James Morton
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LiP service and monkey business
I had several dealings with litigants in person, few of which seemed to work in my favour.
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Writing wrongs: top scribe tips
Once I became editor of a legal magazine I quickly learned some lessons about writing. Here are a few thoughts about submissions.
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Exceptions to the cab rank rule
In 25 years of practice, I never met a clerk who, if he or his master did not want a case, could not evade it.
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On course to find your feet
In the 1960s young solicitors who wanted to do a bit of advocacy were thrown in at the deep end.
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Settling down at the fledgling CPS
Teething problems are overcome at the new Crown Prosecution Service.
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Matron! Cases for the prosecution
Morton's first day acting as an agent for the newly formed Crown Prosecution Service did not begin well.
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Liberties at stake in rush for justice
There are several ways in which justice can be expedited without root-and-branch changes.
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Crimes changing with the seasons
January and February were for burglary, summer months were reserved for hotel theft, while October was the lorry hijack season.
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Judges who took their time
For the fourth time this year, a judge has been given formal advice for misconduct over a late judgment. None, however, was in the class of a 19th-century lord chancellor.
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How our DPPs are remembered
Every DPP’s tenure is judged by one or two cases which they should have prosecuted but didn’t, or shouldn’t have prosecuted but did.
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Judges behaving badly – again
There must, I suppose, be some sympathy for a judge or magistrate who has a very occasional outburst during a case – provided that they do not do it too often.
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Matters of life and Dr Death
It is a wonder how some ‘experts’ have ever been allowed to give evidence.
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Skeletons in the cupboard
Bundles of unstamped conveyances and mortgages and fake divorce papers.
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A tale of canine court officers
Research papers are beginning to appear discussing whether dogs in court are an influence on juries.
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Fuller figure in conveyancing
Solicitor Roy Fuller was a genial and unbelievably patient man who looked like the archetype of a British flying officer in a war film.
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Lords leaping into marriage
Three daughters of the 1930s nightclub queen Kate Meyrick married peers of the realm.