Lawyer news

• New laws to protect those cashing in pension pots

  26-01-2015 20:47
  
  Risk warnings to be issued detailing long-term consequences of taking money out of retirement programmes earlyThe financial regulator is rushing in new rules aimed at protecting people keen to cash in their pension pots from making bad decisions that could cost them dearly later on.Under the new regime outlined by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), pension providers will be required to question older people about their personal circumstances including health, “lifestyle choices”, and mar
  
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• Ukrainian woman pilot could die in Russian detention, lawyer says - Yahoo News UK

  26-01-2015 19:54
  
  Yahoo News UK
  Ukrainian woman pilot could die in Russian detention, lawyer says
  Yahoo News UK
  MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Ukrainian female army pilot may die in detention in Russia where she is on hunger-strike, her lawyer said on Monday, calling on President Vladimir Putin to release her. Nadezhda Savchenko was captured by pro-Russian rebels while ...
  
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• Things to Expect in 2015: UK and EU Employment Law - The National Law Review

  26-01-2015 19:49
  
  Things to Expect in 2015: UK and EU Employment Law
  The National Law Review
  Now that we have eased into 2015, it's time to think about the key employment law issues we'll be facing in the year ahead. The general election in May will, of course, hold most of our attention, but there are other important developments to watch out ...
  
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• Ukrainian woman pilot could die in Russian detention, lawyer says - Daily Mail

  26-01-2015 19:17
  
  Ukrainian woman pilot could die in Russian detention, lawyer says
  Daily Mail
  MOSCOW, Jan 26 (Reuters) - A Ukrainian female army pilot may die in detention in Russia where she is on hunger-strike, her lawyer said on Monday, calling on President Vladimir Putin to release her. Nadezhda Savchenko was captured by pro-Russian ...
  
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• When you say you 'don't see race', you’re ignoring racism, not helping to solve it | Zach Stafford

  26-01-2015 18:06
  
  Race is such an ingrained social construct that even blind people can ‘see’ it. To pretend it doesn’t exist to you erases the experiences of black peoplePeople love to tell me that they often forget that I’m black. They say this with a sort of “a-ha!” look on their faces, as if their dawning ability to see my blackness was a gift to us both.When I point out that their eyesight had never left them, that my skin has never changed colors, and that they probably did not really forget tha
  
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• Tax dispute forced firm into insolvency

  26-01-2015 16:42 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Progress report reveals how Welsh firm Morgans Select went into administration.
  
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• Activists cheer Scottish government U-turn on new women’s prison

  26-01-2015 16:02
  
  Decision to scrap £75m plan for facility to replace Cornton Vale comes after commission calls for therapeutic, local approachCampaigners have welcomed the announcement that the Scottish government is scrapping controversial plans to build a new women’s prison as evidence of how politics can be done differently in post-referendum Scotland.The new justice secretary, Michael Matheson, on Monday called for a more “radical and ambitious” approach to female offending as he announced that he was
  
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• Activists cheer Scottish government rethink on new women’s prison

  26-01-2015 16:02
  
  Decision to scrap £75m plan for facility to replace Cornton Vale comes after commission calls for therapeutic, local approachCampaigners have welcomed the announcement that the Scottish government is scrapping controversial plans to build a new women’s prison as evidence of how politics can be done differently in post-referendum Scotland.The new justice secretary, Michael Matheson, on Monday called for a more “radical and ambitious” approach to female offending as he announced that he was
  
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• Mass surveillance is fundamental threat to human rights, says European report

  26-01-2015 15:30
  
  Europe’s top rights body says scale of NSA spying is ‘stunning’ and suggests UK powers may be at odds with rights conventionEurope’s top rights body has said mass surveillance practices are a fundamental threat to human rights and violate the right to privacy enshrined in European law.The parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe says in a report that it is “deeply concerned” by the “far-reaching, technologically advanced systems” used by the US and UK to collect, store and
  
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• Legal highs and prescription drugs face ban in English and Welsh prisons

  26-01-2015 15:01
  
  Justice secretary gets new powers in bid to crackdown on substance misuse linked to rising violence and self-harm in jailsThe justice secretary will be able to ban any legal drug inside prisons, including prescription drugs and “legal highs”, under a crackdown to start this week.Chris Grayling linked the rising use of “legal highs” behind bars to more cases of assault and self-harm in jails in England and Wales. In a speech at the Centre for Social Justice thinktank on Monday, he said: �
  
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• Why we have to get smart about artificial intelligence

  26-01-2015 15:00
  
  Joanna Goodman looks at the promises and pitfalls of AI as we face the real possibility of ‘thinking’ machines capable of making decisions that affect humansAI might be a threat to humans but not for the reasons you thinkHumans have long been fascinated by the concept of artificial intelligence, but it is only relatively recently that technology has advanced sufficiently to make it reality. In 2014 we saw a computer pass the Turing test – its responses in a series of text conversations con
  
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• Saatchi bill running out of time

  26-01-2015 13:39 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Legislation clears House of Lords but faces struggle to be cleared before parliament breaks for election.
  
