Lawyer news

• Ghislaine Maxwell wasn’t a victim of Epstein, but she clearly feared his rejection | Barbara Ellen

  04-07-2020 18:47 via theguardian.com
  
  Her accusers paint a picture of a woman who would do anything, however grotesque, to pleaseSo, Ghislaine Maxwell has finally been dragged out of her salubrious New Hampshire hidey-hole and accused, among other charges, of assisting Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of minors – recruiting and grooming girls known to be underage. Now it’s all about whether Maxwell (who has previously denied wrongdoing) will choose to “co-operate”, coughing up big names.Away from legality
  
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• Ghislaine Maxwell is no victim. But did she fear Epstein's rejection? | Barbara Ellen

  04-07-2020 18:47 via theguardian.com
  
  Her accusers paint a picture of a woman who would do anything to pleaseSo, Ghislaine Maxwell has finally been dragged out of her salubrious New Hampshire hidey-hole and accused, among other charges, of assisting Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of minors – recruiting and grooming girls known to be underage. Now it’s all about whether Maxwell (who has previously denied wrongdoing) will choose to “co-operate”, coughing up big names.Away from legality, one can only wonde
  
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• Amber Heard can be in court for Johnny Depp’s evidence, high court rules

  04-07-2020 16:58 via theguardian.com
  
  Judge says it would be unfair to stop Heard watching Depp give evidence in libel case over domestic abuse claimsJohnny Depp has failed to stop his ex-wife, Amber Heard, from watching him give evidence in a libel case over allegations of domestic abuse.The actor is suing the publisher of the Sun, News Group Newspapers (NGN), and its executive editor, Dan Wootton, over a 2018 article which described Depp as a “wife beater”. Continue reading...
  
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• 'We're all gentlemen here': Australia's legal profession can pretend no more

  03-07-2020 22:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The law is slowly confronting its toxic culture of sexual harassment. The Dyson Heydon allegations will only speed things upThe law is slow to change. For almost 30 years, the majority of law graduates in Australia have been women. And yet, when these brilliant young women enter the workplace, out-competing all their fellow graduates for a bottom-rung position at a top law firm or a prestigious posting as a judge’s associate, their bosses are still, invariably men.“We still do have m
  
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• The case against Dan Oakes exposes how dangerously fragile press freedom is in Australia | Peter Greste

  03-07-2020 22:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Nobody is suggesting giving journalists blanket protection to publish classified information at will, but we need profound legislative reform
  For any law to be effective, there needs to be clarity. Most legislation is so mind-numbingly formal and technical because it is drafted to avoid any confusion about exactly what the law allows, what it forbids, who it applies to and the consequences of breaching it.Yet, when it comes to the role of the media in Australia, legislated confusion abounds. Rel
  
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• Prince Andrew's silence is a 'torture test' for Epstein's alleged victims, says lawyer

  03-07-2020 18:29 via theguardian.com
  
  Pressure grows on Duke of York to ‘speak up’ after the arrest of his friend Ghislaine MaxwellThe Duke of York was accused of subjecting alleged victims of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein to a “torture test” by his silence as lawyers for the women increased the pressure following the arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell.As Maxwell, 58, remained in custody on charges of facilitating former boyfriend Epstein’s sexual exploitation of underage girls, lawyers for multiple wome
  
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• Hong Kong journalists and lawyers scramble to adapt to security law

  03-07-2020 14:55 via theguardian.com
  
  Accounts deleted and social media erased, as members of both professions question – in private – how to operateJournalists and lawyers in Hong Kong are scrambling to adapt as Chinese authorities set up the apparatus to enforce a controversial national security law, including appointing a hardline party official to head a new security agency.Zheng Yanxiong, who is best known for tackling protests on the mainland, is to run the office established under the law that empowers mainland se
  
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• City firms continue phased reopening with limited numbers back in

  03-07-2020 14:31 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Coming into the office now possible for those finding it impossible to work from home.
  
