All News articles – Page 1400
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News
Don’t tell him, Pike!
Our current government is so transfixed by transparency it’ll probably turn holographic any moment. Think about the benefits: we can airbrush Michael Gove, ministers can avoid actually having to meet the public and we’ll finally get to see the Men in Black-style alien controlling Jeremy Hunt ...
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The third degree
In the House of Lords recently, a Liberal Democrat peer pointed out that third-party funding used to be ‘both a crime and a civil tort’. But unusually for a practice that was previously considered illegal, third-party funding is now basking in the warm glow of judicial approval; and while the ...
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Criminal law
Proceedings - Extradition proceedings - Court of Appeal - Jurisdiction R (on the application of Guardian News and Media Ltd) v City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court: CA (Civ Div) (Master of the Rolls Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, Lord Justices ...
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Criminal evidence
Admissibility - Defendant being charged, inter alia, with possession of cocaine with intent to supply - No defence being served by time of plea and case management hearing R v Newell: CA (Crim Div) (Sir Anthony May (president), Mrs ...
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Firms going direct for PII coverage, Law Society poll shows
Increasing numbers of law firms are seeking out their own quotes for professional indemnity insurance, according to a Law Society survey. The poll of 600 firms found almost one-fifth of firms approached insurers directly to get 2011/12 cover - nearly double the proportion who did so ...
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Government plans 'could undermine human rights court'
Inflexible government proposals to tackle the backlog of 150,000 cases at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) could undermine the court’s credibility and deny access to justice, the Law Society has warned as an international conference on the court’s future begins today. The proposals, in ...
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Concern over police use of interview loophole
The Law Society has raised concerns with the Home Office about police officers denying suspects their right to consult a solicitor. Richard Atkinson, chair of the Society’s criminal law committee, told the Gazette that police are circumventing the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) by ...
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SRA sets timetable for compliance roles
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has laid out its plans for nominating and appointing compliance officers for legal practice (COLPs) and compliance officers for finance and administration (COFAs). In a speech today, SRA executive director Samantha Barrass announced that firms will be able to nominate COLPs and ...
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Society offers compliance officer help
The Law Society has announced a pilot scheme to provide firms with advice on problems with new compliance requirements. A new compliance reference group (CRG) will deal with enquiries from compliance officers for legal practices (COLPs) and provide advice on major problems.
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Colombia overtures obscure deep-rooted human rights issues
by Bryan Nott, partner at Simpson Millar ‘Colombia: isn’t it a bit dicey?’ It is possible that the lawyers Michael Cross spoke with when he visited Colombia showed irritation at that question.
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Reservations as Clarke wins Strasbourg court reform deal
Forty-seven European states have adopted the final draft of the UK government’s proposed reforms of the Strasbourg human rights court, despite reservations expressed by some of the court’s top officials. These reservations include fears that national parliaments might attempt to compromise the independence of the court ...
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Insurance industry ‘deluded’ says PI chief
The incoming president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers has launched a stinging attack on the prime minister and insurance industry. Speaking at the APIL conference in Newport today, Karl Tonks accused insurers of creating a ‘dysfunctional’ system through third-party capture of people who would never otherwise make a ...
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Society proposes five-yearly check on criminal practitioners
The Law Society is seeking views on a plan to bolster its criminal litigation quality standard by reaccrediting solicitors every five years. It has proposed that members of the Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme (CLAS) should undergo a regulatory check every five years involving six hours ...
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Care crisis looms without more funds, Society says
The Law Society has warned that greater resources are needed to prevent a crisis in the care system as the number of applications soars to record levels. Annual figures released by the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) show that for the ...
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Why self-help makes business sense
District Judge Richard Chapman asks us for help with problems for the judge and the parties when litigants have to represent themselves. For many years, my firm’s Law Shop service has been giving advice to clients who have to self-represent in the Small Claims Court, in exactly the way that ...
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Interpreter 'bite' mistake causes trial collapse
A four-day burglary trial at a London Crown court collapsed last week after an interpreter made a mistake translating the defendant’s evidence. The trial at Snaresbrook (pictured) was halted on Friday afternoon after the Romanian language interpreter admitted mistakenly telling the court that the defendant had allegedly been ‘bitten’ rather ...
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How long before we end up with a serious miscarriage of justice?
History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce. As professional interpreters continue their de facto strike over the ongoing outsourcing shambles, Marx’s dictum sprang readily to mind. Last week’s collapsed trial at Snaresbrook over the difference in meaning between ‘beaten’ and ‘bitten’ follows an earlier charade at Ipswich where ...
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Balancing exercise: privacy and press freedom
Lord Grabiner QC is the lawyer you saw sitting in a row of seats behind Rupert Murdoch when the newspaper owner gave evidence to a Commons committee last July and ended up with a custard pie in his face. Grabiner was there because he chairs the management and standards committee ...
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Rucking all over the world
Lawyers are uncompromising in negotiation and unafraid of getting down and dirty when it comes to winning a point. They tackle issues head-on, run with the ball and… Obiter could continue with the rugby puns, but there is a more serious point. The New Zealand lawyers northern rugby tour is ...