Costs, Confusion and Compromise – Keynote Address of Mr Justice Foskett

Posted December 4th, 2014 in arbitration, costs, fees, judges, limitations, news, speeches by sally

Costs, Confusion and Compromise (PDF)

Keynote Address of Mr Justice Foskett

Professional Negligence Lawyers’ Association Annual Conference, 4th December 2014

Source: www.judiciary.gov.uk

Court of Protection judge hits out at expense of cases costing £9,000 a month – Local Government Lawyer

Posted December 4th, 2014 in costs, Court of Protection, judges, news by sally

‘A judge has sharply criticised the delay and expense of proceedings in the Court of Protection, describing the relevant procedural rules as “inadequate”.’

Full story

Local Government Lawyer, 2nd December 2014

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Judge criticises National Crime Agency over collapse of fraud trial – The Guardian

‘The National Crime Agency has been labelled “incompetent” by an Old Bailey judge after a series of blunders led to the collapse of a £5m trial.’

Full story

The Guardian, 2nd December 2014

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Conor Gearty: On Fantasy Island: British politics, English judges and the European Convention on Human Rights – UK Constitutional Law Association

‘My first encounter with the fantasies that underpin English public law came in the 1980s. I had just starting teaching constitutional law and was taking my first year students through Dicey: the independent rule of law; the availability of remedies to all, without fear or favour; the common law’s marvellous protection of civil liberties; how great we were, how terrible the continent; and all the rest of it. Outside the classroom, striking miners were being routinely beaten up by the police, their picketing disrupted by road blocks, their liberty eroded by mass bail conditions. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament was having its marches banned and its protests inhibited by ‘no-go’ areas arbitrarily erected by the police around American bases into which it had been decided to move a new generation of nuclear weapons. Some of my students were even beaten up themselves, on a march against education cuts in London – much to their surprise given what I was teaching them.’

Full story

UK Constitutional Law Association, 13th November 2014

Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org

‘Wholly antiquated’: lord chief justice on court technology – LegalVoice

‘Our “antiquated” courts faced “severe crisis” without significant investment, the lord chief justice said yesterday. Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd offered journalists a judicial perspective on the financial pressures being imposed upon the courts at his annual press conference.’

Full story

LegalVoice, 13th November 2014

Source: www.legalvoice.org.uk

Judge hits out at system that encourages solicitors to charge barristers referral fees – Legal Futures

‘Mr Justice Green, chairman of the Advocacy Training Council, has condemned the lack of a “level playing field” for publicly funded advocates, which is leading to the practice of “selling litigation rights”.’

Full story

Legal Futures, 13th November 2014

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

High Court judge blasts lack of judicial resources to meet care proceedings timings – Local Government Lawyer

Posted November 13th, 2014 in care orders, delay, family courts, judges, news by tracey

‘A High Court judge refused to embark on a final hearing in a complex child care case because of lack of time and the absence of any slack in the family court system to allow for an early hearing, it has emerged.’

Full story

Local Government Lawyer, 13th November 2014

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Judge hits out at system that encourages solicitors to charge barristers referral fees – Legal Futures

Posted November 13th, 2014 in advocacy, barristers, fees, judges, legal aid, news, solicitors by tracey

‘Mr Justice Green, chairman of the Advocacy Training Council, has condemned the lack of a “level playing field” for publicly funded advocates, which is leading to the practice of “selling litigation rights”.’

Full story

Legal Futures, 13th November 2014

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Transcript of the Lord Chief Justice’s Annual Press Conference 2014 – Judiciary of England and Wales

Posted November 13th, 2014 in judges, media, speeches by tracey

‘The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas, held his annual press conference on Wednesday, November 12th, 2014, at the Royal Courts of Justice.’

Full transcript

Judiciary of England and Wales, 12th November 2014

Source: www.judiciary.gov.uk

Be wary of judicial slogans – Jonathan Sumption – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted November 11th, 2014 in human rights, judges, news, proportionality, speeches by tracey

‘In his lecture to the Administrative Law Bar Association earlier this month, Lord Sumption surveys the concept of “anxious scrutiny” – a judicial method which he characterises as a forerunner to the principle of proportionality. The term was actually coined by Lord Bridge in Bugdaycay (1986), and was meant to apply where the rights engaged in a case were sufficiently fundamental, and stretched the traditional “Wednesbury” test to public authority decisions or actions which were not, on the face of it, irrational. (The citation given in the PDF of the speech incidentally is incorrect). The same way of thinking had been arrived at in the US courts a few years earlier, with their “hard look” doctrine, but to Lord Sumption there was something peculiarly English about the “crab-like” way in which our courts approached and eventually acknowledged this doctrine, hitherto alien to the judicial toolbox.’

Full story

UK Human Rights Blog, 10th November 2014

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

European Arrest Warrant: Judges urge UK support – BBC News

Posted November 6th, 2014 in EC law, extradition, judges, legal profession, news, warrants by sally

‘The UK risks becoming a “safe haven” for foreign criminals if it votes to opt out of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) system, senior judges have said.’

Full story

BBC News, 6th November 2014

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Judge attacks Chris Grayling for failing to provide prisoners with healthy sex courses – Daily Telegraph

‘High Court judge says the Justice Secretary is failing in his duty to provide the course high-risk prisoners need to take before they are considered for release.’

Full story

Daily Telegraph, 3rd November 2014

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Jackson calls for single limitation period – Litigation Futures

Posted November 4th, 2014 in contracts, judges, Law Commission, limitations, news, reports, speeches by sally

‘Lord Justice Jackson has called on the government to create a “single core limitation regime” for all claims in contract and tort, as recommended by the Law Commission.’

Full story

Litigation Futures, 4th November 2014

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Judge attacks legal aid cuts as couple fight to keep their son – The Independent

‘One of Britain’s most senior judges has launched a withering attack on cuts to legal aid after a couple with learning disabilities was not provided with a lawyer to fight the forced adoption of their two-year-old son.’

Full story

The Independent, 31st October 2014

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Legal aid cuts denied mother a fair hearing, says senior judge – The Guardian

‘A senior family court judge has condemned the injustice of the newly pared-back legal aid system after an illiterate mother of four, with poor sight and hearing, was forced to represent herself in a court hearing over the custody of her children.’

Full story

The Guardian, 2nd November 2014

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

The Spywatcher – BBC Law in Action

Posted October 30th, 2014 in dispute resolution, fraud, inquiries, intelligence services, judges, marriage, news by sally

‘The Intelligence Services Commissioner, Sir Mark Waller, gives Law In Action his first broadcast interview.

Sir Mark, a retired judge, is charged with judicial oversight of, among other organisations, MI5, MI6 and GCHQ.’

Listen

BBC Law in Action,

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Senior Costs Judge: bids for adjournments based on Coventry receiving “short shrift” – Litigation Futures

Posted October 30th, 2014 in adjournment, costs, judges, news by sally

‘Applications for adjournments of costs assessment until the Supreme Court’s decision in Coventry v Lawrence are rightly being given “short shrift”, the Senior Costs Judge has said.’

Full story

Litigation Futures, 30th October 2014

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Patrick O’Brien: How active were pre-2009 judges as parliamentarians? – UK Constitutional Law Association

Posted October 28th, 2014 in constitutional reform, judges, judiciary, news, parliament by sally

‘Is the question of anything more than historical interest? The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 precluded judicial peers from contributing to parliamentary debate from 1 October 2009. Many of the Law Lords were opposed to the change, and many judges are at least nostalgic for the past arrangements. The current Lord Chief Justice (LCJ) of England and Wales, Lord Thomas, and his immediate predecessor, Lord Judge, have both publicly regretted the fact that they cannot speak in Parliament on matters of importance to the judiciary. To the extent that the outlook of judges today is shaped partly by the feeling that they have lost a valuable platform, the issue is worth exploring. In fact judges were very infrequent contributors to parliamentary debate. Whilst past Lord Chief Justices – and other judicial peers – may have occasionally used the chamber of the Lords as a platform for articulating judicial viewpoints, all things considered they did so rarely.’

Full story

UK Constitutional Law Association, 28th October 2014

Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org

Retired judge Sir John Royce criticises legal cuts – BBC News

Posted October 23rd, 2014 in courts, criminal justice, judges, legal aid, lord chancellor, news by sally

‘A recently retired High Court judge has said he thinks government cuts to the legal system have gone too far.’

Full story

BBC News, 22nd October 2014

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Jackson rules on causing psychological harm by intentional statement – Litigation Futures

Posted October 14th, 2014 in appeals, children, injunctions, judges, news, psychiatric damage by sally

‘Lord Justice Jackson has joined two other Court of Appeal judges in ruling that publication of a book detailing a father’s sexual abuse at school could amount to deliberately causing psychological harm to his son under the principles set out in an “obscure tort”.’

Full story

Litigation Futures, 14th October 2014

Source: www.litigationfutures.com