Must-read!
This is just a fantastic article for AS Law students on the Supreme Court, Appeals, Dissenting Judgments, Parliamentary Sovereignty, the Rule of Law… and the force of nature that is Lady Hale. Who will the new President of the Supreme Court be when Lord Phillips retires?
Unusually for the interweb, the comments are excellent too. Someone even mentions Factortame!
Self-Defence
I don’t blog about Criminal Law that often, probably because I teach Contract at A2. However this story on that tabloid favourite, self defence, seems too good to miss…
Talkinf of which, there’s a cracking summary of the law in this area here by reknowned academic Gary Slapper.
The ECJ…
is of course the highest Court in the English Legal System. This week has seen a nice example of the ECJ creating a precedent that will change matters across the continent. I’m talking, of course, about the ruling on satellite broadcasting of Premier League football brought by a Portsmouth landlady. Although the impact of the case is likely to be limited to permitting the private use of foreign broadcasts, the ruling will pose challenges to the Premier League’s ability to negotiate TV deals within individual EU states on the basis of exclusivity. A good example of the ECJ’s influence in areas such as competition law. See below for a video clip!
read more...»Modern Legal Apprenticeships
As AS Law students will no doubt be about to learn, a legal education can be an expensive business when you factor in the cost of a degree as well as GDL/LPC/BVC depending on your chosen route into the profession. Perhaps it’s not too surprising then to see that lawyers themselves are now arguing that the time is right for a new route into the profession in the form of Modern Legal Apprenticeships. Strangely, these almost hark back to the old days of doing your “articles” by on-the-job training. For an example, see the scheme run by prestigous firm Pinsent Masons in conjunction with ILEX - so a route to qualifying as a legal exec, but into commercial law and with the chance of a training contract always there…
No more referral fees
Interesting news on the legal funding front as the practice of paying referral fees, whereby insurance companies, breakdown firms or car repairers sell on information to claimant solicitors, is to go. The government (and industry figures) reckon it is pushing up premiums and encouraging compensation culture (if such a thing exists….). Ths, together with the Legal Aid and Sentencing Bill which will require any success fee to be paid by the claimant rather than the defendant, amounts to a radical shift in approach which may eliminate some spurious claims. Let’s hope that cases of genuine injury are not put off claiming damages where they are due, however.
On Duty
Cracking article here on what it’s like to be a duty lawyer at a police station. A good way to illustrate that being a solicitor can be a surprisingly varied job - contrast this experience with that of, say, someone working on deals in the City… or a family lawyer involved in divorce and custody battles.
The article itself is a rich source for AS law students, featuring mention of PACE, an example of an EU Directive, and also mention of the new Legal Aid Bill currently going through Parliament, which places the role of the duty lawyer under threat - in itself a great point for debate!
Sentencing - LIVE!
It looks as if the government are set to announce that sentencing (in the wake of the riots, presumably) is to be televised in future - although not the trial process itself. Nice link to the sentencing aim of denunciation. Let’s hope judicial reasoning behind sentences passed is covered properly too…!
Bonkers bye-laws
The top 10 craziest by-laws have been named by Sutton Council as part of a battle against bureaucracy. My favourite is:
The person having control of a steam-powered whirligig will bring it to a standstill if a person becomes ill.
No more whirligigging for me then when people start looking queasy….
A nice way to brighten up this type of delegated legislation. Perhaps you could ask your students to come up with their own!
Judges reading the Riot Act
Well, plenty of discussion material for law teachers as a result of the, er, aggravated shopping that went on this summer in our major cities. Magistrates advised by clerks to toughen up… sentencing guidelines on the back burner… certainly food for thought. The riots are a clear example of an aggravating factor, but does this justify apparently inconsistently harsh sentencing? Yes, according to top Manchester judge Andrew Gilbert QC, who stated that it was “perfectly proper” to depart from sentencing guidelines in the circumstances. And depart they have - with sentences on average 25% tougher than normal and 70% of offenders jailed compared to a normal rate of 2% in the Magistrates’ Court.
Is he right, or do such sentences ultimately undermine public confidence in the fairness of the system? Former DPP Lord Macdonald thinks we need new guidelines for such situations - there’s a good discussion on Thursday’s Today Programme.
Also a good topic to prompt debate on competing sentencing objectives. Is this deterrence, or retribution? Is either approach the right one?
A landmark case for the jury
New ground broken in the last week as a Crown Court judge dismissed a “nobbled” jury and convicted four defendants accused of benefit fraud to the tune of £112,000.
Recorder Caroline English sitting at Wood Green Crown Court became the first judge to make use of powers under s46 Criminal Justice Act 2003 to dismiss the jury where the judge is satisfied that jury tampering has taken place and that it is fair to continue without the jury.
The thin end of the wedge for jury trial, or a sensible way of avoiding the costs of a retrial? A good case to get students thinking about balancing liberty with other considerations, and the strengths and weaknesses of jury trial.
