Current Awareness

R (Binyam Mohamed) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No 5) [2009] EWHC 571 (Admin); [2009] WLR (D) 110

Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.

R (Binyam Mohamed) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No 5) – WLR Daily

Posted March 26th, 2009 in disclosure, judgments, judicial review, law reports, terrorism, torture by sally

“Consistent with the interests of open justice and the rule of law, an annex to an earlier judgment of the court, integral to that judgment but previously withheld so as not to prejudice confidential plea bargain negotiations in the United States involving the claimant, should be made public in accordance with the undertaking of the court at the time of that judgment.”

WLR Daily, 25th March 2009

MH (Syria) v Secretary of State for the Home Department; DS (Afghanistan) v Same [2009] EWCA Civ 226; [2009] WLR (D) 109

Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.

MH (Syria) v Secretary of State for the Home Department; DS (Afghanistan) v Same – WLR Daily

Posted March 26th, 2009 in asylum, law reports, proscribed organisations by sally

“A careful approach was to be applied when one was considering an asylum application and the question whether an asylum-seeker was excluded from the provisions of the Refugee Convention by reason of art 1F(c) on the ground that he had been guilty of acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.”

WLR Daily, 25th March 2009

R (Mendes and another) v Southwark London Borough Council; [2009] WLR (D) 108

Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.

R (Mendes and another) v Southwark London Borough Council – WLR Daily

Posted March 26th, 2009 in costs, judicial review, law reports, reasons by sally

“A judge needed to give reasons for preferring one side’s arguments over the other on an application for costs made by written submissions following the case being settled.”

WLR Daily, 25th March 2009

Thorner v Major and Others

Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.

Thorner v Major and Others – Times Law Reports

Posted March 26th, 2009 in estoppel, intestacy, law reports by sally

House of Lords

“Oblique assurances could in the appropriate context constitute a sufficiently clear and unequivocal representation to establish a proprietary estoppel.”

The Times, 26th March 2009

Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.

John Darwin: ‘Back-from-the-dead canoeist’ appeals his sentence – Daily Telegraph

Posted March 26th, 2009 in appeals, fraud, news, sentencing by sally

“John Darwin, the ‘back-from-the-dead canoeist’ who was jailed for carrying out a ‘sophisticated’ £250,000 fraud, is challenging his six-year prison sentence in the Court of Appeal on Thursday.”

Daily Telegraph, 26th March 2009

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

The Acas view: our new code will have a positive impact – The Times

Posted March 26th, 2009 in dispute resolution, employment, news by sally

“New legislation is often welcomed with a whiff of trepidation, especially by businesses. Change – in particular legal change – usually prompts feelings of uncertainty and suspicion.”

The Times, 26th March 2009

Dreamspace artist to be sentenced – BBC News

Posted March 26th, 2009 in artistic works, health & safety, news by sally

“The creator of an inflatable artwork which blew away in a County Durham park killing two women will be sentenced later for health and safety breaches.”

BBC News, 26th March 2009

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Seventy is far too early for a supreme court judge to retire . . . – The Times

Posted March 26th, 2009 in judiciary, news, retirement, Supreme Court by sally

“The Lord Chancellor will soon be announcing who will fill the vacancies on the new supreme court, which begins work in October when the law lords move across Parliament Square to Middlesex Guildhall. There is a very strong case for increasing the retirement age for supreme court justices from 70 to 75. In 1916 the Earl of Halsbury heard a case on the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords at 92. The Judicial Pensions and Retirement Act 1993 now provides that judges must retire at 70. There is an exception for those first appointed to a judicial office before March 31, 1995. They can continue working until 75.”

The Times, 26th March 2009

New law sought to assist families of missing people – The Guardian

Posted March 26th, 2009 in missing persons, news, presumption of death orders by sally

“… a private member’s bill being debated by MPs tomorrow would allow relatives to apply to the high court for a declaration that someone is missing and presumed dead before seven years has expired, making it easier to deal with issues like the dissolution of a marriage and the disposal of property and insurance claims.”

The Guardian, 25th March 2009

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Bringing barristers into harmony with the times – The Times

Posted March 26th, 2009 in barristers, news by sally

“Deech, 65, looks unlikely to do anything faintly. As chairwoman of the Bar Standards Board (BSB), the body in charge of education, training and standards of barristers, she is next week launching research on public trust in the profession, plus a reformed system for handling complaints against barristers — a telephone complaints line; improved plain English leaflets; and a more streamlined system to resolve disputes. Two weeks ago the board outlined a more user-friendly draft code of conduct for the 14,000 barristers in England and Wales.”

The Times, 26th March 2009

Extent of council spying revealed – BBC News

Posted March 26th, 2009 in investigatory powers, local government, news by sally

“Councils in England and Wales have used controversial spying laws 10,000 times in the past five years, figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats show.”

Full story

BBC News, 26th March 2009

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Jackson review triggers debate over costs in top-end litigation – Legal Week

Posted March 26th, 2009 in costs, news by sally

“Concerns have been raised about whether Lord Justice Rupert Jackson’s review into the high cost of civil litigation should apply to large-scale commercial disputes.”

Legal Week, 26th March 2009

Source: www.legalweek.com

Family courts: the poor and most vulnerable are paying dearly – The Times

Posted March 26th, 2009 in family courts, news by sally

“Happily most people will never meet a family law barrister professionally. Those who do, however, will almost certainly be at a time of great crisis in their life. From an acrimonious breakdown of a marriage or civil partnership to the State intervening to remove children who medical or social work professionals believe (rightly or wrongly) to have been abused, any family from any background may find themselves litigating before the family courts. I remember one week when I represented both a prostitute and a peer of the realm (not, on this occasion, in the same case).”

The Times, 25th March 2009

LSB reviews independence of law watchdogs – Legal Week

Posted March 25th, 2009 in legal services, Legal Services Board, news by sally

“The Legal Services Board (LSB) has launched a review of regulatory independence in the profession as the oversight body moves to flesh out the framework governing the business of law.”

Legal Week, 25th March 2009

Source: www.legalweek.com

Businesses are not always free to change lawyers, rules tribunal – OUT-LAW.com

Posted March 25th, 2009 in news, transfer of undertakings by sally

“Companies may begin to use complex commercial services contracts when engaging law firms after a case underlined the rights of workers whose jobs are transferred to another firm.”