your vinyl collections.
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Rucking all over the world
Lawyers are uncompromising in negotiation and unafraid of getting down and dirty when it comes to winning a point. They tackle issues head-on, run with the ball and… Obiter could continue with the rugby puns, but there is a more serious point. The New Zealand lawyers northern rugby tour is ...
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Insight for sore eyes
It’s getting on for two years since the government launched its crackdown on local authority newspapers. Communities minister Eric Pickles (pictured) declared war on what he described as ‘town hall Pravdas’ wasting taxpayers’ money and time. The campaign has long since died a death, hardly surprising ...
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Solicitor advocates dragging standards down, says BSB research
Low rates for criminal legal aid and the growing share of work taken by solicitor advocates are contributing to a decline in advocacy standards that is harming the administration of justice, according to a survey by the Bar Standards Board. The report, Perceptions of Criminal Advocacy, ...
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SRA sets timetable for compliance roles
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has laid out its plans for nominating and appointing compliance officers for legal practice (COLPs) and compliance officers for finance and administration (COFAs). In a speech today, SRA executive director Samantha Barrass announced that firms will be able to nominate COLPs and ...
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Reservations as Clarke wins Strasbourg court reform deal
Forty-seven European states have adopted the final draft of the UK government’s proposed reforms of the Strasbourg human rights court, despite reservations expressed by some of the court’s top officials. These reservations include fears that national parliaments might attempt to compromise the independence of the court ...
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Inheritance
Inheritance rights - Statutory next of kin - Adopted children - Human rights Re Erskine Trust, Gregg and another v Pigott and others: ChD (Mr Mark Herbert QC (sitting as a deputy judge of the Chancery Division)): 29 March ...
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Don’t tell him, Pike!
Our current government is so transfixed by transparency it’ll probably turn holographic any moment. Think about the benefits: we can airbrush Michael Gove, ministers can avoid actually having to meet the public and we’ll finally get to see the Men in Black-style alien controlling Jeremy Hunt ...
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Criminal law
Proceedings - Extradition proceedings - Court of Appeal - Jurisdiction R (on the application of Guardian News and Media Ltd) v City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court: CA (Civ Div) (Master of the Rolls Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, Lord Justices ...