Norfolk rapist who held Cambridge woman hostage gets life – BBC News
“A man who beat and raped his girlfriend and kept her hostage in his Norfolk flat for two weeks has been jailed for life.”
BBC News, 21st March 2013
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Category: news
Probation officers face social media gag as outsourcing row rumbles on – The Guardian
“The justice secretary, Chris Grayling, has issued instructions that probation officers face the risk of disciplinary action if they publicly criticise on Twitter or other social media his plans to outsource 70% of their work with offenders.”
The Guardian, 21st March 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Helen Fenwick: The Report of the Bill of Rights Commission: disappointing Conservative expectations or fulfilling them? – UK Constitution Law Group
“The Commission delivered its Report – A UK Bill of Rights? – The Choice Before Us – to the Government in December 2012. It is an odd document, dominated by the lack of agreement in the Commission as to the role that any human rights’ instrument in Britain should play. That was unsurprising since at the inception of the Commission the Coalition partners appeared to want it to play two different roles – defending or attacking the HRA. From the very outset the Commission and the idea of a Bill of Rights (BoR) was relied upon by Cameron and other senior Conservatives to allay anger in the Conservative party, and among some voters, directed at decisions made under the Human Rights Act. David Cameron announced the Commission’s inception in March 2011 at Prime Ministers’ Questions as a reaction to criticism of the decision of the Supreme Court that sex offenders should be able to challenge their inclusion on the Sex Offenders’ register. He indicated that a BoR would address the concerns expressed (17.3.11; see the Telegraph in relation to R and Thompson v SSHD). The idea that a BoR could right the wrongs of the HRA – would provide a panacea for the HRA’s ills – had apparently been embedded in the Conservative party psyche for some years: David Cameron in a speech to the Centre for Policy Studies in 2006 Balancing freedom and security – A modern British Bill of Rights said that the HRA should be repealed: ‘….The Human Rights Act has a damaging impact on our ability to protect our society against terrorism…. . I am today committing my Party to work towards the production of a Modern Bill of Rights’. In contrast, the 2010 Liberal Democrat election manifesto promised to ‘Ensure that everyone has the same protections under the law by protecting the Human Rights Act.'”
UK Constitution Law Group, 21st March 2013
Source: www.ukconstitutionllaw.org
Man sued council for £33,000 after slipping on some berries – Daily Telegraph
“A man successfully sued his town council for nearly £33,000 after slipping on some berries while walking through a churchyard and breaking a bone.”
Daily Telegraph, 21st March 2013
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Bart Simpson faces Mr Burns in court – but this is real-life Warwick, not Springfield – The Independent
“Judge Mr Recorder Burns gives company director Barton Simpson community order for attempting to board flight with antique hand gun.”
The Independent, 21st March 2013
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Damages-Based Agreements: potential or potential pitfall? – 11 Stone Buildings
“As part of the Jackson Reforms the much talked about Damages-Based Agreements Regulations 2013 come into force on 1st April 2013. Damages Based agreements (‘DBAs’) open up the prospect of fees becoming entirely divorced from the actual hours worked on a case. This can lead to much higher fees than those which will arise using the hour-based method, even on a CFA with a 100% uplift. However, there are some potentially serious implications to consider. Don McCue takes a closer look at the potential impact of using DBAs, how they compare to Conditional Fee Agreements (‘CFAs’) in different litigation scenarios, and how DBAs relate to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (‘SRA’) Code of Conduct.”
Full story (PDF)
11 Stone Buildings, March 2013
Source: www.11sb.com
Another Distinction Between Professional Disciplinary Proceedings and Internal Employment Disciplinary Hearings: Christou v London Borough of Haringey – Littleton Chambers
“If an individual has already been charged and given a warning for misconduct in a disciplinary process, can that process later be reopened, re-run and the individual dismissed for the same charge on the same evidence?”
Littleton Chambers, 14th March 2013
Source: www.littletonchambers.com
Secret commissions and proprietary claims – where are we now? – 11 Stone Buildings
“Practitioners were trained to believe that an agent would hold a bribe on trust for his principal. Then came Sinclair v Versailles which appeared to have decided that the principal’s remedy would be merely personal. Now everything seems to have changed again. In this ‘Insider’ note Peter Head examines the Court of Appeal’s recent decision in FHR European Ventures LLP v Mankarious and considers where we are now.”
Full story (PDF)
11 Stone Buildings, March 2013
Source: www.11sb.com
Is rights replication undermining the international human rights system? – UK Human Rights Blog
“Rapid expansion of human rights obligations at the European and international levels arguably undermines the system of International Human Rights Law. Countries like the UK, which place strong emphasis on the need to protect individuals from abuses, are faced with ever more obligations stemming from rights inflation. One crucial way in which this occurs is through rights replication.”
UK Human Rights Blog, 20th March 2013
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
Family Law Week’s Budget Briefing 2013 – Family Law Week
“Jan Ellis, chartered accountant, of Ellis Foster LLP, a firm which specialises in advising family lawyers on tax-related family law issues, explains the budget changes of most relevance to practitioners.”
Family Law Week, 20th March 2013
Source: www.familylawweek.com
Jack Straw – Dilemmas of a Foreign Secretary – UCL Constitution Unit
“Jack Straw served continuously on the Labour front-bench for 30 years- from November 1980 until October 2010.
He was a senior member of the Labour Cabinet for the whole period of the 1997-2000 Labour Government. He served successively as Home Secretary (1997-2001), Foreign Secretary (2001-2006), Leader of the Commons (2006-7), and then Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary (2007-2010).”
UCL Constitution Unit, 7th March 2013
Source: www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit
Call for research into effects on children of giving evidence in abuse cases – The Guardian
“Research should be carried out into the long-term affects on those who give evidence about sexual abuse when they are a child, the lord chief justice, Lord Judge, has urged.”
The Guardian, 20th March 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Trouble for personal injury law firms means trouble for claimants – The Guardian
“While there is little public sympathy for solicitors the truth is that people will soon find it harder to claim compensation.”
The Guardian, 21st March 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
The Supreme Court on harassment: purpose and rationality – UK Human Rights Blog
“Harassment is both a civil wrong and a crime. It is a statutory defence to both that the conduct #was pursued for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime’ s.1(3) Protection of Harassment Act 1997. This decision grappled with the problem of the apparently honest but irrational harasser. Was he guilty or did this defence help him? In answering this, the Supreme Court looked at some basic concepts running through great swathes of the law, ‘purpose’, ‘subjective’, ‘objective’, ‘reasonableness’ and, critically, ‘rationality’ – so the case is one not simply for harassment lawyers to look at.”
UK Human Rights Blog, 20th March 2013
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
Public inquiries should avoid mock trial image, says study – The Guardian
“Public inquiries should avoid the atmosphere of a ‘mock trial’ in order to improve dialogue among participants, according to a study.”
The Guardian, 21st March 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Two men found responsible for Omagh bombing after landmark civil action – The Independent
“Two men connected to the republican movement in Northern Ireland have been ruled responsible for the Omagh bombing after a landmark civil action.”
The Independent, 20th March 2013
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Disability hate crime victims being let down, official report says – The Guardian
“Victims of disability hate crime are being let down by the criminal justice system and attacks are not being properly recorded, according to a report by three official inspectorates.”
The Guardian, 21st March 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
