Lawyer news

• Sane enough for Texas: the Lone Star State's history of executing mentally ill inmates

  02-12-2014 21:33
  
  On Wednesday, Scott Panetti will become the latest American prisoner to be put to death in apparent disregard of the constitutional ban on executing the insaneTexas inmate’s storied history of mental illness likely won’t halt his executionNearly two decades after the US supreme court outlawed the execution of severely mentally ill people, Andre Thomas was placed on Texas death row for killing his estranged wife, his four-year-old son and his one-year-old stepdaughter while carrying out what
  
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• US to appeal judge's ruling on Guantánamo Bay force-feeding videos

  02-12-2014 21:12
  
  Obama administration will ask federal appeals court to overturn ruling saying that it must disclose videos depicting tube feedings of inmatesCongress demands to see Guantánamo detainee force-feeding videos
  Guantánamo force-feeding amounts to punishment, lawyers argueThe Obama administration will ask a federal appeals court to overturn a judge’s ruling that it must disclose videos depicting its controversial tube feedings of hunger strikers at Guantánamo Bay. The long-expected decision
  
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• Nick Hardwick refuses to re-apply for chief inspector of prisons role

  02-12-2014 19:59
  
  Robust critic of conditions in prisons in England and Wales is to step down after saying job process risks independence of roleThe chief inspector of prisons, Nick Hardwick, who has proved a robust critic of prison conditions, is to step down after turning down an invitation from the justice secretary to re-apply for his own job.“Told MoJ ministers & officials I won’t be reapplying for my post. Can’t be independent of people you are asking for a job,” the chief inspector tweeted in r
  
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• Judge criticises National Crime Agency over collapse of fraud trial

  02-12-2014 19:56
  
  Evidence was misleading or was not investigated properly, leaving prosecution to offer no case against seven defendantsThe National Crime Agency has been labelled “incompetent” by an Old Bailey judge after a series of blunders led to the collapse of a £5m trial.The judge Wendy Joseph QC discharged the jury from finding verdicts against the seven defendants, saying the prosecution case demonstrated mistakes that were “beyond negligence”. Continue reading...
  
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• BBC facing calls to sack rape row presenter over legal action threat

  02-12-2014 19:46
  
  Radio Norfolk’s Nick Conrad threatened legal action against campaigner who called for dismissal after he said ‘women should keep their knickers on’The BBC is facing fresh calls to sack a radio presenter who said “women should keep their knickers on” to avoid being raped after it emerged that he threatened to take legal action against a campaigner who called for his dismissal.Nick Conrad, a BBC Radio Norfolk talk show host, was forced to apologise last month after making offensive remar
  
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• EU court fines Italy €40m for failing to clean up illegal waste

  02-12-2014 18:05
  
  Ruling underlines failure of Italian governments to deal with environmental scandal blamed for abnormal levels of cancerThe European court of justice has ordered Italy to pay €40m (£32m) for failing to tackle the dumping of illegal waste.The Luxembourg-based court said it would impose further penalties of €42.8m for every six months that Italy failed to clean up hundreds of waste dumps, including many identified as containing dangerous toxic material. Continue reading...
  
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• Ombudsman unsure on cost of CMC complaints

  02-12-2014 17:15
  
  Service also targets accepting complaints about accountants carrying out probate work.
  
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• Ombudsman unsure of CMC complaint costs

  02-12-2014 17:15 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Service also targets accepting complaints about accountants carrying out probate work.
  
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• UK porn legislation: What is now banned under new government laws - The Independent

  02-12-2014 17:14
  
  The Independent
  UK porn legislation: What is now banned under new government laws
  The Independent
  On Tuesday 1 December, the Audiovisual Media Services Regulations 2014 introduced a series of restrictions on the pornography produced and sold in the UK. This means some sex acts have been banned from content produced and sold in Britain. Here is ...
  Pornography law bans list of sexual acts from UK-made online filmsThe Guardian
  'Sexist' UK Porn Law Change Bans List Of Sex Acts Includi
  
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• MedCo should end third-party capture, Grayling tells ABI

  02-12-2014 16:07
  
  Justice secretary gives details of independent medical expert system.
  
