£1bn tagging programme has failed to cut reoffending – senior police officer – The Guardian

Posted September 24th, 2012 in budgets, electronic monitoring, news, recidivists, security companies by sally

“Nearly £1bn has been spent on the electronic tagging of criminals over the past 13 years with little effect on cutting offending rates, offering little value for money and serving only to enrich two or three private security companies, one of which is G4S, a senior police officer has claimed.”

Full story

The Guardian, 24th September 2012

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Consultation on adoption and fostering welcomed by sector – Family Law Week

Posted September 20th, 2012 in adoption, carers, consultations, fostering, local government, news, social services by sally

“The British Association for Adoption & Fostering (BAAF) and Fostering Network have welcomed the Government’s newly published consultation on proposed changes to adoption and fostering.”

Full story

Family Law Week, 19th September 2012

Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk

Will the Bill of Rights Commission achieve anything at all? – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted September 20th, 2012 in consultations, diversity, EC law, human rights, news by sally

“It’ll all be over by Christmas: that’s what the coalition promised when it established the Commission on a Bill of Rights to, among other things:

‘… investigate the creation of a UK Bill of Rights that incorporates and builds on all our obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights, ensures that these rights continue to be enshrined in UK law, and protects and extends our liberties.'”

Full story

UK Human Rights Blog, 19th September 2012

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

Family lawyers face turbulent year ahead – Law Society’s Gazette

“Family law’s commercial and legal landscape is changing dramatically with the legal aid reforms, the continuing impact of the recession, competition from ABSs and potential legislative changes affecting everyone from the richest to the poorest.”

Full story

Law Society’s Gazette, 20th September 2012

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Soldier who stamped on ex-girlfriend’s face after stabbing her to death in front of four-year-old son is jailed for life – The Independent

Posted September 20th, 2012 in domestic violence, murder, news, sentencing by sally

“An ‘evil’ soldier who stabbed his ex-girlfriend to death and then stamped on her face in front of their four-year-old son in a brutal revenge attack has been jailed for life.”

Full story

The Independent, 19th September 2012

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Copyright reforms needed now, but future ‘tweaking’ without consultation must be avoided, says expert – OUT-LAW.com

Posted September 20th, 2012 in artistic works, consultations, copyright, EC law, news, parliament by sally

“The Government must reform UK copyright law in order to restore the public and business’s ‘respect’ in the ‘integrity’ of the framework, an expert has said.”

Full story

OUT-LAW.com, 19th September 2012

Source: www.out-law.com

DPP statement on Tom Daley case and social media prosecutions – Crown Prosecution Service

“Keir Starmer QC, the Director of Public Prosecutions, has said:

‘On 30 July 2012 Daniel Thomas, a semi-professional footballer, posted a homophobic message on the social networking site, Twitter. This related to the Olympic divers Tom Daley and Peter Waterfield. This became available to his ‘followers’. Someone else distributed it more widely and it made its way into some media outlets. Mr Thomas was arrested and interviewed. The matter was then referred to CPS Wales to consider whether Mr Thomas should be charged with a criminal offence.'”

Full story

Crown Prosecutions Service, 20th September 2012

Source: http://blog.cps.gov.uk

UK among worst in Europe for employing female judges – The Guardian

Posted September 20th, 2012 in bills, diversity, equality, judiciary, news, remuneration by sally

“The United Kingdom’s record of slowly improving judicial diversity has been dealt a severe blow by a comparative European report revealing that only Azerbaijan and Armenia employ fewer female professional judges. Despite what the study describes as a gradual ‘feminisation of the judiciary resulting in a near gender equality’ across the continent and its eastern borders, only 23% of judges in England and Wales and 21% of judges in Scotland are women.”

Full story

The Guardian, 20th September 2012

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Judge criticises warring couple for squandering £1.7 million on bitter divorce battle – Daily Telegraph

Posted September 20th, 2012 in child support, costs, custody, divorce, judges, news by sally

“A couple who squandered £1.7 million during a bitter divorce and custody battle were criticised by a judge for driving their marriage ‘full tilt onto the rocks.'”

