Headlines – Page 1362
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Defining the scope of witness immunity
The rule of witness immunity was set out by Lord Hutton in Darker v Chief Constable of the West Midlands [2001] 1 AC 435, a case which concerned police malpractice. Lord Hutton held: ‘The rule that a party has immunity in respect of what he ...
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Senior judge Lord Phillips learns the hard way after criticising government
Any judge who takes on the government in the court of public opinion is bound to end up second best. That was the lesson that the president of the Supreme Court learned the hard way last week. Sadly, Lord Phillips does not have a public ...
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HM Courts must do more to recoup uncollected fines and penalties
Tory MP Kris Hopkins asked justice minister Jonathan Djanogly a very good question last week: ‘What progress has [your] department made in recouping outstanding financial penalties that remain uncollected by HM Courts Service?' Answer came there none.
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Government's proposals for student immigration based on unreliable stats
by Nichola Carter, partner at Penningtons The government is currently reviewing around 30,000 responses to its consultation on international student migration, which closed on 31 January. It will shortly announce a raft of new policy measures in this area aimed at substantially reducing student immigration and ...
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File blunders spark Legal Services Commission payment chaos
The Legal Services Commission is experiencing ‘significant delays’ in processing payments to firms after administrative blunders affected thousands of criminal case files, the Gazette has learned. Payment problems have occurred in relation to 4,000 files which were not allocated the necessary reference by HM Courts Service ...
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Consumers back 'name and shame' complaints policy
Consumers are generally in favour of ‘naming and shaming’ law firms that are subject to complaints, but would only expect information to be published when a firm has had three complaints upheld against it in 12 months, according to research released today. The findings of a ...
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Bar Professional Training Course students 'not up to it'
Too many people on the Bar Professional Training Course are ‘wasting their money’ because they are ‘not up to it’, the chair of the bar’s regulator declared last week. Lady Deech, chair of the Bar Standards Board, said the BSB would press ahead with its plans to introduce aptitude and ...
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Kenneth Clarke: Bribery Act guidance is clear
The justice secretary has moved to reassure ‘honest’ businesses that they will not need to spend ‘millions’ on new systems to comply with the Bribery Act, whatever they may have been told by advisers. Ken Clarke told parliament that lawyers and consultants ‘will, of course, ...
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Lloyds Banking Group heeds Law Society confidentiality concerns
Lloyds Banking Group will no longer ask its conveyancing panel members to provide client account information, after the Law Society raised concerns with the lender over the risk of breaches of client confidentiality. The Society has advised firms that if any lender asks them for client ...
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A week to, erm, forget...
The last week has doubtless been a tiring one for legal aid minister Jonathan Djanogly (pictured), as he prepares to wade his way through the hefty 5,000 responses the Ministry of Justice received to its legal aid consultation. This must surely be the only explanation ...
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Trick of the mind
‘Prepare to enter a world where mind reading and mind control are commonplace, and the rules of reality are flexible’. So boasts the promotional literature of ‘psychological mindreader’ Michael Hinchliffe, who also happens to be a criminal defence solicitor at Fraser Dawbarns in King’s Lynn. ...
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Sole practitioners
Any solicitors who are angling for a new hobby this year may be interested to learn that the Lawyers’ Fishing Club will be holding its annual beginners’ and new members’ day on Saturday 2 April at Rib Valley Lakes, near Ware in Hertfordshire. Intriguingly, as ...
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Cuts to put half of legal aid firms at risk of closure
The ‘catastrophic impact’ of the government’s proposed legal aid cuts could leave 50% of firms doing publicly funded work at risk of closure, according to research commissioned by the Law Society, seen exclusively by the Gazette. Consultants Andrew Otterburn and Vicky Ling surveyed 163 civil and ...
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Very superstitious
You might expect lawyers to be a logical breed, immune to superstition. But not so the US trial lawyer, according to last week’s New York Times. The paper revealed the little rituals followed by some of the country’s top lawyers during trials: ordering the same ...
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Moot point
Obiter extends its congratulations to the team of students from St Peter’s School in Bournemouth, who came 11th out of 30 in the recent Empire Mock Trial Competition in New York. The trip was sponsored by the Bournemouth & District Law Society.
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London solicitor criticises 'absurd' situation over conditional fee agreement
A London solicitor could be left tens of thousands of pounds out of pocket after a judge ruled that the funding agreement under which he accepted a case was unenforceable. Joe Golstein, at the time sole principal at Arbeid & Golstein, took on a clinical negligence ...
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One in two children in care 'don't trust the courts'
Half of the children in care do not trust the court to make the right decision about their lives, according to a report by Children’s Rights director Roger Morgan, published by Ofsted. Of 58 children interviewed, 50% thought courts never or do not usually make the ...
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Justice system delays endemic, research shows
Law Society research submitted to the government last week has identified a ‘lack of communication’ pervading the justice system that is causing delays throughout the process. The survey of 245 individuals in the justice system, including 172 defence solicitors and 55 prosecutors, showed that respondents attributed ...
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APIL chief urges government to give RTA portal a chance
The road traffic accident claims portal should be ‘given a chance’ before the government rushes to implement the Jackson civil justice reforms, the president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers warned last week. Muiris Lyons said that the RTA claims process, which was implemented on ...
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How a lawyer can change their specialist practice area
It is a common observation among middle-aged lawyers that the increasing need to specialise very early in a legal career has changed the face of the profession. Time spent in a more general or rounded practice has been much reduced, leading to a situation where lawyers are making key decisions ...