The perennial pantomime of ‘Divorce D Day’? – Family Law

Posted January 8th, 2018 in divorce, media, news by sally

‘January 8 is being dubbed “Divorce Day” by lawyers because of the spike in couples considering ending their marriages after the festive period’. So says a quality broadsheet. Well, it really ought to know better. Come to that, so should the Press Association announcing a story: ‘”Divorce Day” looms with sharp post-festive rise in couples considering split’.’

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Family Law, 5th January 2018

Source: www.familylaw.co.uk

Former exec given suspended sentence for filming up women’s skirts – The Guardian

Posted January 8th, 2018 in mental health, news, sentencing, suspended sentences, voyeurism by sally

‘A former executive at an international entertainment company has been spared jail after he admitted filming up women’s skirts using a hidden camera.’

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The Guardian, 5th January 2018

Source: www.theguardian.com

Bob Spink handed suspended sentence over election fraud – BBC News

Posted January 8th, 2018 in community service, elections, fraud, news, suspended sentences by sally

‘An ex-Tory and UKIP MP has been given a suspended six-month prison term after being convicted of election fraud.’

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BBC News, 5th January 2018

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Worboys case: Release of taxi rapist triggers parole review – BBC News

Posted January 8th, 2018 in disclosure, news, parole, rape, release on licence, sexual offences by sally

‘The way parole is considered is to be reviewed following the decision to release serial sex attacker John Worboys, the prime minister has said.’

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BBC News, 7th January 2018

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Acid attacks: Major UK retailers ban acid sales to under-18s – Daily Telegraph

‘Under-18s will not be able to buy products containing harmful levels of acid or corrosive substances at a number of retailers, following the launch of a voluntary Government plan.’

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Daily Telegraph, 7th January 2018

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Police complaints process overhaul begins on Monday – BBC News

Posted January 8th, 2018 in complaints, news, police by sally

‘A major overhaul of the system of police complaints in England and Wales comes into effect on Monday.’

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BBC News, 8th January 2018

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Government urged to ban nuisance calls and texts from claims firms – The Guardian

‘British consumers were bombarded with 2.2bn nuisance phone calls and texts from pensions, PPI and cash-for-crash claims firms last year, according to an analysis of Ofcom data.’

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The Guardian, 8th January 2018

Source: www.theguardian.com

Tribunal unimpressed by Mastercard’s “wholly unreasonable” costs in Merricks case – Litigation Futures

Posted January 4th, 2018 in appeals, class actions, competition, consumer credit, costs, news, tribunals by sally

‘The costs incurred by Mastercard in defending an attempt to bring one of the largest class actions ever appear “wholly unreasonable and disproportionate”, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) has found.’

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Litigation Futures, 2nd January 2018

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

The open justice principle: a child’s crimes and a parent’s misdemeanour – Transparency Project

‘What legal principles connect publicity for the 17 year-old Charlie Pearce (born 3 July 2000), a double rapist and attempt murderer (R v Pearce (Press Restrictions) Haddon-Cave J (7 December 2017)) and privacy for a stalking mother who, with her cohabitant (‘Mr JM’) tried to disrupt her 10 year-old daughter T’s foster placement (Re T (A Child) [2017] EWCA Civ 1889 (23 November 2017)).’

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Transparency Project, 31st January 2018

Source: www.transparencyproject.org.uk

New guidance on the use of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 – UK Police Law Blog

Posted January 4th, 2018 in anti-social behaviour, local government, news, nuisance, police by sally

‘Revised Guidance has been published on 24 December 2017. The Home Office website states:

New guidance on the use of anti-social behaviour powers will help police and councils continue to take appropriate action against nuisance behaviours while ensuring the most vulnerable, including the homeless, are not disproportionately targeted.’

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UK Police Law Blog, 27th December 2017

Source: ukpolicelawblog.com

Leading employment law provider unfairly dismissed senior employee, tribunal finds – Legal Futures

‘The leading unregulated provider of employment law services unfairly dismissed a senior employee, an employment tribunal has found.’

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Legal Futures, 3rd January 2018

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Court of Appeal Overturns Decision Denying Trans Parent Contact With Children – Rights Info

‘An ultra-Orthodox Jew who left her community to start a new life as a woman has been allowed an appeal by The Court of Appeal. This overturned an earlier ruling that she should have no direct contact with her five children.’

