Law Society Gazette, 16 May 2016

Bill would trigger EU court referrals

Any UK law that curbed rights under the ECHR would make challenges under the 2009 EU charter more frequent, a committee of the House of Lords has said in the run-up to the Brexit referendum.  

11 May 2006

Solicitor in cabinet after reshuffle

A solicitor will this week sit in the cabinet for the first time in eight years following Hazel Blears’ promotion in Tony Blair’s reshuffle. The junior appointments also saw Vera Baird QC promoted to the Department for Constitutional Affairs, which has five ministers for the first time. 

15 May 1996

APIL backs juries for all PI trials

Lawyers have strongly supported a proposal that all personal injury cases should be heard by juries. At last week’s meeting of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, leading PI practitioners maintained that juries could provide the same levels of ‘accessibility, uniformity and predictability’ that are currently displayed by judges. 

14 May 1986

Rights of audience – a small victory

The long-awaited practice direction was published which will give solicitors very limited rights of audience in uncontested matters in the Supreme Court. Readers with long memories will recollect that the saga started with the action of Abse v Smith, the ‘Smith’ being Cyril Smith MP, who was alleged to have defamed Leo Abse and 24 other members of parliament in a radio interview on the topic of the Falklands campaign. 

June 1966

‘Who steals my purse steals trash…’

On 1 May, the Sunday Express published an article by Mr AJP Taylor entitled, ‘The scandal of the lawyers’ closed shop’. Its author, though eminent in other fields, seems singularly ill-informed on matters affecting the law and the legal profession. Mr Taylor derides the fact that the bench and the bar wear wigs and gowns. This he seems to find ludicrous and savouring of fancy-dress.

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