Category: news

Back to school for the OFT? – Competition Bulletin from Blackstone Chambers

Posted January 21st, 2013 in competition, complaints, licensing, news, school children by sally

“On 25 October 2012 the Office of Fair Trading announced that it had written to the head teachers of almost 30,000 State schools to draw attention to the high price of school uniforms. The high price is caused in part by 74% of schools requiring parents to purchase uniforms from a single, named retailer or from the school itself. This has created a captive market for chosen suppliers, allowing them to charge an additional £52 million per year (see para 2.3 of the OFT’s 2006 school uniforms review).”

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Competition Bulletin from Blackstone Chambers, 20th January 2013

Source: www.competitionbulletin.com

Almost £2 billion in court fines and confiscation orders remain unpaid – Daily Telegraph

Posted January 21st, 2013 in assets recovery, confiscation, courts, debts, fines, news by sally

“Nearly £2 billion in court fines and confiscation orders remain unpaid, official figures show, as the Government admitted it needed to do more to tackle the debt.”

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Daily Telegraph, 19th January 2013

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

‘The Right to Resist: Privilege for Employment Lawyers’ – 11 KBW

Posted January 21st, 2013 in barristers, confidentiality, disclosure, employment, news, privilege by sally

“There are may aspects to the law of privilege, but what they have in common is a right to resist the compulsory disclosure of information. The law of privilege is, at least in part, a manifestation of the law of confidentiality. However, the underlying principle is one of public policy: where privilege applies, the law treats the benefits of full and transparent disclosure of information in the context of litigation as being outweighed by the benefits of giving litigants the right to keep information private.”

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11 KBW, 18th January 2013

Source: www.11kbw.com

Oxford college sued over using ‘selection by wealth’ for admissions – The Guardian

Posted January 21st, 2013 in fees, guarantees, news, universities by sally

“An Oxford college is being sued for discriminating against poorer students applying to study for postgraduate courses. St Hugh’s, which was founded in 1886, is being taken to court for choosing applicants not just on academic merit, but also on their ability to prove they can pay tens of thousands of pounds for tuition fees and living expenses.”

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The Guardian, 19th January 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Wrong priorities – NearlyLegal

Posted January 21st, 2013 in complaints, housing, local government, maladministration, news, ombudsmen by sally

“Every now and again, there is a Local Government Ombudsman report that seems to go beyond individual instances of maladministration and instead capture something of the zeitgeist. The LGO decision summarised here may well be one of the latter (certainly the Guardian thinks so), as arguably what it shows is a Local Authority prioritising its own administrative concerns over its legal duties in both its policy and the operation of policy. There is also a routine failure to ask the kind of questions that might have meant it had to do more. This on top of a series of administrative failures.”

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NearlyLegal, 20th January 2013

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

Amazon Marketplace purchases not covered by Consumer Credit Act – The Guardian

Posted January 21st, 2013 in consumer credit, consumer protection, electronic commerce, joint liability, news, sale of goods by sally

“If you pay Amazon and it passes the money on to the retailer, a loophole could leave you without redress.”

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The Guardian, 19th January 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Prisoners win big payouts for parole delays – The Independent

Posted January 21st, 2013 in compensation, delay, freedom of information, human rights, news, parole, prisons by sally

“Murderers, rapists and kidnappers have received compensation totalling hundreds of thousands of pounds from the Government after complaining that delays in their parole hearings breached their human rights.”

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The Independent, 20th January 2013

Source: www.independent.co.uk

RBS awaits hefty fines for Libor rigging – The Guardian

Posted January 21st, 2013 in banking, financial services ombudsman, fines, hedge funds, interest, news by sally

“Stephen Hester lays groundwork for penalties expected to be £500m or more.”

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The Guardian, 20th January 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Article 8 success in the County Court – NearlyLegal

Posted January 18th, 2013 in housing, human rights, news, proportionality, succession, time limits by sally

“This was a failed succession case where an article 8 proportionality defence was, at least in part successful.”

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NearlyLegal, 17th January 2013

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/

Stephensons: on becoming an ABS – LegalVoice

Posted January 18th, 2013 in alternative business structures, law firms, news by sally

“Stephensons Solicitors, a leading legal aid firm in the north-west, secured approval as an Alternative Business Structure (ABS) early in the new year, and has already appointed its first non-lawyer partner.”