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Rights Info, 2nd January 2018

Source: rightsinfo.org

The Bedworth bedroom conundrum – Nearly Legal

Posted January 4th, 2018 in benefits, housing, local government, news, regulations, social security by sally

‘A very interesting (and perhaps surprising) Upper Tribunal 3 judge decision on the issue of ‘what is a bedroom’ for the purposes of Housing Benefit Reg 13 – the bedroom tax.’

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Nearly Legal, 31st December 2017

Source: nearlylegal.co.uk

10 cases that defined 2017 – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted January 4th, 2018 in human rights, judgments, news by sally

‘2017 has been a dramatic year in global politics and no less in the world of human rights law.’

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UK Human Rights Blog, 22nd December 2017

Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com

Taking stock of the gig economy: lessons for technology companies – Panopticon

Posted January 4th, 2018 in employment, flexible working, news, self-employment by sally

‘A combination of high profile cases and policy announcements about the so-called “gig economy” has a particular resonance for technology companies. Technological change has transformed the labour market, which has given added urgency to finding better solutions to three much older problems:

– How should we best draw the line between the independent contractors, workers and employees?
– Should the self-employed and employees be taxed differently?
– How should personal service companies be treated for tax purposes?’

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Panopticon, 2nd January 2018

Source: www.technology-law-blog.co.uk

Candy Crush (-es Holyoake) – Panopticon

Posted January 4th, 2018 in data protection, disclosure, news by sally

‘Readers of this blog will recall an important DPA judgment, particularly on the legal professional privilege exemption, which came out in January 2017 called Holyoake v Candy & CPC [2017] EWHC 52 (QB) (see the blogpost here). That case has, however, involved various pieces of satellite litigation including a 193 page judgment of Nugee J handed down just before Christmas in Holyoake & Hotblack v Candy & Candy & others [2017] EWHC 3397 (Ch).For some reason the parties to the extensive Chancery proceedings appear to have seen as most important the multi-million pound claims for misrepresentation, duress, unlawful means conspiracy, interference with economic interests, undue influence, breach of consumer credit legislation, breach of the rule against penalty clauses and the exotically named extortion under colour of due process. For very detailed and lengthy reasons which it is unnecessary to set out here, Nugee J rejected all of Mr Holyoake’s various claims. The judge made numerous adverse findings in respect Mr Holyoake’s performance as a witness, although it is fair to say that the Candy brothers did not escape without some measure of criticism either. (I should declare that I acted for Candy and CPC in the earlier DPA proceedings; although all of the Panopticon editors were on one side or the other.)’

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Panopticon, 29th December 2017

Source: panopticonblog.com

QC appointments remain male dominated, but women who apply more likely to succeed – Litigation Futures

Posted January 4th, 2018 in barristers, equality, news, queen's counsel, women by sally

‘Only 18% of applicants for silk this year were women, but they were far more likely to be appointed than men, it has emerged as 119 new QCs were named today.’

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Litigation Futures, 21st December 2017

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Rules on properties requiring HMO licence to be strengthened from April – Local Government Lawye

‘Landlords renting properties in England occupied by five or more people, from two or more separate households, will need to hold a house of multiple occupation (HMO) licence from April 2018, Housing Minister Alok Sharma has announced.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 2nd January 2018

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

MoJ spending huge sums on consultants to help deliver digital courts – The Guardian

Posted January 4th, 2018 in contracting out, courts, internet, judiciary, Ministry of Justice, news by sally

‘The Ministry of Justice is spending tens of millions of pounds on management consultants to help deliver online and digital court programmes that are designed to save money and improve access to justice.’

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The Guardian, 2nd January 2018

Source: www.theguardian.com

Law Pod UK Ep. 20: Assessing discrimination in faith-based state schools – 1 COR

Posted January 4th, 2018 in education, news, religious discrimination, sex discrimination by sally

‘Following Ofsted winning a judgment against an Islamic co-education state school, Rosalind English talks to Rajkiran Barhey about measuring unlawful discrimination in cases where two groups of students are treated equally, but separately, by their school.’

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Law Pod UK, 21st December 2017

Source: audioboom.com