Television cameras may be allowed to film in crown courts – The Guardian

Posted July 2nd, 2013 in consent, courts, Crown Court, judiciary, media, news, sentencing, witnesses by sally

“The government is risking a fresh row with the judiciary by raising the prospect that television cameras could be allowed to film within crown courts.”

Full story

The Guardian, 1st July 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Regina v Austin (Herbert) – WLR Daily

Regina v Austin (Herbert): [2013] EWCA Crim 1028;   [2013] WLR (D)  257

“It was the Crown’s responsibility to carry out the duties of disclosure. Judicial involvement could only properly be triggered by an application under the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 by the prosecutor or by the defence. There was no provision for a trial judge to superintend the decisions of disclosure made by the prosecution on his own motion by inspecting unused material himself.”

WLR Daily, 27th June 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Complaints against judges and magistrates soar – Daily Telegraph

Posted June 28th, 2013 in complaints, judiciary, magistrates, news, reports, statistics by tracey

“New figures from the Office for Judicial Complaints (OJC) showed it received 2,154 complaints in 2012-13, up from 1,615 in the previous 12 months. However, after investigation only 55 cases led to disciplinary sanction, the report said.”

Full story

Daily Telegraph, 27th June 2013

Soruce: www.telegraph.co.uk

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Patrick O’Brien: Does the Lord Chancellor really exist? – UK Constitutional Law Group

“On 12 June 2003 a minor constitutional revolution began with the resignation of Lord Irvine as Lord Chancellor and the announcement of a package of reforms including the abolition of his office and the creation of a Supreme Court, later to become the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (CRA). To commemorate the tenth anniversary of these events, the Judicial Independence Project held a private seminar on 12 June 2013 at which some of those directly involved in the changes spoke about the experience and the effects it has had on constitutional change. A note of the seminar is available here. In part the seminar brought out the drama and the comedy of the day itself. An old friendship ended in acrimony: Irvine had been the Prime Minister’s pupil master and had introduced him to his wife. At the same time the senior judiciary, at an away day with civil servants, were taken by surprise by the announcement and had to have the details explained to them whilst they huddled, increasingly angry, around a single phone in a country pub.”

Full story

UK Constitutional Law Group, 26th June 2013

Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org

Stephen Lawrence claims: High Court ‘should approve undercover operations’ – BBC News

Posted June 27th, 2013 in bills, investigatory powers, judiciary, news, police by sally

“Revelations about Stephen Lawrence’s family show police forces should be required to get High Court approval for undercover operations, campaigners say.”

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BBC News, 26th June 2013

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Lord Judge’s correspondence with Chris Grayling on court privatisation – the full text – The Guardian

Posted June 26th, 2013 in budgets, courts, judiciary, legal profession, Ministry of Justice, news by sally

“Read a copy of the letter that the lord chief justice sent to the justice secretary warning him not to undermine judicial independence.”

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The Guardian, 25th June 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Privatising the courts: if anyone needs advice, it’s the judiciary – The Guardian

Posted June 25th, 2013 in constitutional reform, contracting out, courts, judiciary, news, tribunals by sally

“The judges have nothing to gain and everything to lose by negotiating with Chris Grayling in private.”

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The Guardian, 25th June 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Lord chief justice warns Chris Grayling on courts privatisation plans – The Guardian

Posted June 25th, 2013 in constitutional reform, contracting out, courts, judges, judiciary, news, tribunals by sally

“The justice secretary, Chris Grayling, has been warned by the lord chief justice, Lord Judge, not to undermine the independence of the judiciary through plans to privatise parts of the court service or make it self-financing.”

Full story

The Guardian, 24th June 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Revealed: How UK justice is dispensed out of hours down the phone line – The Independent

“The Court of Protection is facing fresh questions about transparency, as The Independent reveals that its judges are making life-or-death decisions over the phone, with incomplete evidence, in proceedings that are not always recorded.”

Full story

The Independent, 24th June 2013

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Judges to explain benefit assessment decisions – BBC News

Posted June 21st, 2013 in appeals, benefits, disabled persons, judiciary, news, social services, tribunals by tracey

“Judges in England and Scotland are being asked to explain why they believe someone is unfit to work, in a move ministers hope will improve the decision-making process on benefits.”

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BBC News, 21st June 2013

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

‘Good lawyers save money’: Supreme Court President weighs in on Legal Aid – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted June 20th, 2013 in costs, judges, judicial review, judiciary, legal aid, legal profession, news, speeches by sally

“According to the President of the Supreme Court, the judiciary not only has a right but an obligation ‘to speak out on matters concerning the rule of law.’ In recent months, it is a duty from which Lord Neuberger has not shirked, and last night’s lecture to the Institute of Government was no exception. Its focus was the importance of legal aid, which Neuberger described through the prism of the UK’s constitutional set-up and the respective roles of the legislature, executive and judiciary within it.”

