Lawyer news

• Ministers sanctioned over benefit claims | Letters

  18-03-2015 20:25 via theguardian.com
  
  We were not surprised that the Department for Work and Pensions dismissed the research by Newcastle University showing the real hardship suffered by those subject to the bedroom tax (Isolation, anxiety, depression: study reveals the true cost of the bedroom tax, 16 March). We elicited the same reaction when our research, using DWP data to show how only about 20% of those on jobseekers allowance who were sanctioned moved into employment, was presented to the DWP select committee. The employment m
  
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• EU exit would make 2m Britons abroad illegal immigrants overnight – Grieve

  18-03-2015 19:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Former attorney general tears into Eurosceptics ahead of Tory manifesto launch, saying UK departure from EU would create more problems than it solves
  Two million UK citizens working abroad could become illegal immigrants overnight if Britain were to leave the European Union, former attorney general Dominic Grieve has warned. In a hard-hitting attack on Eurosceptics inside and outside the Conservative party, Grieve condemned those who want to tear up the UK’s international treaty obligations
  
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• Brexit would make 2m Britons abroad illegal immigrants overnight – Grieve

  18-03-2015 19:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Former attorney general tears into eurosceptics ahead of Tory manifesto launch, saying UK departure from EU would create more problems than it solves
  Two million UK citizens working abroad could become illegal immigrants overnight if Britain left the European Union, former attorney general Dominic Grieve has warned. In a hard-hitting attack on eurosceptics inside and outside the Conservative party, Grieve condemned those who want to tear up the UK’s international treaty obligations and withd
  
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• Robert Durst 'suicidal,' Louisiana sheriff's lawyer says - report - Yahoo News UK

  18-03-2015 18:32
  
  Yahoo News UK
  Robert Durst 'suicidal,' Louisiana sheriff's lawyer says - report
  Yahoo News UK
  Reuters/Reuters - Robert Durst sits in a police vehicle as he leaves a courthouse in New Orleans, Louisiana March 17, 2015. REUTERS/Lee Celano. (Reuters) - Robert Durst, the real estate scion awaiting extradition to California on a charge of first ...
  
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• Bloomberg and Bill Gates launch legal fund to help fight big tobacco

  18-03-2015 18:06 via theguardian.com
  
  Philanthropists donate initial $4m towards legal advice for nations whose health measures are challenged by tobacco industry, as in Uruguay and AustraliaA $4 million fighting fund to help governments around the world in legal battles against the tobacco industry has been announced by Bloomberg Philanthropies, as concerns grow about many countries’ slow progress in curbing smoking.While smoking is becoming a marginalised pastime in more affluent countries where laws on smoking in public places
  
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• UK Supreme Court fails to overturn benefits cap that 'violates international ... - RT

  18-03-2015 15:50
  
  RT
  UK Supreme Court fails to overturn benefits cap that 'violates international ...
  RT
  ​Britain's Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday the government's benefits cap is lawful, even in cases where it violates childrens' right to adequate clothing, food and other “basic necessities” under international law. Throughout the proceedings, Supreme ...
  
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• UK Supreme Court fails to overturn benefits cap that 'violates international law' - RT

  18-03-2015 15:50
  
  RT
  UK Supreme Court fails to overturn benefits cap that 'violates international law'
  RT
  ​Britain's Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday the government's benefits cap is lawful, even in cases where it violates children's right to adequate clothing, food and other “basic necessities” under international law. Throughout the proceedings, Supreme ...
  
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• Washington DC to reform police handling of underage sexual assault

  18-03-2015 15:41 via theguardian.com
  
  Taskforce to borrow ideas from recent law passed to protect adult rape victims after a 2013 report exposed problems in sex crime investigations in DCWashington DC is planning reforms to the way police investigate sexual assault against juveniles and is considering extending some of the tough new laws introduced for adult rape victims last year to improve protection for children, following a series of complaints.A special taskforce set up by the city council will draw up recommendations, expected
  
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• Budget 2015: new penalties for professionals assisting tax evasion

  18-03-2015 15:40 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Chancellor’s budget speech also confirms government pressing ahead with anti-avoidance measures, including ‘Google tax’.
  
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• Dog offence sentencing ‘must reflect new laws’

  18-03-2015 15:33 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Sentencing Council consulting on guidelines for dangerous dog offences.
  