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• Trinity Mirror should come clean about phone hacking

  26-01-2015 13:26
  
  Law professor raises questions following high court allegations against publisherLast Friday’s front page article in the Independent, Hacking by Mirror ‘worse than at Murdoch papers’, confirmed my view that Trinity Mirror had failed to hold an internal inquiry of sufficient rigour when the hacking scandal first broke.It’s a point I have made several times, most recently last September when I accused the publisher of refusing to do anything constructive to discover whether hacking allegat
  
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• Society puts trainee minimum salary back on agenda

  26-01-2015 13:18 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Junior lawyers are to revive the campaign for a minimum salary for trainees – with the help of the Law Society.
  
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• UK government tries sneaking previously rejected snooping laws into Counter ... - BetaNews

  26-01-2015 13:11
  
  The Guardian
  UK government tries sneaking previously rejected snooping laws into Counter ...
  BetaNews
  The UK government has been trying to impose new surveillance laws on the internet at large, but for the past four years privacy activists have thwarted attempts by Labour and the Conservatives. In a recent push, the government secretly added 18-pages ...
  Net firms condemn revival of 'snoopers' charter'BBC News
  Communications data filtering back on legislative agenda in the UKOut-Law
  
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• Merseyside summit to tackle legal aid cuts

  26-01-2015 11:10 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Meeting will focus on the effect of reforms in the housing and welfare benefits sector.
  
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• Clare's Law: 1300 domestic abuse disclosures made - BBC News

  26-01-2015 08:36
  
  BBC News
  Clare's Law: 1300 domestic abuse disclosures made
  BBC News
  Clare's Law - named after Clare Wood, who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend in 2009 - came into force across England and Wales in March 2014. At least 1,335 disclosures have been made so far, police figures obtained by the Press Association show.
  Abuse level revealed by Clare's LawThe Courier
  UK Domestic Abuse Law Reveals Thousands With Record of Violent PastSputnik International
  Clare's law reveals violent past
  
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• Just how hard can it be to purge prisons of drugs? | Mary Dejevsky

  26-01-2015 08:00
  
  Chris Grayling’s new zero-tolerance drive could finally see the interests of prison authorities and public convergeWhen I returned to the UK after almost a decade abroad, one aspect of 21st century Britain astonished me more than almost anything else. This was the prevalence of illegal drugs in prisons, and what seemed the resigned tolerance on the part of politicians and prison authorities alike. If the powers-that-be either would not, or could not, prevent prisoners getting hold of drugs, wh
  
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• Spousal maintenance

  26-01-2015 01:01 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Disputes related to this are often the main bar to divorcing couples resolving financial disagreements. Recent comprehensive guidance aims to help.
  
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• Sikh faith judgment

  26-01-2015 01:01 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Ministry of Justice settles a claim for religious discrimination brought by Amrik Bilkhu of GT Stewart Solicitors.
  
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• Rihanna gets shirty

  26-01-2015 01:01 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Robyn Rihanna Fenty, better known as the pop star Rihanna, won a legal action against retailer Topshop when the Court of Appeal ruled that the sale of a T-shirt with her image was an ‘act of passing off’.
  
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• Law Society backing for outreach

  26-01-2015 01:01 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  CLOCK was set up in 2012 to assist those without representation in court with housing, welfare, family relations and community safety issues.
  
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• Insolvency costs cap does not fit – peer

  26-01-2015 01:01 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  At present, insolvency cases are exempted from the rules limiting the recovery of costs from a losing party.
  
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• Criminal defence: the defiant ones

  26-01-2015 01:01 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Criminal defence specialists are hurting and career prospects are bleak. But many retain the appetite to fight for a viable future.
  
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• Capita still failing to hit interpreter target

  26-01-2015 01:01 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  The Ministry of Justice said request completion between July and September was highest rate since the contract started in 2012.
  
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