![David Lester (senior partner at Blythe Liggins), Darryl Barnes, Jagdeep Sandher (head of dispute resolution at Blythe Liggins)[4]](https://d1d8vslyhr7rdg.cloudfront.net/Pictures/274x183/4/2/8/116428_davidlesterseniorpartneratblytheligginsdarrylbarnesjagdeepsandherheadofdisputeresolutionatblytheliggins4_981603_crop.jpg)
David Kirwan
- Opinion
A slur on our profession
Accusation that solicitors are receiving ‘squalid backhanders’ from barristers in return for instructions should be withdrawn.
- Opinion
Jefferies: a cautionary tale
The ITV docudrama about Christopher Jefferies must stir concern about access to justice.
- Opinion
Curbing mischievous complaints
Time limits and fees could weed out unjustified complaints and ensure they are not used simply as a tactic to avoid payment.
- Opinion
Solicitors seeking an audience
Solicitor-advocates have been around in some capacity or another since the 1970s.
- Opinion
Judges’ double standards
Strict rules on compliance imposed upon solicitors and counsel do not seem to apply when it comes to judges reading court documents.
- Opinion
Two-track Crown court: reinventing the wheel
The lord chief justice’s proposal for an intermediate court has its origins in the reign of Richard II.
- Opinion
Justice: Orwell was right
Access to justice will henceforth be solely in the province of the seriously wealthy.
- Opinion
Poorly prepared judges
I am a commercial litigator of some 44 years’ experience and I work in civil courts all over the country. I have noticed over recent years that, with all the problems facing our civil justice system, the efficiency of our judges is rapidly diminishing in one particular area of courtroom ...
- News
Two decades of greed
Amid all the doom and gloom of Jackson et al, perhaps the best thing that has happened to our profession in recent years is the government’s collaboration with the insurance industry orchestrating the complete collapse of the personal injury sector. With headlines suggesting ‘shock’, and announcing redundancies and closures of ...
- News
QASA curtailment beggars belief
I read each week with growing dismay about the long-running saga of the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates. This misconceived and unwelcome intrusion into the liberties of our profession may one day restrict, if not deny, our hard-won rights of audience in the higher courts.
- News
Writing on the wall
My postbox is bombarded every day with offers of seminars from a multitude of providers. Now on offer is a ‘Crash Course on Punctuation & Grammar’. Have standards of entry to our profession dropped to such an all-time low that our solicitors require after-admission training on the use of commas ...
- News
Balanced budget?
It is reported that the government plans to increase its foreign aid budget by a staggering 35% to countries like Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Burma, where international aid officials concede that fraud and corruption have been endemic for years.
- News
Appointing legal executives to bench will diminish respect for judiciary
I read with dismay that a legal executive has been appointed as a deputy district judge. David McGrady, president of the Institute of Legal Executives, welcomes the appointment. I do not.
- News
Green nightmare
Department of Energy and Climate Change documents have reportedly revealed that the much-vaunted Carbon Reduction Scheme will be enforced against company executives and employees with the sanction of heavy fines and even imprisonment if there is perceived to be any failure to provide ‘assistance’ and so on. This revelation is ...
- News
Building the case for a bill of rights
Is the pendulum of justice swinging too far in favour of the prosecution? As a result of allegations of jury tampering, a recent high-profile case was heard by a judge alone.
- News
End of the line for police station advice?
Cuts in the provision of legal aid are perhaps an inevitable if uncomfortable consequence of the economic mess that we find ourselves in. However, we now learn that justice secretary Ken Clarke’s new-found enthusiasm for keeping offenders out of the prison system is matched by contemplation of a plan to ...