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• Legal Aid Agency apologises for latest CCMS disruption

  03-07-2020 14:12 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Technical problems with troubled billing system reportedly began on 25 June.
  
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• Priti Patel accused of 'shameful' bid to deport girl at risk of FGM

  03-07-2020 13:15 via theguardian.com
  
  Barrister says Home Office’s unwillingness to protect 11-year-old makes a mockery of FGM protection ordersHuman rights lawyers have launched a scathing attack on the Home Office for failing to grant asylum to an 11-year-old girl found by judges to be at high risk of female genital mutilation if removed from Britain.The girl, who is thriving at school and only speaks English, was brought to the UK in 2012 by her mother, herself a victim of what is known as type 3 FGM whose two sisters died
  
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• Society and Bar join forces to condemn backlog plans

  03-07-2020 12:57 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Law Society and Bar Council say government should not mess with court hours and jury trials.
  
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• Court backlog plans 'threaten credibility' of justice system

  03-07-2020 12:57 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Law Society and Bar Council say government should not mess with court hours and jury trials.
  
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• Niche litigation funder hails ‘record’ performance as profits surge

  03-07-2020 11:11 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Manolete is fielding a record number of enquiries despite the Covid-19 lockdown.
  
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• CBA chair interview: 'We're tilting at windmills'

  03-07-2020 10:25 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Government funding may be needed to enable chambers to keep recruiting pupils after ‘many, many months’ of lost income, says Caroline Goodwin QC.
  
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• McKenzie friend silenced in court as claimant able to speak for herself

  03-07-2020 10:14 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Eventful preliminary hearing results in McKenzie friend being denied rights of audience.
  
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• End Covid-19 jail visiting ban for children in England and Wales, MPs urge

  03-07-2020 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Stopping contact with mothers in prison has put wellbeing of 17,000 children at risk, says joint human rights committee The government needs to end the Covid-19 visiting ban on children in England and Wales whose mothers are in prison and consider releasing those who are low-risk, MPs and peers have urged.The children of women who are imprisoned have the right to family life and that must be protected, the joint committee on human rights said. Related: The coronavirus crisis in Britain's prisons
  
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• Barclays: Qataris spoke to Gordon Brown to 'defuse 2008 bailout pressure'

  02-07-2020 19:51 via theguardian.com
  
  Court hears Qatari leader spoke to then PM as bank pressurised to accept government moneyA Qatari leader spoke to then prime minister Gordon Brown during the 2008 financial crisis as Barclays came under increasing pressure to accept government money, a former bank boss has told a high court judge.Former Barclays chief executive John Varley told Mr Justice Waksman how Qatari prime minister Sheikh Hamad spoke to Brown in October 2008 to “defuse” that pressure. Continue reading...
  
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• MoJ promises full consultation on immigration fee reform

  02-07-2020 18:21 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Labour's top justice figures say engagement with the profession on temporary changes has been insufficient.
  
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• Junior lawyer sues firm over disability discrimination allegations

  02-07-2020 17:40 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Capsticks denies employment solicitor was a disabled person and rejects claims.
  
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• Junior lawyer sues ex-firm over disability discrimination allegations

  02-07-2020 17:40 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Capsticks denies employment solicitor was a disabled person and rejects claims.
  
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• Freshfields opens office in Silicon Valley

  02-07-2020 15:43 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Magic circle firm hopes to tap into the rapidly expanding technology and life sciences market.
  
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• Role of UK judges in Hong Kong appeal court comes under scrutiny

  02-07-2020 15:28 via theguardian.com
  
  MPs ask if British judges should continue to hear cases as new Chinese security law enforcedThe role of British judges who sit on Hong Kong’s highest court has come under intensive scrutiny as the new, Beijing-enforced national security law transforms the former colony’s legal freedoms.It is a long-established tradition that senior judges from the UK and other commonwealth states occasionally hear cases on Hong Kong’s court of final appeal – usually in the later stages of
  
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• Lord chancellor seeks views on post-Brexit court powers

  02-07-2020 14:02 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Ministry of Justice presents two options for departure from retained EU case law.
  
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• High court hears legal challenge to England's lockdown restrictions

  02-07-2020 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The most sweeping restrictions since second world war breach human rights laws, court toldCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe government’s lockdown that has closed schools, premises and companies while limiting free movement is the “most sweeping and far-reaching” restriction on fundamental rights since the second world war, the high court has been told.In a challenge to the legality of emergency legislation, the businessman Simon Dolan, whose
  
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• Regional chambers hit hardest by pandemic, says Bar Council

  02-07-2020 12:57 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Over 30% of all sets believe they will collapse within six months, compared with just 16% of London ones.
  
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• Solicitor jailed over money laundering links is now struck off

  02-07-2020 11:18 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Cheshire solicitor was identified as gangsters’ 'go-to' for helping to facilitate illegal deals.
  
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• More firms put the squeeze on newly qualified lawyers

  02-07-2020 11:06 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  DLA Piper, BCLP, Osborne Clarke and DWF are among firms to cut salaries or defer recruitment in response to 'challenging times'.
  
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• Litigation funder backs law firm and consultancy’s Covid-19 ‘one-stop shop’

  02-07-2020 10:06 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Augusta will fund, HFW will litigate and KPMG trace assets in pandemic-related dispute offering.
  
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• MoJ favours 'Nightingale' crown courts to tackle huge backlog of cases

  02-07-2020 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Plans for non-jury trials in England and Wales apparently ditched in favour of measures like extended hoursPlans for non-jury trials to speed up efforts to tackle a backlog of more than 40,000 crown court cases appear to have been sidelined as the Ministry of Justice opts instead for extended opening hours, emergency “Nightingale” courts and, possibly, smaller juries.Announcing a courts “recovery” plan on Wednesday to cope with the backlog, exacerbated by the coronavirus
  
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• To all men who are in on the ‘open secret’: you have failed us | Rhea Dhillon, Olivia McMillan and Sally Shera-Jones

  01-07-2020 19:30 via theguardian.com
  
  For all the work feminism has done, here we are in 2020 where sexual harassment is still a basic barrier to entry to the professionWhen the Dyson Heydon story broke last Monday afternoon, the allegations started to fill the online chat in our workplace. For a number of women lawyers in the firm, there was a single theme running through our minds that made us all feel squeamish. Then upset. Then outright mad.Heydon has “emphatically” denied any allegation of predatory behaviour or bre
  
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• Extended court hours to tackle backlog

  01-07-2020 16:46 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Ministry of Justice publishes coronavirus recovery plan as work continues to reopen all courts.
  
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• Belgium mulls charges over 1961 killing of Congo's first elected leader

  01-07-2020 14:38 via theguardian.com
  
  Prosecutors say there are two living suspects allegedly linked to assassination of Patrice LumumbaBelgian prosecutors are investigating whether they can bring charges against people suspected of taking part in the killing of Congo’s first democratically elected leader, Patrice Lumumba, almost 60 years after his assassination.Belgium’s federal prosecutor Frédéric Van Leeuw said on Wednesday: “We are in the process of taking stock of the prosecutions that could be l
  
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• Judge rebukes lawyers arguing through witness evidence

  01-07-2020 14:24 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Scathing criticism of ‘substantially unsatisfactory’ witness statements submitted in tax fraud trial.
  
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• 'Most diligent of public servants': senior Whitehall lawyer dies

  01-07-2020 13:29 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Stephen Amos was director of litigation at the Government Legal Department.
  
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• Divorce ruling gives 'untrammelled licence' to go forum shopping

  01-07-2020 13:09 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Supreme Court, by a majority, dismisses appeal brought by Scottish aristocrat in relation to maintenance.
  