Full story

Daily Telegraph, 19th September 2012

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

London bomb plotters launch appeal over ‘flawed’ forensic evidence – The Guardian

Posted September 20th, 2012 in abuse of process, appeals, evidence, forensic science, news, terrorism by sally

“Four of the terrorists convicted for the 21 July 2005 bomb plot will launch an attempt to have their sentences quashed following claims by a former senior government scientist that key forensic evidence used to jail the attackers was flawed.”

Full story

The Guardian, 19th September 2012

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

IPCC highlights police sex cases – The Independent

“Too many police officers and staff have taken sexual advantage of members of the public they were supposed to be helping, a watchdog said today.”

Full story

The Independent, 20th September 2012

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Sky is a fit and proper broadcaster, rules Ofcom – The Guardian

Posted September 20th, 2012 in interception, licensing, media, news, ombudsmen, professional conduct by sally

“The media regulator Ofcom has found that BSkyB remains a ‘fit and proper’ owner of a broadcast licence despite the phone-hacking affair which embroiled its parent company and during which, it said, James Murdoch’s conduct repeatedly fell short of the standard to be expected.”

Full story

The Guardian, 20th September 2012

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Legal aid in England five times as generous as rest of Europe – Daily Telegraph

Posted September 20th, 2012 in budgets, diversity, equality, judiciary, legal aid, news, remuneration by sally

“Legal aid in England and Wales is five times as generous as the average in Europe, figures show.”

Full story

Daily Telegraph, 20th September 2012

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Why us? HMRC unleashes crackdown on barrister tax avoidance – The Lawyer

Posted September 20th, 2012 in barristers, HM Revenue & Customs, news, tax avoidance by sally

“Could it be the proverbial ‘boy who cried wolf’ with the HMRC launching a task force to crackdown on tax-dodging London lawyers?”

Full story

The Lawyer, 19th September 2012

Source: www.thelawyer.com

Tony Blair’s ‘disastrous’ wars to blame for secret courts, says Ken Clarke – The Guardian

“Ken Clarke has blamed Tony Blair’s ‘disastrous war on terror’ for the need to introduce secret courts to protect sensitive intelligence material.”

Full story

The Guardian, 19th September 2012

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Related link: The justice and security bill is on the right track

Advertise your Chambers’ vacancies with us for free

Posted September 20th, 2012 in news by sally

The ‘Classifieds’ section of the Current Awareness blog features advertisements for chambers’ vacancies.

Chambers can submit advertisements to classifieds@innertemplelibrary.com, including the following information:

Chambers name
Title of vacancy
Description of responsibilities
Contact information
Deadline for submission of applications

Users can keep track of vacancies by RSS feed or by Email.

Any new vacancies received will be added on Mondays.

Man with locked-in syndrome prepares to appeal for right to assisted death – The Guardian

Posted September 20th, 2012 in appeals, assisted suicide, euthanasia, news, prosecutions by sally

“Lawyers for a man with locked-in syndrome, who says his life is intolerable and wants help to die, are to take his case to the appeal court within weeks and are then prepared to go to the highest court in the land, the supreme court, if necessary.”

Full story

The Guardian, 20th September 2012

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

HRH the Prince of Wales: advocacy of an ordinary man – Panopticon

“The Upper Tribunal’s judgment in Evans v IC and Others (Seven Government Departments) [2012] UKUT 313 (AAC) (Mr Justice Walker, Professor John Angel and Suzanne Cosgrave), handed down yesterday, has received extensive media coverage – unsurprisingly so, given the subject matter (Prince Charles’ correspondence with government departments) and the requester (Rob Evans of the Guardian). The judgment is stupendously long (65 pages, plus 3 open annexes). Here are the salient points.”

Full story

Panopticon, 19th September 2012

Source: www.panopticonblog.com

The Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property: Where next? – House of Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Committee

Posted September 19th, 2012 in copyright, intellectual property, news, reports by sally

The Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property: Where next? (PDF)

House of Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, September 2012

Source: www.parliament.uk

Facing Up To Offending: Use of restorative justice in the criminal justice system – Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary

Posted September 19th, 2012 in criminal justice, news, rehabilitation, restorative justice, victims by sally

“The aim of this review was to identify the benefits of restorative justice practices across the criminal justice system. It was a joint inspection, carried out by HMIC, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation, Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons.”

Full story

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, 18th September 2012

Source: www.hmic.gov.uk