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• UK lawyer 'acted for Qataris against World Cup whistleblower' - Yorkshire Post

  02-12-2014 15:18
  
  Yorkshire Post
  UK lawyer 'acted for Qataris against World Cup whistleblower'
  Yorkshire Post
  Mr Collins said the event was one that would fall into any potential UK criminal inquiry into World Cup bidding. He has called for the Serious Fraud Office to investigate a series of events linked to the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 ...
  Conservative MP calls for Serious Fraud Office to probe elements of World Cup ...SkySports
  London lawyers 'acted for Qataris'Littleha
  
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• The UK government's new porn laws are arbitrary and sexist - New Statesman

  02-12-2014 15:08
  New Statesman
  The UK government's new porn laws are arbitrary and sexist
  New Statesman
  The Audiovisual Media Services Regulations 2014 imposes restrictions on the content of pornography made and sold within the UK – and it does so with a perplexing ignorance about the realities of modern technology. British porn producers and consumers ...
  
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• Liberal heroine Ruth Bader Ginsburg sure her place is still on supreme court bench

  02-12-2014 14:41
  
  The veteran justice, 81, returned to work five days after heart surgery aware that Obama would have a hard time securing a like-minded replacement if she retiredDespite a small stumble as she climbed up to take her seat on the supreme court bench on Monday, there was no clue that 81-year-old justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had undergone heart surgery barely five days previously.But the return of one of the court’s most stalwart liberals from hospital this week has underlined just how significant s
  
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• Private meetings are fine, but judges must not be seen to be playing politics

  02-12-2014 14:24
  
  Judges and politicians must be careful not to lose their independence on which the British constitution so dependsThe independence of the judiciary requires judges to engage with the executive and the legislature, the lord chief justice said on Monday night. How times change. Shortly after Lord Lane became lord chief justice in 1980, he agreed to meet the then home secretary, William Whitelaw, at a dinner party arranged under conditions of secrecy in a private room at a London club. Further meet
  
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• BSB to regulate entities from January

  02-12-2014 11:56
  
  Bar regulator emerging as competitor to SRA.
  
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• A long list of sex acts just got banned in UK porn - The Independent

  02-12-2014 10:21
  
  The Independent
  A long list of sex acts just got banned in UK porn
  The Independent
  While the measures won't stop people from watching whatever genre of porn they desire, as video shot abroad can still be viewed, they do impose severe restrictions on content created in the UK, and appear to make no distinction between consensual and ...
  
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• Vow to entrench Holyrood in UK law - The Courier

  02-12-2014 06:02
  
  The Courier
  Vow to entrench Holyrood in UK law
  The Courier
  Lord Smith of Kelvin, chair of the Smith Commission on Scottish Devolution, admitted that "nothing is permanent" in UK law. However, he intends to make the Scottish Parliament so deeply entrenched that MPs will suffer "a plague of boils" if they try to ...
  Lord Smith admits Scottish Parliament could be dissolved by a future British ...Scotland Now
  SNP trio carpeted by party chiefs for torching a copy of the Smith Com
  
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• Vince Cable to investigate UK arms fairs laws to prevent sales of torture devices - The Independent

  02-12-2014 03:02
  
  The Independent
  Vince Cable to investigate UK arms fairs laws to prevent sales of torture devices
  The Independent
  I want to go back from this hearing and establish whether the problem is failure of the law or a failure of enforcement.” The Lib Dem minister said his department would also make public some details of 12 licences for the export of British weaponry to ...
  
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• Cuts in legal aid ‘leading to miscarriages of justice’

  02-12-2014 00:24
  
  Master of Rolls warns that people who represent themselves because they can’t afford lawyers are losing winnable casesMiscarriages of justice are occurring because of the withdrawal of legal aid, the most senior judge in the civil courts has told MPs. Lord Dyson, the Master of the Rolls, has described to the justice select committee how unrepresented litigants often “dry up” and become overawed by court procedures, failing to present their claims adequately.Giving evidence about the impact
  
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