NHS ombudsman ‘failing families’ – BBC News
‘The NHS ombudsman – the independent service that investigates patients’ complaints – is “wholly ineffective and failing families”, warns a charity.’
BBC News, 18th November 2014
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Police failing to record quarter of all sexual offences, says watchdog – The Independent
‘Police officers fail to record a quarter of sexual offences – including rapes – and one-third of violent attacks, a damning report by the police watchdog has concluded.’
The Independent, 18th November 2014
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Relief From Sanctions – Mitchell & Denton in an Employment Tribunal Context – Littleton Chambers
‘I will look briefly at two points:
1. The re-consideration of the Mitchell approach in Denton shows a change in the judicial approach and may well be seen as helpful to EJs considering similar problems. Indeed, consistent with earlier CA authority, it may be that EJs will be expected to follow the same three stage approach as found in Denton.
2. The underlying reasoning of the CA in Denton may provide guidance on the approach to be taken towards a wider range of case management issues.’
Littleton Chambers, 27th October 2014
Source: www.littletonchambers.com
Man who beat three sisters with a hammer in London hotel gets life – The Guardian
‘A man who beat three sisters in a “vicious and merciless” hammer attack as they slept with their young children in a luxury hotel has been jailed for life.’
The Guardian, 17th November 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Man jailed for driving car on to Brands Hatch circuit during race – The Guardian
‘A labourer has been jailed for eight months for driving his girlfriend’s Volkswagen Polo on to the Brands Hatch circuit during a race.’
The Guardian, 17th November 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Jail those convicted of illegal blood sports, campaigners say – The Guardian
‘Hunters should face prison sentences for illegal blood sports, be banned from sending dogs underground and prevented from escaping prosecution by claiming that kills are accidental, according to animal welfare campaigners.’
The Guardian, 18th November 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Liverpool family jailed for £200,000 benefit fraud – BBC News
‘A woman who claimed she was too ill to walk, yet was filmed surfing in Australia and swimming with dolphins, has been jailed for benefit fraud.’
BBC News, 14th November 2014
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Status: The Court of Appeal’s Decision in Halawi v World Duty Free [2014] EWCA CIV 1387 – Littleton Chambers
‘Fashions are a feature of so much in life, and employment law is no exception, where for the moment at least: Status is in vogue. In recent years the appellate courts have considered a range of relationships, and been asked to answer the question: what is the legal characterisation of the claimant’s relationship with the respondent? The question is put more specifically in each case; was the claimant an employee, a worker, an office holder, or truly self-employed as an independent provider of services? But this is merely to particularise the general question: what is the claimant’s status?’
Littleton Chambers, 31st October 2014
Source: www.littletonchambers.com
Magic beans for that cow? – Zenith Chambers
‘The North East Property Buyers litigation test cases finally reached the Supreme Court and judgment was handed down on 22nd October 2014. Any practitioner in property and housing litigation in the North East, and indeed further afield, will have had some knowledge of, or dealings with, schemes such as were in these cases examined. They concerned sale and lease back agreements, a simple enough notion, involving the purchase of a vendor’s home by a nominee, often at an undervalue, in return granting the vendor a lease of the property, thereby releasing equity to the vendor and allowing them to remain in the property at a reduced rent.’
Full story (PDF)
Zenith Chambers, 24th October 2014
Source: www.zenithchambers.co.uk
Litigation Funding And Third-Party Costs Orders: A Practical View From The Bar – Littleton Chambers
‘In his monthly column, James Bickford Smith considers the effects and scope of the recent decision in Excalibur Ventures LLC v Texas Keystone Inc and others (Rev 2) [2014] EWHC 3436 (Comm) to make litigation funders liable for third party costs orders.’
Littleton Chambers, 11th November 2014
Source: www.littletonchambers.com
UK Retail Banking Sector set for In-depth Market Investigation – Zenith Chambers
‘The UK’s retail banking sector is set for in-depth scrutiny after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) confirmed on 6 November 2014 that it would conduct a Phase 2 market investigation into the supply of retail banking services to personal current account (PCA) customers and to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).’
