Bar Council responds to MoJ legal aid announcements – The Bar Council

Posted April 10th, 2013 in advocacy, competition, criminal justice, legal aid, news by sally

“The Bar Council, which represents barristers in England and Wales, has responded to today’s Ministry of Justice (‘MoJ’) announcement on legal aid.”

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The Bar Council, 9th April

Source: www.barcouncil.org.uk

MoJ unveils tendering plans for criminal defence – Law Society’s Gazette

“Defendants will lose the right to choose their lawyer and instead be allocated a representative, under government plans to introduce price-competitive tendering (PCT) for criminal defence services.”

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Law Society’s Gazette, 9th April 2013

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Making legal aid fairer for taxpayers – Ministry of Justice

Posted April 10th, 2013 in budgets, consultations, criminal justice, legal aid, legal representation, news by sally

“Plans to boost public confidence in the legal aid system and tackle towering bills have today been put out to consultation by Justice Secretary Chris Grayling.”

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Ministry of Justice, 9th April 2013

Source: www.justice.gov.uk

Wealthy defendants to be denied legal aid in fresh cuts – The Guardian

Posted April 10th, 2013 in budgets, criminal justice, legal aid, news by sally

“Wealthy criminal defendants with disposable incomes of more than £37,500 a year will no longer automatically be entitled to legal aid under a further round of cuts unveiled by the Ministry of Justice.”

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The Guardian, 9th April 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

The case for QASA – Legal Futures

Posted April 9th, 2013 in advocacy, criminal justice, legal profession, news, quality assurance by sally

“David Wolfe QC of Matrix Chambers argues that the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA) is a necessary step to assure the competence of criminal advocates and answers the main criticisms levelled by its opponents.”

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Legal Futures, 9th April 2013

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Improving the Code of Practice for Victims of Crime – Ministry of Justice

Posted April 3rd, 2013 in codes of practice, consultations, criminal justice, news, victims by sally

“This consultation sets out the Government’s plans to reform the Victims’ Code to give victims clearer entitlements from criminal justice agencies and to better tailor service to individual need. It is aimed at all criminal justice agencies, victims of crime and businesses.”

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Ministry of Justice, 29th March 2013

Source: www.justice.gov.uk

Our justice system is being turned into Profit & Growth plc – The Guardian

Posted April 2nd, 2013 in criminal justice, legal profession, news, quality assurance, tenders by sally

“Under Chris Grayling’s plans, lawyers will become unit-shifters employed by large corporations.”

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The Guardian, 1st April 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Regina v Applied Language Solutions Ltd – WLR Daily

Regina v Applied Language Solutions Ltd: [2013] EWCA Crim 326;   [2013] WLR (D)  123

“Where a company had an agreement with the Ministry of Justice to provide interpreters, including interpreters for criminal proceedings, it was essential that an interpreter was provided on every occasion when one was required. If there was successive non-attendance of an individual interpreter or successive failures in systems a court was entitled to view that as amounting to serious misconduct rendering the company liable for the costs thereby incurred by the Crown Prosecution Service and the defence.”

WLR Daily, 25th March 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

No consultation on principle of criminal legal aid tendering – LAG News Blog

Posted March 22nd, 2013 in consultations, criminal justice, legal aid, news, tenders by sally

“It was clear from the meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Legal Aid yesterday evening that there is a wide gulf between legal aid practitioners and the government on the issue of competitive tendering for criminal legal aid services. Members of the audience, many of whom were solicitors and barristers specialising in criminal work, were shocked to hear Dr Elizabeth Gibby, the senior official at the Ministry of Justice responsible for the policy, declare that the consultation on competitive tendering planned for next month ‘will be on the model only and not the principle’.”

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LAG News Blog, 21st March 2013

Source: www.legalactiongroupnews.org.uk

Has The Golden Thread Finally Been Snapped? – Zenith Chambers

“‘Throughout the web of the English Criminal Law one golden thread is always to be seen, that it is the duty of the prosecution to prove the prisoner’s guilt subject to what I have already said as to the defence of insanity and subject also to any statutory exception

No matter what the charge or where the trial, the principle that the prosecution must prove the guilt of the prisoner is part of the common law of England and no attempt to whittle it down can be entertained.’

Per Viscount Sankey in Woolmington v DPP [1935] AC 462 – emphasis added.

