‘With legal aid in crisis, CrowdJustice selects public interest cases and invites the public to fund them. But it faces many obstacles to enacting real change.’
The Guardian, 25th May 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘Every few months, a new report announces the breakdown of the British immigration system. In January, the Committee of Public Accounts issued a searing review of the Home Office’s migration policy. Three months earlier, the National Audit Office released a near-identical critique. Each publication invokes a now-familiar folk devil – the ‘foreign criminal’ – and demands better coordination between immigration enforcers and prison managers. Four times a year, we are told that governments that do not deport ‘foreign offenders’ are fundamentally unfit.’
OUP Blog, 26th May 2015
Source: http://blog.oup.com
‘Sir Brian Leveson, the judge most famous for his report into press ethics, has said he does not consider himself “crushed by the European jackboot” when it comes to applying the European convention of human rights in British courts.’
The Guardian, 24th May 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘The Queen’s Speech marks the start of this session of parliament. The address, written by government ministers, is delivered by the Queen and lays out the Government’s agenda for the next year.’
The Independent, 26th May 2015
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘Health ministers want to introduce an airline-style error reporting system for the UK’s high street pharmacies.’
BBC News, 24th May 2015
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Parents of a child diagnosed with a serious illness are immediately required to make decisions about their child’s medical treatment which, in order to save life, may cause pain, unpleasant side-effects and risk damaging their child’s future quality of life. The actions, last summer, of the parents of five year old Ashya King offer just one example of the lengths to which parents will go to secure the best possible treatment for their child; researching alternative treatments, securing second opinions, finding a treatment centre offering innovative or experimental treatment, travelling abroad, selling belongings or otherwise raising funds for treatment. The Internet provides access to a host of information about the side effects and risks of conventional treatment, alternative treatments available across the world – if you can pay for them – and stories of their success.’
OUP Blog, 22nd May 2015
Source: http://blog.oup.com
‘Judge speaks of frustration at only being able to jail a stalker, who drove female GP to a mental breakdown, for five years.’
Daily Telegraph, 26th May 2015
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘Convictions for crimes under a law used to prosecute internet trolls have increased nearly eight-fold in a decade, official figures reveal. Last year, 1,209 people were found guilty of offences under Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 compared with 143 in 2004.’
The Independent, 24th May 2015
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘An alliance of prominent academics have signed a letter to the government warning against any expansions of state surveillance without the full involvement of parliament and the public.’
The Guardian, 26th May 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘Jeremy Hutchinson was the greatest criminal barrister of the 1960s, 70s and 80s and his cases through that period changed society forever. From the sex and spying scandals that brought down Macmillan’s government, to his defence of Lady Chatterley’s Lover, editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger talks to Jeremy about the cases that defined an era.’
Date: 8th June 2015, 7.00-8.30pm
Location: Kings Place, London N1 9AG
Charge: £25
More information can be found here.
‘That most time-consuming of the traditional rituals surrounding the UK Parliament, the swearing in of all the MPs, has become an emblem of the changing shape of British society. A ceremony originally designed for exclusion – to keep out religious and political undesirables – has become a display of diversity, writes Stephen Tomkins.’
BBC News, 20th May 2015
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Phone hacking at the tabloid publisher Trinity Mirror was “widespread and frequent” for a decade, a high court judge has ruled as he ordered the company to pay a record £1.2m in privacy damages to eight victims, including the actor Sadie Frost and ex-footballer Paul Gascoigne.’
The Guardian, 21st May 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘The Home Office has introduced a new policy on reconsideration of old human rights claims that were refused before 6 April 2015 with no right of appeal: Requests for reconsiderations of human rights or protection based claims refused without right of appeal before 6 April 2015. The policy is important in the very many cases where a human rights application was made by an individual or family and the application was refused with no right of appeal because no removal decision was made. Under the new appeals regime introduced by the Immigration Act 2014 from 6 April 2014, no removal decision is needed for a right of appeal, only refusal of a human rights claim.’
Full story
Free Movement, 21st May 2015
Source: www.freemovement.co.uk
‘Judges need to lead the way in jolting lawyers out of their “comfort zones” so as to fully embrace the Jackson reforms, the Master of the Rolls has said, citing the lack of progress on disclosure and ‘hot-tubbing’ as examples where the new rules have not been embraced.’
Litigation Futures, 22nd May 2015
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
‘Haile v Waltham Forest LBC [2015] UKSC 34 is the second of the triptych of cases which are before the UKSC (We have yet to have the outcome of the third one, the eligibility appeals in Samin/Mirga). The first, Johnson/Hotak/Kanu, as NL wrote, is particularly significant because of its reworking of the vulnerability test, overwriting encrusted CA decisions. Haile, on the other hand, attempts to steer a line between accepting the jurisprudence on intentionality but distinguishing it on a narrow basis (Lord Reed, with whom Lord Neuberger, Lady Hale and Lord Clarke agreed – Lord Neuberger, in the majority, doing so with hesitation, at [79]; Lord Carnwath dissenting). Johnson/Hotak/Kanu will involve reworking vulnerability decisions and will undoubtedly provoke further litigation on the SC test. In theory, at least, Haile should not involve any great difference or require reworking; but, as I will try to explain, its consequences may well reverberate just as much as Johnson et al. Indeed, despite the best intentions of the majority, I think further litigation is almost inevitably the outcome.’
Nearly Legal, 21st May 2015
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
‘A Newport woman who slit the throats of two children in a drug induced trance has been cleared of attempting to murder them on grounds of insanity.’
BBC News, 20th May 2015
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Tobacco companies are preparing to launch what could be one of the biggest ever legal claims against the British Government for losses as a result of the introduction of plain packaging for cigarettes.’
Full story
Daily Telegraph, 21st May 2015
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘As Ireland prepares to vote on the same sex marriage referendum, we map where it is already legal using data from the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association.’
Daily Telegraph, 21st May 2015
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘The prime minister has announced new plans to seize the wages of illegal workers as proceeds of crime as part of a new immigration strategy. But how does the UK go about recovering the proceeds of crime, and what challenges might the new plans throw up?’
BBC News, 21st May 2015
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
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