Full story (PDF)
Zenith Chambers, 10th November 2014
Source: www.zenithchambers.co.uk
The Duty to Inform and Consult under Regulation 13 of TUPE – Tanfield Chambers
‘The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) have provided a wide range of case law since they came into force. Decisions have often been focused on issues such as what constitutes a relevant transfer or the effect ofinsolvency on a transfer. However, there has been surprisingly little case law which deals with the Regulation 13 TUPE duty to inform and consult and the Regulation 15 TUPE claim to a tribunal for a failure to inform and consult.’
Full story (PDF)
Tanfield Chambers, 16th October 2014
Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk
Bring Your Own Device – Managing The Risks – Littleton Chambers
‘On 6 October 2014, the Government published new guidance on BYOD (‘Bring Your Own Device’) which highlights the fact that allowing employees to use their own technology at work is not just a technical issue that needs to be grappled with by IT departments, but has wide-ranging implications for employers.’
Littleton Chambers, 13th November 2014
Source: www.littletonchambers.com
Women in prison: interviews with ex-offenders – Halsbury’s Law Exchange
‘Halsbury’s Law Exchange carried out interviews with six female ex-offenders as part of wider research into women in prison and the penal system. This video was first premiered at the panel discussion: Women in prison: is the penal system fit for purpose? on 11 November 2014.’
Halsbury’s Law Exchange, 12th November 2014
Source: www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk
Quarter of Charity Commission inquiries target Muslim groups – The Guardian
‘More than a quarter of the statutory investigations that have been launched by the Charity Commission since April 2012 and remain open have targeted Muslim organisations, an analysis by the Guardian can reveal – drawing criticism from Islamic groups that they are being unfairly singled out.’
The Guardian, 16th November 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Legal Services Payment Orders and Maintenance Pending Suit – No. 5 Chambers
‘Anne Smallwood, family law barrister at No5 Chambers, recently gave a talk titled ‘Section 22 Z A – Getting Paid And M.P.S’ at the Family Money Talks Seminar 2014.’
No. 5 Chambers, 16th October 2014
Source: www.no5.com
Love Thy Neighbour – An update on Neighbourhood plans – No. 5 Chambers
‘Chris Young & James Corbet Burcher recently gave a talk titled ‘Love Thy Neighbour: An update on Neighbourhood plans’ at the No5 Chambers Annual Planning Review in London.’
No. 5 Chambers, 16th October 2014
Source: www.no5.com
Colm O’Cinneide and Kate Malleson: Are quotas for judicial appointments lawful under EU law? – UK Constitutional Law Association
‘In April 2014 Sadiq Khan, Shadow Secretary of State for Justice, asked Karon Monaghan QC and Geoffrey Bindman QC to review the options for a future Labour Government to improve diversity in the judiciary. On November 6th their report, entitled “Judicial Diversity: Accelerating change”, was published. Starting from the premise that “[t]he near absence of women and Black, Asian and minority ethnic judges in the senior judiciary is no longer tolerable”, it proposes a range of recommendations designed to speed up the glacial pace of change. Perhaps the most controversial of these is for the introduction of a quota system for women and BAME candidates. The report reviews the use of quotas in other UK institutions as well as their use in judicial appointments processes around the world, before addressing the question of whether such quotas would be lawful under EU law. This is a key question: EU law casts a long shadow in this context, as the Monaghan and Bindman report makes clear, given that any legislation enacted in Westminster to give effect to a quota system in the process of judicial appointments must conform to the requirements of EU law.’
Full story
UK Constitutional Law Association, 12th November 2014
Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org
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.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 13th November 2014
Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org
Keyword confusion – Interflora v Marks & Spencer sent for retrial – Technology Law Update
‘Online retailing is growing fast. Research suggests that it makes up over 12% of UK retail sales, with the US and Germany close behind. Many of the advertising and promotional techniques used in e-commerce are necessarily different from those deployed in more traditional sales methods. One of the techniques currently popular is the use of keyword advertising such as Google’s AdWords.’
Technology Law Update, 12th November 2014
Source: www.technology-law-blog.co.uk