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LegalVoice, 17th January 2013

Source: www.legalvoice.org.uk

Wear What You Like – Garden Court Chambers Blog

Posted January 18th, 2013 in employment, human rights, news, religious discrimination by sally

“Following today’s European Court of Human Rights judgment in Eweida and Others v the United Kingdom, David Renton analyses the how the fine balance between religious freedom and avoiding discrimination can be struck.”

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Garden Court Chambers Blog. 15th January 2013

Source: www.gclaw.wordpress.com

Public sector equality duty – planning permission for school – Education Law Blog

Posted January 18th, 2013 in education, equality, local government, news, planning by sally

“In R. (on the application of Coleman) v Barnet LBC [2012] EWHC 3725 (Admin) , the High Court has held that the local authority had discharged its public sector equality duty (under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010) when granting planning permission for the development of a school on land on which a garden centre had been situated.”

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Education Law Blog, 15th January 2013

Source: www.education11kbw.com

Religious Marriages: Staying a decree absolute in order to increase the chances of obtaining a religious divorce – Family Law Week

Posted January 18th, 2013 in divorce, islamic law, Judaism, marriage, news by sally

“Charlotte Rachael Proudman, a barrister at 1 Mitre Court Buildings, provides legal guidance on the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, Section 10A, used in religious marital cases to speed up the process of obtaining religious divorces.”

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Family Law Week, 17th January 2013

Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk

Met police launch inquiry into historic child sex abuse claims – The Guardian

Posted January 18th, 2013 in child abuse, evidence, indecent photographs of children, news by sally

“The Metropolitan police have launched an official investigation into historic claims of child abuse after an MP alleged that a ‘senior aide of a former prime minister’ had links to a member of a paedophile ring.”

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The Guardian, 17th January 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Undercover police damages cases to be heard in secret – BBC News

Posted January 18th, 2013 in investigatory powers, news, police, private hearings, psychiatric damage, tribunals by sally

“Women who say they were tricked into sexual relationships with undercover police
officers will have their cases heard in secret, a judge has ruled.”

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BBC News, 17th January 2013

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Property fraudsters sent to jail for up to seven years – BBC News

Posted January 18th, 2013 in banking, forgery, fraud, loans, news, sentencing by sally

“Two men from London have been sent to jail after being found guilty of
defrauding two banks, Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Scotland, of £61.”

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BBC News, 17th January 2013

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Northampton piano teacher jailed for grooming girl pupil – BBC News

Posted January 18th, 2013 in abuse of position of trust, indecent photographs of children, news, sentencing, sexual grooming, teachers by sally

“A piano teacher from Milton Keynes who groomed a young pupil by exchanging explicit phone photographs with her has been jailed for 22 months.”

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BBC News, 18th January 2013

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Kate Winslet’s husband Ned RocknRoll is not a public figure, says judge – The Independent

Posted January 18th, 2013 in injunctions, media, news, privacy by sally

“Actress Kate Winslet’s husband is not a public figure in his own right, a High Court judge said today. Ned RocknRoll had ‘briefly become something of public figure’ as a result of his relationship with Miss Winslet, said Mr Justice Briggs. But the judge said that was not enough to place Mr RocknRoll – a nephew of tycoon Sir Richard Branson – into the ‘public sphere’.”

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The Independent, 17th January 2013

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Doctors ask court to decide whether refugee on hunger strike can be forcibly fed – The Independent

Posted January 18th, 2013 in Court of Protection, news, passports, refugees by sally

“Doctors have asked a court to decide whether a refugee on hunger strike can be forcibly fed. The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons and is referred to in court documents as ‘A’, went on hunger strike to demand that the UK Border Agency returns his passport.”

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The Independent, 17th January 2013

Source: www.independent.co.uk

RSPCA warned on hunt prosecutions by charities watchdog – Daily Telegraph

Posted January 18th, 2013 in charities, Charity Commission, costs, hunting, news, prosecutions by sally

“The RSPCA has been told by the charity watchdog that any decision to prosecute
hunts must be a ‘reasonable and effective use of the charity’s resources’.”

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Daily Telegraph, 17th January 2013

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk