Watchdog investigates Met police over handling of discrimination complaints – The Guardian

‘Scotland Yard is being investigated by a human rights watchdog for deleting references to discrimination from internal reports to avoid problems at tribunals.’

Full story

The Guardian, 22nd September 2014

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Fern Computer Consultancy Ltd v Intergraph Cadworx & Analysis Solutions Inc – WLR Daily

Fern Computer Consultancy Ltd v Intergraph Cadworx & Analysis Solutions Inc [2014] EWHC 2908 (Ch); [2014] WLR (D) 400

‘A claim brought under regulation 17 of the Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993 for compensation on determination of an agency agreement was not in respect of a contract or a breach of contract. Accordingly, the jurisdictional gateways for service out of the jurisdiction in paragraph 3.1(6) and (7) of Practice Direction 6B supplementing CPR Pt 6 did not apply.’

WLR Daily, 29th August 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Speech by Lord Justice Gross: RAF Legal Services Conference – Judiciary of England and Wales

Posted September 22nd, 2014 in armed forces, international law, interpretation, judges, legal services, news, rule of law by sally

Speech by Lord Justice Gross: RAF Legal Services Conference (PDF)

RAF Legal Services Conference, 18th September 2014

Source: www.judiciary.gov.uk

BSB enforcement activity producing better outcomes: time taken to investigate complaints against barristers reducing – Bar Standards Board

Posted September 22nd, 2014 in barristers, complaints, disciplinary procedures, enforcement, news, statistics by sally

‘The latest Annual Report on the performance of the Bar Standards Board (BSB)’s Professional Conduct Committee and Professional Conduct Department has been published today. The report shows that the percentage of cases being concluded or referred to disciplinary action within the agreed service standards increased from 64% in 2012/13 to 77% in 2013/14.’

Full story

Bar Standards Board, 19th September 2014

Source: www.barstandardsboard.org.uk

Children: Private Law Update – Family Law Week

‘Alex Verdan QC of 4 Paper Buildings considers recent judgments in private law children cases, including the President’s judgment on legal aid funding in Q v Q.’

Full story

Family Law Week, 19th September 2014

Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk

Bar Council publishes third representational annual report – The Bar Council

Posted September 22nd, 2014 in advocacy, barristers, budgets, costs, diversity, equality, fees, legal aid, news, reports by sally

‘The Bar Council, which represents barristers in England and Wales, has today published the third edition of its annual report, ‘Representing the Bar’, which focuses on the organisation’s representational activities and performance against key strategic aims for 2013-14.’

Full story

The Bar Council, 19th September 2014

Source: www.barcouncil.org.uk

Fee-paid Judicial Pension Scheme – Ministry of Justice

Posted September 22nd, 2014 in consultations, fees, judiciary, news, pensions by sally

‘This consultation seeks views on the proposed design of the Fee-paid Judicial Pension Scheme (FPJPS).’

Full story

Ministry of Justice, 19th September 2014

Source: https://consult.justice.gov.uk

Supreme Court forces barristers to waive success fees – Litigation Futures

Posted September 22nd, 2014 in appeals, barristers, costs, fees, news, solicitors, Supreme Court, wills by sally

‘The president of the Supreme Court has taken the “fairly remarkable” course of forcing two barristers into dropping their claims to success fees in a case which he said again highlighted the “many unsatisfactory aspects” of the pre-Jackson CFA regime.’

Full story

Litigation Futures, 18th September 2014

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Legal Ombudsman outlines test for dealing with complaints about MDPs – Legal Futures

‘The Legal Ombudsman (LeO) has introduced a policy for dealing with complaints about organisations which provide non-legal as well as legal services, such as some alternative business structures (ABSs) and, shortly, accountants who offer probate advice.’

Full story

Legal Futures, 19th September 2014

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Drivers may be able to reclaim millions in unfair parking fines – The Independent

‘Motorists could demand the refund of more than £100m in parking fines, after what experts described as an “explosive” tribunal ruling left local government traffic officials in “absolute panic”.’

Full story

The Independent, 21st September 2014

Source: www.independent.co.uk

High Court slaps down legal aid reform – Law Society’s Gazette

‘The lord chancellor acted ‘unlawfully’ in the way he consulted on controversial plans to shake up criminal legal aid, the High Court ruled today [19 September].’

Full story

Law Society’s Gazette, 19th September 2014

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Supreme Court clarifies continuing police disclosure obligations – RPC Privacy Law

‘The recent Supreme Court judgment in the case of R (on the application of Nunn) v Chief Constable of Suffolk Constabulary and another sheds further light on the continuing duty of the police and the Crown Prosecution Service to disclose information in criminal cases post-conviction.’

Full story

RPC Privacy Law, 19th September 2014

Source: www.rpc.co.uk

How could 16-year-old Christina be killed on her way to school? – Daily Telegraph

‘As a report declares the fatal stabbing of schoolgirl Christina Edkins as ‘preventable’, her family speak out about the serious failings that led to the unprovoked attack.’

Full story

Daily Telegraph, 21st September 2014

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Disability hate crime: Attacks on people with disabilities ‘must be taken more seriously’ – The Independent

‘The former director of public prosecutions has said attacks on disabled people are not being recognised as hate crime, letting criminals off with lighter sentences.’

Full story

The Independent, 21st September 2014

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Students without indefinite leave to are ineligible for student loans – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted September 11th, 2014 in appeals, education, human rights, immigration, news, visas by sally

‘The United Kingdom was not in breach of the human rights of those individuals ineligible for student loans because they did not have indefinite leave to remain in the country. The relevant legislation limits eligibility for student loans to those who are “settled” in the United Kingdom (within the meaning of the Immigration Act 1971 ) and who have been ordinarily resident in the UK for three years.’

Full story

UK Human Rights Blog, 11th September 2014

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

UK prisons ‘failing to identify suicidal inmates’ – The Guardian

Posted September 11th, 2014 in news, prisons, reports, suicide by sally

‘There are too many cases of prisons failing to identify inmates who are a suicide risk despite the presence of clear warning signs, an official watchdog has warned after a “troubling” 64% rise in self-inflicted deaths behind bars in the past year.’

Full story

The Guardian, 11th September 2014

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

EVENT: Law Society – Public debate series: Right to be forgotten

Posted September 11th, 2014 in Forthcoming events by sally

‘A landmark ruling of the European Union Court of Justice, in May of this year, held that it is Google’s responsibility to remove outdated or ‘irrelevant’ search results hosted by third parties. EU justice commissioner Viviane Reading praised the decision, hailing a “clear victory for the protection of personal data of Europeans”, while others have raised concerns over its implementation, fearing that it could mark a slippery slope toward online censorship.’

CPD hours 1.25

Date: 15th October 2014, 6.00-8.45pm

Location: The Law Society, 113 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1PL

Charge: Free

More information can be found here.

EVENT: UCL CLP – Pay (in)equity and agent (dis)incentives

Posted September 11th, 2014 in Forthcoming events by sally

‘It is trite that recent decades have seen an explosion in levels of senior executive remuneration in public companies, both absolutely and relative to ordinary worker pay. A conspicuous corresponding trend over recent years, though, has been the development of a range of countervailing regulatory tools designed to mitigate this disparity within various national environments. These include regulatory pay ratio caps, bonus bans, and mandatory pay ratio disclosures. Notwithstanding these salient developments, prevailing legal and economic debates on executive and worker pay remain rooted in the dominant principal-agent paradigm of corporate governance, which consistently disputes the relevance of equitable or distributive fairness concerns to the essentially functional challenge of determining effective agent incentives. In this lecture I will take issue with the orthodox principal-agent perspective on pay equity, by demonstrating the centrality of equitable concerns to effective agent-incentive design, both at senior executive and ordinary worker levels.’

Date: 27th November 2014, 6.00-7.00pm

Location: UCL Law Faculty, Bentham House, Endsleigh Gardens, London WC1H 0EG

Charge: Free, registration required

More information can be found here.

EVENT: Law Society – Mental health and learning disabilities in police custody and the criminal courts

Posted September 11th, 2014 in Forthcoming events by sally

‘It is well established that high numbers of people in the criminal justice system experience mental health problems or learning disabilities. In 2007, Lord Bradley was invited by the government to undertake an independent review of people with mental health problems or learning disabilities in the criminal justice system. ‘

CPD hours 2.25

Date: 15th October 2014, 4.30-6.45pm

Location: The Law Society, 113 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1PL

Charge: Free

More information can be found here.

EVENT: IALS – Is Legislation Literature? (Sir William Dale Annual Memorial Lecture)

Posted September 11th, 2014 in Forthcoming events by sally

‘Legislation has the limited object of changing the law. So it consists of abstract rules of general application which appeal to the intellect. Other forms of writing can summon up mental pictures of individual people and events and appeal to the emotions. Another consequence of its limited object is that every word of an Act counts and its language is spare. Techniques available to other writers (like repetition and exuberance) are generally denied to the drafter. So drafting is unlikely to produce literature. The fascination lies in producing something precise and clear while operating within the inherent restraints.’

Date: 3rd November 2014, 6.00-7.00pm

Location: Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Charles Clore House, 17 Russell Square, London WC1B 5DR

Charge: Free, registration required

More information can be found here.