All articles by Jonathan Goldsmith – Page 42
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What can lawyers do about climate change?
I don't want to start an argument about climate change. I am not competent to answer points about whether it is man-made or indeed whether it is happening at all. But there are nevertheless challenges and opportunities for lawyers in developing a greener environment.
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Lawyers and Iraq – living with the consequences
There has been no bigger topic during the last week than the consequences of the Iraq war on the image of the legal profession. We have witnessed a succession of lawyers giving evidence to the Chilcot inquiry, and we have been presented with different models, as follows:
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Should we fear a European contract law?
The phrase ‘European contract law’ often sets alarm bells ringing in common law circles. Those bells will have begun shrieking in the relevant brains after the hearing before the parliament of the new EU commissioner for justice, Viviane Reding.
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Echoing Lord Justice Jackson on alternative dispute resolution
Here is one of the big issues facing the EU: how do you successfully communicate laws and policies to more than 500 million citizens in 23 official languages?
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New ways of doing business in 2010 – US style
I am still in prophetic mode for the New Year and new decade. Two big drivers in the coming year, and for some time to come, will be the recession and new technology. Here are some developments touching on one or the other or both, as reported in various outlets ...
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What is in store for Europe’s lawyers in 2010?
It is that time of the year when newspapers and magazines run retrospectives on the year that has passed – in 2009, even on the decade that has passed – and give prophecies for the future.
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How others see us: ‘Anglo-Saxon’ values
I attended a round-table discussion this week, put on by one of the Belgian bars, on the topic: ‘What do we expect from a lawyer today?’ The participants came from the media, academia and various parts of the legal profession.
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The ‘first’ justice commissioner – a three-minute guide
Who? Viviane Reding has just been appointed as the commissioner for justice, fundamental rights and citizenship in José Manuel Barroso’s new European Commission. As such, she will be responsible for the lawyers’ portfolio, along with the many justice issues that the commission now deals with. She is the first to ...
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Was the LSCP better and cheaper than the LSB will be?
So, farewell then LSCP. Another set of initials is about to bite the dust, namely those of the Legal Services Consultative Panel. To continue in initials mode, the LSCP followed on from ACLEC (the Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Legal Education and Conduct) and will be succeeded by the ...
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The Legal Services Board must properly research what it is about to do
In a week in which the Legal Services Board has issued another consultation on alternative business structures, I want to speak about the importance of good quality research before important policy proposals are made which may radically affect the legal services market.
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The EU and criminal law: less or more?
How far, and to what extent, should the EU involve itself in criminal law developments? The answer to this will depend on your attitude to the EU itself. We have heard the arguments raging in the media over the last week or two. For those who answer ‘less, less!’...
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Legal Services Board consultation fuels research debate
by Jonathan Goldsmith, secretary general of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of EuropeIn a week in which the Legal Services Board has issued another consultation on alternative business structures, I want to speak about the importance of good-quality research before important policy proposals are made which may radically ...
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The European Courts – and a certain treaty
Oh, and the Lisbon Treaty… I want to write about the European Courts, but I can’t let a week like the past one go by without comment. We rarely have so much excitement in Brussels. Tony Blair apparently out of the running for the role of new EU President!
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Notaries in revolt
I had business with a notary this week. Visiting a notary in Belgium – I suspect the same holds true in all of the continental countries in which they practise – is like entering a scene from a 19th-century French novel. Typically, you are ushered into a specially furnished room, ...
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Is the EU speaking the right language?
Multilingualism is close to the heart of the EU project, but is not something we do well in the UK. Working in an organisation with two official languages, English and French, I have begun to speak a different kind of English. For instance, we use the word ‘deontology’ to mean ...
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Oops, another EU lawyer training proposal
This is how policy comes about.I was scanning what I assumed was an innocuous resolution from the European Parliament on the future five-year programme for justice and home affairs (the so-called Stockholm Programme).
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Will there be a global code of conduct?
I have just returned from the annual conference of the International Bar Association (IBA) in Madrid – the largest ever, with more than 5,000 lawyers from around the world. It wasn’t the best-designed conference to attend...
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A riposte to Professor Richard Susskind
I attended last week a meeting in Dublin of the chief executives of bars and law societies from around the world – well, from Europe, and common law jurisdictions beyond Europe (Africa, North America and the Asia Pacific region).
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Immigration: what can lawyers do?
There has been a twist to my report last week that the incoming president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, has undertaken to separate justice and security issues at European level by creating a commissioner for justice and fundamental rights alone.
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Lawyers, the rule of law and trust
On a happy introductory note, I can record that lawyers gained a major victory this week at European level. Before submitting himself to a vote in the European Parliament to support his candidacy to be renominated as president of the European Commission (a vote he won), José Manuel Barroso conceded ...