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• ‘Slapdash’ Dechert partner misled the court but was not dishonest

  01-07-2020 12:57 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  A partner at international firm Dechert has changed evidence he gave to the High Court earlier this year after being accused of perjury by a Jordanian lawyer, who alleges he was tortured by the solicitor.
  
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• Bar body condemns Hong Kong security law

  01-07-2020 12:31 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  ‘This is a sad and deeply worrying time’, International Bar Association statement concludes.
  
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• Trans people were promised change, but instead they face deepening prejudice | Jayne Ozanne and Elli Tikvah Sarah

  01-07-2020 11:59 via theguardian.com
  
  As faith leaders, we deplore the government’s silence on reports it plans to scrap the Gender Recognition Act• Jayne Ozanne is a member of the government’s LGBT Advisory Panel and Church of England’s General Synod. Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah is rabbi of Brighton and Hove Progressive SynagogueSilence can be dangerous. It allows rumours to run riot, fears to be stoked and falsehoods to flourish. There has been no word from No 10 since its response to a public consultation on th
  
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• Rental e-scooters to hit the roads on Saturday

  01-07-2020 11:19 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  A year-long trial will see rental scooters legalised for use on roads, cycle lanes and tracks.
  
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• Injured boy 'stopped and searched' by Met officer he asked for help

  01-07-2020 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Teenager attacked in London by rightwing opponents of Black Lives Matter movementRights groups have criticised police after a boy of 16, attacked by far-right opponents of a Black Lives Matter demonstration in London, said he was stopped and searched by the policeman he had asked for help.The teenager, who is black, said that even though he had been injured in the attack, the police officer he approached for protection looked him over, searched him and told him to find medical help elsewhere. Co
  
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• SIF extended: Claims lifeline for closed firms given one-year reprieve

  30-06-2020 17:41 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  SRA bows to pressure to extend the Solicitors Indemnity Fund.
  
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• Claims lifeline for closed firms given one-year reprieve

  30-06-2020 17:41 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  SRA bows to pressure to extend the Solicitors Indemnity Fund.
  
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• Johnson pledges £142m to improve 100 courts

  30-06-2020 17:34 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Prime minister announces the cash as part of recovery plan billed 'a new deal for Britain'.
  
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• BAME and junior lawyers unite over jury trials

  30-06-2020 13:28 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Practitioner groups say they will vehemently oppose any proposal to change the system.
  
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• New regime at DWF closes two international offices

  30-06-2020 13:18 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Around 60 jobs have been axed following strategic review at stock exchange listed firm.
  
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• Law schools to reopen campuses - with thermographic cameras

  30-06-2020 13:05 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Universities draw up plans for temperature testing, plastic screens and one-way systems.
  
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• Lawtech will play vital role in pandemic recovery says Law Society

  30-06-2020 12:49 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Chancery Lane announces ‘Return, Restart and Recovery’ campaign to promote the profession’s role.
  
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• I believe Roundup gave me cancer. The Monsanto settlement is a slap in the face | Christine Sheppard

  30-06-2020 12:38 via theguardian.com
  
  I have to inject myself with needles just to stay alive. Still, Bayer will continue to sell Roundup, and refused to label it as carcinogenicLast Wednesday was my 71st birthday, a low-key celebration in these Covid-19 times. Then I heard the news that the pharmaceutical conglomerate Bayer has offered a settlement to resolve several massive class-action lawsuits alleging that the company’s herbicide, Roundup, is dangerous and causes cancer.I’m one of the thousands of people who filed s
  
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• Baker McKenzie announces bumper promotion round

  30-06-2020 12:09 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  International firm elects 85 new partners despite coronavirus concerns.  
  
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• ‘We’ll deal with it again’ - Leicester law firms braced for second lockdown

  30-06-2020 12:01 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  City set to effectively close again, with workers and residents told to avoid all non-essential travel.
  
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