‘Making defendants in criminal proceedings declare their nationality is “offensive and objectionable”, the former president of the London Criminal Courts Solicitors’ Association (LCCSA) has said.’
Law Society's Gazette, 16th November 2017
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘Defendants will have to disclose their nationality at their first appearance before magistrates in England and Wales from next week under powers that human rights groups say will undermine the right to a fair trial.’
The Guardian, 9th November 2017
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘An independent review into the treatment of, and outcomes for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic individuals in the criminal justice system.’
Official Publications, 8th September 2017
‘Prosecutions against some black and minority-ethnic suspects should be deferred or dropped to help tackle the criminal justice system’s bias against them, according to a highly critical report written by the Labour MP David Lammy at the request of the prime minister.’
The Guardian, 8th September 2017
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘Arguments over “apparent bias” in judges should be based on the view of a “fair-minded and informed observer” and not the feelings of clients, Lord Justice Burnett has said.’
Litigation Futures, 27th July 2017
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
‘Police repeatedly failed to protect a disabled Iranian refugee as neighbours waged a violent seven-year campaign of hate that culminated in his murder by a misguided vigilante, a report has concluded.’
The Guardian, 5th June 2017
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘Jennifer Youngs and Vondez Phipps, pupil barristers at 42 Bedford Row, summarise the circumstances in which judicial conduct at a case management hearing might form the basis of an application for recusal, and provide guidance to practitioners as to the manner in which such an application might be made.’
Family Law Week, 22nd June 2017
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
‘The Chancellor of the High Court has urged judges to “temper eagerness with restraint” in the way they conduct trials, after a circuit judge was found to have made excessive interventions while witnesses were giving evidence.’
Litigation Futures, 10th April 2017
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
‘In Willmott–v- Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust (2017) EWCA Civ 181 the Court of Appeal considered whether a Judge’s comment during a clinical negligence trial had the objective appearance of bias or prejudging the evidence.’
Zenith PI Blog, 28th March 2017
Source: www.zenithpi.wordpress.com
‘Norris J has recently had to deal with an interesting case where he faced an application that he should recuse himself from a case. It also highlighted the negative impact a litigant in person can have on a case and administration of the Courts.’
Zenith PI, 29th June 2016
Source: www.zenithpi.wordpress.com
Singh v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2016] EWCA Civ 492
‘When a party seeks to appeal to the Upper Tribunal on the grounds that there had been bias or misconduct on the part of the First-tier Tribunal, the following guidance should be followed. (1) Any application for permission to appeal, if based (in whole or part) on such a ground, should be closely scrutinised. Such an allegation, if to be sufficient to merit the grant of permission at all, should ordinarily be expected to be properly particularised and appropriately evidenced. (2) If an allegation of bias or misconduct is raised which is adjudged sufficient to merit the grant of permission to appeal then it should be normal practice for the Upper Tribunal thereafter to obtain the written comments of the judge concerned. (3) Such written comments of the judge, where obtained, should be provided to the parties for the purposes of the appeal hearing in the Upper Tribunal. In addition, any such written comments should be retained on the file pending any possible further appeal to the Court of Appeal. (4) There may be some cases where it may be necessary to obtain the tribunal judge’s own note or record of the entire hearing since proceedings in the First-tier Tribunal are not ordinarily recorded and no transcript of the hearing will be available. (5) It will normally be likely to be of assistance to the Upper Tribunal to know what the advocate for the respondent has to say as to what happened or what was said before the First-tier Tribunal. Providing such observations is more likely to help produce a fuller and accurate picture of what actually happened or was said in the First-tier Tribunal. Where the advocate does not have a precise note or recollection, the Upper Tribunal can be told. (6) Whether oral evidence is needed at the hearing of the appeal on the issue of what happened or what was said below should be carefully considered by the parties. (7) It is likely to be important in appeals of this nature for the file to be reviewed and any directions given by an Upper Tribunal judge in good time before the substantive appeal hearing (para 53).’
WLR Daily, 27th May 2016
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘The High Court has rejected an appeal by Richard Barnett, senior partner of collapsed conveyancing firm Barnetts, against his striking-off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT).’
Legal Futures, 19th May 2016
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘“What could very easily happen with teaching about human rights is indoctrination…so let’s say someone says that racism isn’t wrong. Okay, so what would happen is that ‘racism is wrong. You have to learn it’. That’s the way it would be taught… Actually, I think a debate around that is needed, because I don’t think you can say that intrinsically racism is wrong. You can say that as a society, we’ve formed a set of values that have concluded that racism is wrong.”
When a primary school teacher says something like this to you as a researcher, it makes you sit up and take notice. Whilst it would be comforting to think that this is simply the isolated perspective of one wayward teacher, my research into teachers’ perceptions of educating primary school children about human rights was punctuated by similarly troubling viewpoints. One teacher found it difficult to talk about the atrocities that happened at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp without telling the children in her classroom that “this is the most heinous crime ever imagined”, following this up with “and you can’t do that, so it’s very difficult.” Another was loathe to teach that democracy was “the right way,” because she didn’t want to influence, but rather to simply “open children’s eyes.” Her final comment on this issue being “who am I to say that democracy is the right way?”’
OUP Blog, 4th April 2016
Source: http://blog.oup.com
‘A judge who wrongly questioned the status of a solicitor after doing his own research on the Law Society’s website, has been criticised by the Court of Appeal.’
Legal Futures, 5th February 2016
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘The Prime Minister has asked David Lammy MP to investigate evidence of possible bias against black defendants and other ethnic minorities.’
Ministry of Justice, 31st January 2016
Source: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice
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