There cannot be an English lawyer who is unaware of this paragraph in Viscount Sankey’s judgment in Woolmington. Many non-lawyers who have chanced to read the Rumpole stories will also be as aware of, if not as attached to, it.”

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Zenith Chambers, 19th March 2013

Source: www.zenithchambers.co.uk

Criminal legal aid scheme of the future must be based on quality and public interest, not just price – The Bar Council

Posted March 6th, 2013 in advocacy, competition, criminal justice, legal aid, news by sally

“The Bar Council, which represents barristers in England and Wales, has today responded to the Ministry of Justice’s announcement that its consultation and implementation of a new scheme for criminal legal aid will be brought forward, with price competition put forward as one key proposal.”

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The Bar Council, 5th March 2013

Source: www.barcouncil.org.uk

Criminal legal aid tenders – LAG News Blog

“Lord McNally, the minister with responsibility for legal aid, has announced a decision to ‘accelerate’ the timetable to introduce competitive tendering for criminal legal aid. The government wants to save cash, but LAG asks can it succeed where the last government failed, as designing a tender system will be complex with no guarantee of savings?”

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LAG News Blog, 5th March 2013

Source: www.legalactiongroupnews.org.uk

Legal aid: Chris Grayling plans further cuts – BBC News

Posted March 5th, 2013 in criminal justice, legal aid, news by sally

“Plans to make further savings to the £2bn bill for legal aid in England and Wales have been announced by Justice Secretary Chris Grayling.”

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BBC News, 5th March 2013

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Kenneth Clarke’s plans for secret courts savaged by lawyers – The Guardian

Posted February 28th, 2013 in bills, closed material, criminal justice, news, private hearings, public interest by sally

“Controversial government plans to introduce a new generation of secret courts have been dealt a major blow after hundreds of lawyers attacked them as ‘contrary to the rule of law’.”

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The Guardian, 28th February 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Lawyers debate whether trial by jury is the best option – BBC News

Posted February 21st, 2013 in criminal justice, juries, news, trials by sally

“John Cooper QC and Kirsty Brimelow QC discuss whether trial by jury is the best option.”

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BBC News, 21st February 2013

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Damian Green: Unacceptable delays in criminal justice system – Ministry of Justice

Posted February 20th, 2013 in criminal justice, delay, magistrates, news by sally

“There are unacceptable delays in Magistrates’ Courts which slows down justice for victims, said Justice Minister Damian Green as he announced plans to modernise the system.”

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Ministry of Justice, 19th February 2013

Source: www.justice.gov.uk

R v Druce – why the truth alone is not always enough – Halsbury’s Law Exchange

Posted February 19th, 2013 in appeals, confiscation, criminal justice, news by sally

“The judgment of the Court of Appeal in R v Druce [2013] EWCA 40 delivered on 31 January is a stark lesson in how confiscation proceedings can go badly wrong for an ill-prepared defendant.”

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Halsbury’s Law Exchange, 19th February 2013

Source: www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk

Criminal justice watchdog set to overhaul flawed system – The Guardian

Posted February 19th, 2013 in criminal justice, news, speeches by sally

“A criminal justice watchdog is to be formed to help overhaul a system that does not deliver the level of service the public ‘expect, want or deserve’, a senior minister is to announce.”

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The Guardian, 19th February 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Rape suspects ‘should not be named’ – The Guardian

Posted February 18th, 2013 in anonymity, criminal justice, news, rape, recidivists by sally

“Anti-rape campaigners have dismissed proposals for alleged rapists to be granted anonymity to avoid lasting stigma if they are cleared.”

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The Guardian, 17th February 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Rummun v State of Mauritius – WLR Daily

Posted February 13th, 2013 in criminal justice, delay, human rights, law reports, Privy Council, sentencing by sally

Rummun v State of Mauritius [2013] UKPC 6; [2013] WLR (D) 53

“Where there had been substantial delay in a criminal trial it was the duty of the court, whether at sentence or on appeal and whether or not the matter had been raised by the defence, to examine the possibility of there having been a breach of the defendant’s right to a fair trial within a reasonable time, and if so whether that should influence the sentence to be imposed. The court should consider the factors which had caused the delay, including the responsibility of the defendant for any delay, but was to exercise caution in respect of any decision by him to contest the case on grounds which proved to be unfeasible, since a defendant to a criminal charge was entitled to put the prosecuting authorities to proof of his guilt.”

WLR Daily, 7th February 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk