Last 3 months headlines – Page 1725
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Warning over video link for defendants
Government plans for defendants to make their first appearance before magistrates’ courts via video from the police station will lead to more people being remanded into custody, practitioners have warned. The Office for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR) plans to test a ‘virtual court’, intended to save ...
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Late surge boosts PC numbers
A late surge in applications for practising certificates over recent days has reversed an apparently startling decline in numbers. Latest figures from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) show 97,291 submissions as of 16 November – 477 more than at the same time last year. The previous ...
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Civil costs rates 'next month'
New guideline hourly rates for civil costs may be published by Christmas, the chairman of the committee charged with recommending the rates announced last week. In a rare public address, Professor Stephen Nickell admitted that producing the rates has not been an easy process, with the ...
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Tumultuous period for costs draftsmen continues
An imminent root and branch review of the costs system and an overhaul of ‘no win, no fee’ agreements, with Justice Secretary Jack Straw threatening to cap success fees, could change the landscape for costs draftsmen. Sir Rupert Jackson, recently promoted to the Court of Appeal, ...
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New procedure for recovery of costs in pro bono cases
Pro bono came of age on 1 October. That was the day when section 194 of the Legal Services Act 2007 came into effect. Section 194 confers legislative recognition of pro bono legal services and enables a valuable new source of financial support for organisations ...
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Media: danger in the detail
We are all told to pay attention to detail at school and as lawyers it is paramount. Many a case has been won when a tiny, apparently trifling detail has been uncovered, often at the last minute. The late George Carman was a master of ...
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International law
European Union – Legal Certainty – Orders in Council – UN resolutions - Vires (1) A (2) K (3) M (4) Q (5) G v HM Treasury: CA (Civ Div) (Sir Anthony Clarke, Master of the Rolls, Lords Justice ...
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Criminal procedure
Armed forces – Anonymity – Court martial – Hearings in chambers (1) Times Newspapers Ltd (2) Guardian News & Media Ltd (3) soldier B (appellants) v (1) R (2) soldier A (3) soldier C (4) soldier D (5) soldier ...
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Criminal law
Life imprisonment – Minimum term – Mitigation – Murder – Sentencing guidelines R v (1) John Height (2) Malcolm Anderson: CA (Crim Div) (Lord Chief Justice, Lords Justice Thomas, Leveson, Mr Justice Owen, Mr Justice Christopher Clarke): 29 October ...
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Civil Procedure Rules changes, part two
The most important forthcoming change to the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) is the new part 6 on service (see [2008] Gazette, 18 September, 25]. This article considers other reforms.
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Freedom of expression remains secure for internet users
The online community breathed a collective sigh of relief at the end of September. The European Telecoms Package was passed, but without a number of controversial amendments that would have threatened the right to freedom of expression for internet users – in particular, the amendments that looked set to enable ...
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Review: The Barristers
The BarristersBBC2, 9pm, 14 NovemberThe Open University, BBC Three years ago the BBC thought it would be a good idea to make a solicitor’s office the subject of a fly-on-the-wall documentary. No Win, No Fee portrayed the colourful personal injury practice at Manchester firm Amelans. This year it’s the turn ...
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Review: All Wind and Pistol
On the inside back cover of All Wind and Pistol, we find, as is standard in hardback novels, a short biography of the author. Roger Butters, it says, ‘practised as a solicitor until he took early retirement in order to pursue his many interests, which include Buddhism, karate, aviation and ...
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Jersey offers British lawyers a choice opportunity
For a couple of weeks a year, a select few British lawyers become the envy of their peers. Instead of struggling down the Strand to argue cases before unsympathetic judges, they sit as judges themselves – indeed, as no less than a court of appeal. ...
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Standing out from the crowd
If a law firm launched a campaign that boasted ‘we will act in your best interests and provide you with good service’, it would seem a modest boast indeed.
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Getting personal
‘Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer,’ advised Sun Tzu, the Chinese general and military strategist. Manchester Law Society has clearly taken this message to heart. The latest issue of its journal, The Messenger (Harbinger, more like) includes an article from shy and retiring BBC ...
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New tricks treat
From now on, Obiter wants to see more musicians on this page. Like the family departments of Cumbrian law firms Temple Heelis and Thomson Wilson Pattinson which, in the spirit of ‘give a little bit’, took the idea of collaborative law one step further by organising and funding a live ...
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Proof in the pudding
Our collection of legal typos continues to grow – and some of them would make Russell Brand blush. In the more printable category, Edm und Coxhead of PCB Solicitors recalls being intrigued by the mention of an ‘enjoyment rug’ in a typed-up draft of a will. ...
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Identity cards and protecting information
I was surprised to hear a former colleague mentioned on Radio 4’s News Quiz last week. Harvey Mattinson – now with GCHQ – suggested that it was ‘absolute bunkum’ for politicians to claim that ID cards would help thwart terrorism.
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Let 'em eat cake
Talk about having your cake and eating it. Walsall solicitors Enoch Evans is looking for sponsorship for the forthcoming local half-marathon. But hey, who can motivate themselves to slog through all those miles of training on wet November evenings unless there is a tangible benefit ...