Lawyer news

• Children should not be kept in prison | Letters

  25-05-2015 20:16
  
  Nearly eight years ago, the judge presiding over the inquest into the restraint death of 15-year-old Gareth Myatt in Rainsbrook secure training centre in 2004 wrote to the then justice secretary, Jack Straw. He gave 34 detailed recommendations for, among other things, improving oversight of the prison. Yet it would appear from its media statement that the Youth Justice Board only found out about the eight cases of serious staff misconduct, with at least six sackings, after being contacted by Ofs
  
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• Is crowdfunded litigation the future of justice? | Joshua Rozenberg

  25-05-2015 14:40
  
  With legal aid in crisis, CrowdJustice selects public interest cases and invites the public to fund them. But it faces many obstacles to enacting real changeWhen I first studied law, supporting someone else’s legal claim in exchange for a share of the potential damages was a crime called champerty. Now, it’s big business.Harbour Litigation Funding, the largest funder of its kind in the UK, has raised £400m to invest in court claims. Tellingly, Harbour is looking for new claims to fund
  
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• Lib Dem leadership rivals unite to save Human Rights Act

  25-05-2015 12:41
  
  Tim Farron and Norman Lamb speak out against Conservative plans to replace the Act with a British bill of rightsThe two rival candidates to replace Nick Clegg as leader of the Liberal Democrats have united to launch a campaign to stop the Conservative government from scrapping the Human Rights Act.While in coalition with the Tories, the Liberal Democrats blocked an attempt to get rid of the Act, but David Cameron has revived the plans since securing a parliamentary majority in the general electi
  
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