Full story

UK Human Rights Blog, 19th June 2013

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

Judges and Policy: A Delicate Balance – Speech by Lord Neuberger

Judges and Policy: A Delicate Balance (PDF)

Speech by Lord Neuberger

Institute for Government, 18th June 2013

Source: www.supremecourt.gov.uk

The Neuberger Experiment – BBC Law in Action

Posted June 19th, 2013 in equality, judiciary, news, women by sally

“There are 12 judges in the Supreme Court and only one, Lady Hale, is a woman. Last March on Law in Action, Lord Neuberger – the president of the court – told us it was unfair that there are so few women in the senior judiciary. But, he wondered, do women judge differently from men?

Lord Neuberger wasn’t sure – and he set us a little challenge, one we have called the ‘Neuberger Experiment’. With the help of law students at Durham University, we attempt to discover whether male and female judges really do judge differently. Then we put our findings to Lady Hale.”

Listen

BBC Law in Action, 18th June 2013

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Legal profession must do more to improve ethnic diversity, says Supreme Court president – The Independent

Posted June 19th, 2013 in equality, judiciary, legal profession, minorities, news by sally

“The UK’s top judge has acknowledged that the senior judiciary is monolithic and there are not enough members of ethnic minorities represented.”

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The Independent, 18th June 2013

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Electronic plagiarism? The dangers of the cut-and-paste – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted May 28th, 2013 in appeals, judgments, judiciary, news, plagiarism by sally

“A judge hears a case and accepts one party’s version. That party provides a convincing closing speech (in a Word document) which the judge lifts, makes some modifications, and circulates as his judgment.”

Full story

UK Human Rights Blog, 26th May 2013

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

We are ready for post-Jackson role, vows High Court judge – Litigation Futures

Posted May 24th, 2013 in budgets, costs, judges, judiciary, news, proportionality by tracey

“A High Court judge says there is a ‘real determination’ among judges to embrace their new ‘project management’ role, and dismissed fears that they are not ready for the Jackson reforms.”

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Litigation Futures, 24th May 2013

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Crime and Courts Act 2013: Consultation on the application of the equal merit provision – Judicial Appointments Commission

“The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) is interested in views on potential approaches to the application of the provisions in Part 2 of Schedule 13 to the Crime and Courts Act 2013 (CCA) relating to diversity considerations where candidates for judicial office are of equal merit. The provisions in the CCA clarify that the JAC’s duty to make selections ‘solely on merit’ (S63(2) Constitutional Reform Act 2005) does not prevent it from selecting one candidate over another for the purpose of increasing judicial diversity where there are two candidates of equal merit.”

Full story

Judicial Appointments Commission, 17th May 2013

Source: www.justice.gov.uk

Legal aid cuts prompt top lawyers to leave the bar for careers on the bench – The Guardian

Posted May 16th, 2013 in barristers, judiciary, legal aid, legal profession, news by sally

“It has been dubbed the stampede for ‘the purple lifeboat’ – applications to become judges have more than doubled over the past four years as senior lawyers seek professional sanctuary on the bench.”

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The Guardian, 16th May 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Costs Management Pilot Report – Judiciary of England and Wales

“The Costs Management Pilot Scheme (the ‘Pilot’) was launched in all Technology and Construction Courts (‘TCC’) and Mercantile Courts on 1 October 2011. The Pilot applies to any case which has its first case management conference on or after 1 October 2011.”

Full report

Judiciary of England & Wales, 10th May 2013

Source: www.judiciary.gov.uk

Regulation at home, but not abroad – Gresham College Lecture

“In December 2012 Sir Geoffrey Nice finished four years as Vice Chair of the Bar Standards Board, the body that regulates barristers. After forty years in practice as a barrister, that included seven years working as an employed barrister in the UN, he will describe the differences between practice in a regulated legal community and practice in the UN system that operates with little effective regulation apart from what national systems impose on individual prosecution and defence lawyers. He will also review what he learnt as a regulator from looking critically at the Bar of England and Wales. The Bar of England and Wales and the country’s legal system as a whole proudly assert that they are the best in the world.  Are these claims justified?  If so, why was legislation thought to be necessary to regulate them more closely, and was that legislation wise?”

Transcript

Lecture by Professor Sir Geoffrey Nice QC

Gresham College, 8th May 2013

Source: www.gresham.ac.uk