Legal aid cuts: if lawyers don’t defend justice for all, who will?
“A pillar of postwar society has been shattered by the legal aid cuts: that’s why a strike is now on the cards.”
The Guardian, 22nd May 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Anti-paedophile vigilante jailed for minimum term of 18 years – The Independent
“An anti-paedophile vigilante who murdered a gay man he wrongly believed to be a child molester was told today he may never be released from prison.”
The Independent, 22nd May 2012
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Social exclusivity ‘rife’ in profession – Law Society’s Gazette
“Social exclusivity is increasing in the legal profession, according to a new analysis of lawyers’ schooling published today.”
Law Scoiety’s Gazette, 22nd May 2012
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
Man jailed over unprovoked attack – The Independent
“A 21-year-old man who ‘wrecked the life of another human being’ with one unprovoked punch has been jailed for two years and eight months.”
The Independent, 22nd May 2012
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Q&A: Anti-social behaviour powers – BBC News
“The coalition is reforming anti-social behaviour – how do the new powers compare to the old?”
BBC News, 22nd May 2012
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Prisoners could get vote within six months if UK loses last legal battle in Europe – Daily Telegraph
“David Cameron could be forced to give prisoners the vote within six months if the Government loses a last ditch legal challenge today.”
Daily Telegraph, 22nd May 2012
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
London council fined £70k following child sex abuse data breach – OUT-LAW.com
“A local authority in London has been fined £70,000 after papers containing identifying details about child sex abuse cases were stolen from a social worker it employed.”
OUT-LAW.com, 22nd May 2012
Source: www.out-law.com
OFT criticises Wonga debt collection practices – The Guardian
“Payday loan company Wonga has been told by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) it must improve its debt collection practices, after it emerged it had sent letters to customers accusing them of committing fraud.”
The Guardian, 22nd May 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
The Rebekah Brooks witch-hunt: how to protect the fairness of the trial – Halsbury’s Law Exchange
“In the immediate aftermath of the decision to prosecute Rebekah Brooks, her co-defendant and husband Charles Brooks has called the proceedings a witch-hunt and questioned his wife’s ability to receive a fair trial. Mrs Brooks has herself challenged the decision to prosecute, and raised issues about impartiality.”
Halsbury’s Law Exchange, 22nd May 2012
Source: www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk
BAILII: Recent Decisions
High Court (Queen’s Bench Division)
Freetown Ltd v Assethold Ltd [2012] EWHC 1351 (QB) (21 May 2012)
Montpellier Estates Ltd v Leeds City Council [2012] EWHC 1343 (QB) (21 May 2012)
High Court (Chancery Division)
Bramston v Haut [2012] EWHC 1279 (Ch) (21 May 2012)
Source: www.bailii.org
Gay marriage: you say potato and I say potahto – Halsbury’s Law Exchange
“There’s been quite a commotion about gay marriage in the last few weeks following the Government’s apparent plans to shelve or delay its introduction with MP Gerald Howarth, amongst others, saying that the Tories’ stance on gay marriage was partly to blame for their performance at the local elections. A slightly narrow focus one might think when the Labour party, for whom more people voted in the local elections, supports gay marriage and when it is perhaps the economy that is at the forefront of many voters minds.”
Halsbury’s Law Exchange, 22nd May 2012
Source: www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk
Data extracted from suspects’ mobiles retained in accordance with strict privacy guidelines, The Met says – OUT-LAW.com
“Information collected from suspects’ mobile phones using new data extraction technology is retained in accordance with strict guidelines that protect individuals’ privacy, the Metropolitan Police Service (The Met) has said.”
OUT-LAW.com, 22nd May 2012
Source: www.out-law.com
Why me? Putting restorative justice into action – Ministry of Justice
“Will Riley was a victim of a burglary ten years ago when the home he shared with his wife and young daughter in North London was broken into. Will confronted the burglar who attacked him before the police arrived. A while afterwards he was asked if he would come and meet the man responsible for the burglary – who had since been arrested, found guilty and sentenced to prison for the crime.”
Ministry of Justice, 21st May 2012
Source: www.justice.gov.uk
El Goure v Kensington and Chelsea Royal London Borough Council – WLR Daily
“Although the legislation did not lay down the criteria of special circumstances in relation to priority need for housing homeless persons, a separated parent’s reasonable expectation that his children, who were living with their other parent, would move to live with him did not impose an obligation on the local housing authority to consider the parent’s case as special circumstances case for priority needs. Where an applicant for housing was represented by solicitors the failure of the authority expressly to notify the solicitor so that they could make representations in connection with the review did not invalidate the decision of the review officer to uphold the authority’s decision rejecting an application for priority need housing.”
WLR Daily, 18th May 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Humphreys v Revenue and Customs Commissioners – WLR Daily
Humphreys v Revenue and Customs Commissioners [2012 UKSC 18; [2012] WLR (D) 154
“The indirect sex discrimination against fathers arising from the refusal to split child tax credit between separated parents who shared care of a child was objectively justified.”
WLR Daily, 16th May 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Maswaku v Westminster City Council – WLR Daily
Maswaku v Westminster City Council [2012] EWCA Civ 669; [2012] WLR (D) 153
“Section 193(5) of the Housing Act 1996 did not impose any statutory obligation on the local housing authority to spell out each and every possible consequence if an eligible homeless applicant refused temporary alternative accommodation offered which the authority considered to be suitable for him.”
WLR Daily, 18th May 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Mattu v University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust – WLR Daily
“The disciplinary proceedings of a public employer as to the dismissal of an employee under a contract of employment did not determine a “civil right” of the employee for the purposes of the right to a fair hearing pursuant to article 6 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.”
WLR Daily, 18th May 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Westbrook Dolphin Square Ltd v Friends Life Ltd – WLR Daily
Westbrook Dolphin Square Ltd v Friends Life Ltd [2012] EWCA Civ 666; [2012] WLR (D) 151
“Since the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 gave a tenant of a flat the right to acquire the freehold of his premises following service on the landlord of a notice of claim under section 13, and the tenant also had the statutory right to serve a second notice of claim at any time after a year had expired following the withdrawal of the first notice of claim, the general provision in CPR r 38.7, requiring the permission of the court to bring a second claim, did not apply to a second claim based on such a second notice.”
WLR Daily, 18th May 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Burnip v Birmingham City Council and another (Equality and Human Rights Commission intervening); Trengove v Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council and another (Same intervening); Gorry v Wiltshire County Council and another (Same intervening) – WLR Daily
“The statutory criteria for calculating housing benefit for tenants in the private rented sector based on an entitlement to a one bedroom rate discriminated against the severely disabled and there was no justification in their case for continuation of the single bedroom rules.”
WLR Daily, 15th May 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