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• The uncounted: why the US can't keep track of people killed by police

  18-03-2015 15:19 via theguardian.com
  
  After a year of high-profile police killings, calls for a national database have gained traction. But how would that work? Tom McCarthy investigates the challenges for law enforcement and government officials alikeA year ago, in a bureaucratic shift that went unremarked in the somnolent days before Michael Brown was shot dead in Ferguson, Missouri, the US government admitted a disturbing failure. The top crime-data experts in Washington had determined that they could not properly count how many
  
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• Prison and intimidation: the price of being a journalist in Angola

  18-03-2015 15:13 via theguardian.com
  
  Rafael Marques de Morais is facing libel for exposing the horrors of the country’s diamond trade. A veteran investigator, he explains why the situation for journalists is getting worse in the countryThe price Rafael Marques de Morais has paid to be a journalist is high. Dedicating his career to investigating corruption Angola, in 1999 he published The Lipstick of the Dictatorship, a significant criticism of Angola’s long-standing president José Eduardo dos Santos. The result was 43 da
  
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• UK benefits cap is lawful but breaches UN children’s rights obligations

  18-03-2015 15:08 via theguardian.com
  
  Supreme court rules that £500-a-week cap is lawful but incompatible with UK obligations under the UN convention on rights of the childThe government’s controversial benefit cap risks leaving claimants unable to house, feed or clothe their family, leaving them in clear breach of UK obligations on international children’s rights, the supreme court has found.Although it found that the cap was not unlawful, the court found that that the effect of the policy was not compatible with the governmen
  
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• Survey reveals ignorance of PC fees spending

  18-03-2015 15:02 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Almost half of solicitors do not realise they pay for the costs of the Legal Services Board.
  
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• Many lawyers unaware of how PC funds regulation

  18-03-2015 15:02 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Four in ten solicitors do not realise they pay for the Legal Services Board and ombudsman.
  
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• Iraq army has destroyed villages and displaced thousands, NGO says

  18-03-2015 13:42 via theguardian.com
  
  Human Rights Watch says army and Shia militias attacked civilians in campaign against Isis in northern IraqIraq’s army and Shia militias destroyed entire villages and displaced thousands of Sunni civilians in a campaign against Islamic State in northern Iraq last autumn, a rights watchdog has said.The new report by Human Rights Watch comes at a sensitive time for Iraq, where pro-government forces led by Shia militias and backed by the army and Sunni tribal fighters are close to recapturing Sad
  
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• Profits rate slumps in SME sector of UK law firms - The Global Legal Post

  18-03-2015 12:32
  The Global Legal Post
  Profits rate slumps in SME sector of UK law firms
  The Global Legal Post
  UK law firms working with small and medium-sized organisations are optimistic about growing fees and cash flow - despite the fact that profits fell on average from 24 to 20 per cent of turnover during 2014. pedrosek. Profits are down for law firms ...
  
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• UK benefit cap is lawful, supreme court rules

  18-03-2015 11:51 via theguardian.com
  
  Court rejects challenge of two lone mothers who argued that the £500-a-week cap was discriminatory and unfair The supreme court has ruled that the government’s benefit cap, which limits unemployed claimants to £500 a week in total welfare payments, is lawful.The court had considered a challenge on behalf of two lone mothers who argued that the cap was discriminatory and unfair.
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• Judge's name concealed by court manager citing data protection act

  18-03-2015 11:13 via theguardian.com
  
  Another example of DPA madness as an official misunderstands the lawThe data protection act (DPA) is one of the most misunderstood pieces of legislation. Journalists are often hobbled by it because people, either in ignorance or out of wilfulness, trot it out in order to avoid disclosing information, often of the most mundane kind.The latest example of DPA madness was highlighted by the experience of a Surrey Comet reporter at Kingston county court, as reported by HoldTheFrontPage.
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• Journalists and surveillance: will the state respect confidential sources?

  18-03-2015 10:38 via theguardian.com
  
  Omand, Trotter, Rusbridger and Stanistreet on the hot topic of the momentNow here’s a debate on a hot topic that no reporter, or student reporter, should miss: “Journalists, surveillance and the police: how can the secret state learn to live with the fourth estate?” It’s a panel discussion due to take place on 30 March at City University London, and it looks likely to be a humdinger. Continue reading...
  
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• What should we do with violent children? One secure home may have the answer | Amelia Gentleman

  18-03-2015 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The young people locked up in Clayfields House have been convicted of serious crimes, from assault to murder. Under close supervision, many have turned their lives around – but now this unusual prison may be under threatIf Clayfields House secure children’s home had a head boy, it would be Mark, 17, who has been locked up here for two years and 11 months. When government officials visit, Mark talks to them about his experiences and his hopes for the future. When I first visited Clayfields in
  
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• Terrorism suspect will plead not guilty, lawyer says - Yahoo News UK

  18-03-2015 06:16
  
  Terrorism suspect will plead not guilty, lawyer says
  Yahoo News UK
  NEW YORK (AP) — A U.S. Air Force veteran and airplane mechanic accused of plotting to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State group will plead not guilty to terrorism charges, his attorney said. Tairod Nathan Webster Pugh, of Neptune, New Jersey ...
  
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• Lawyer: NCAA decision conflicts with previous rulings on pay - Yahoo Finance UK

  18-03-2015 01:21
  
  Lawyer: NCAA decision conflicts with previous rulings on pay
  Yahoo Finance UK
  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A landmark ruling that opened the door for college football and basketball players to be paid went against all previous court rulings, including a 1984 U.S. Supreme Court decision, an attorney for the NCAA told a federal appeals ...
  
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