Lawyer news

• Northern Ireland abortion law is 'degrading and inhuman' - Belfast Telegraph

  15-06-2015 22:59
  
  Northern Ireland abortion law is 'degrading and inhuman'
  Belfast Telegraph
  Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) is seeking to change the law in Northern Ireland to legalise abortion in cases of serious foetal malformation, rape and incest. Picture posed. By Lesley-Anne McKeown – 15 June 2015 ...en meer »
  
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• We need a Magna Carta for the globalised world | Letters

  15-06-2015 20:52
  
  The Conservatives claim their plan to scrap the Human Rights Act in favour of a British bill of rights will preserve Magna Carta’s principles (Report, 15 June). Was Cameron taught medieval history at Eton? Does he not know that Magna Carta applied to a minority of the population, that the crucial article 37 and others refer exclusively to “freemen”, who constituted only about a third of the population, the majority of which were “villeins” or serfs, who had no rights whatsoever. S
  
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• CPS: Why we took Stacey Hyde case to court | Letter from Barry Hughes of @cpsuk

  15-06-2015 20:48
  
  It is of course right that Stacey Hyde is able to speak about her experience of the criminal justice system, but your article ‘I never considered myself a murderer’ (12 June) fails to address key points. In its judgment quashing the original murder conviction, the court of appeal ordered a retrial, saying “a life has been taken and it is not for this court in the circumstances of this case to decide whether that should be visited with a verdict of murder or manslaughter”. The C
  
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• Lalit Modi issued travel papers as per UK law - Deccan Herald

  15-06-2015 19:56
  
  Deccan Herald
  Lalit Modi issued travel papers as per UK law
  Deccan Herald
  Mired in controversy: Complaint against Labour MP Keith Vaz would not be investigated. Former IPL chief Lalit Modi. PTI File Photo. The British government on Monday maintained that it had issued travel document to scam-tainted former IPL chief Lalit ...
  
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• Referral fees in crime would 'corrupt' market, bar alleges

  15-06-2015 18:35 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Criminal barristers warn against lifting ban on referral fees that exist ’solely to benefit solicitors’.
  
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• North Carolina abortion ultrasound law rejected by US supreme court

  15-06-2015 18:09
  
  Law had forced doctors to perform ultrasounds and describe it to womenAppeals court previously ruled that state sought to discourage abortionsThe US supreme court on Monday rejected a bid by the state of North Carolina to revive its law requiring women seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound of the fetus performed and described to them. The high court left in place an appeals court ruling that struck down the 2011 law as unconstitutional because it forced doctors to voice the state’s message
  
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• North Carolina abortion ultrasound case rejected by US supreme court

  15-06-2015 18:09
  
  Law had forced doctors to perform ultrasounds and describe it to womenAppeals court previously ruled that state sought to discourage abortionsThe US supreme court on Monday rejected a bid by the state of North Carolina to revive its law requiring women seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound of the fetus performed and described to them. The high court left in place an appeals court ruling that struck down the 2011 law as unconstitutional because it forced doctors to voice the state’s message
  
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• Mother loses bid to use dead daughter's frozen eggs to give birth to grandchild

  15-06-2015 17:59
  
  High court judge acknowledges daughter’s desire for children but rules that she had not given the required consent before she died of bowel cancer aged 28A mother has lost her bid to use the frozen eggs of her dead daughter so she could give birth to a grandchild, after a judge ruled there was insufficient evidence this was her late daughter’s wish.The unnamed 59-year-old woman and her husband, 58 – whose daughter died from cancer aged 28 – had challenged a regulator’s refusal to allow
  
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• Dossier calling for Yarl’s Wood closure chronicles decade of abuse complaints

  15-06-2015 17:24
  
  Report by anti-rape campaigners, sent to all MPs, documents complaints from current and former detainees at the Bedfordshire immigration removal centreA decade of complaints about sexual abuse and mistreatment at Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre are documented in a report based on hundreds of complaints by detainees.The dossier, published on Monday by Women Against Rape and Black Women’s Rape Action Project, which have been working with female detainees at the centre for more than 10 y
  
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• New UK Mass Surveillance Law Should be "Drafted from Scratch": Report - Web Host Industry Review

  15-06-2015 16:53
  
  New UK Mass Surveillance Law Should be "Drafted from Scratch": Report
  Web Host Industry Review
  UK law should continue to require service providers to retain communications data, and intelligence agencies should have bulk data collection capabilities subject to new safeguards, according to the Report of the Investigatory Powers Review. The report ...en meer »
  
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• Former UK law dean: America is addicted to incarceration - Richmond Register

  15-06-2015 16:13
  Former UK law dean: America is addicted to incarceration
  Richmond Register
  American has an addiction problem, Robert Lawson, former dean of the University of Kentucky College of Law, told the Berea Rotary Club on Tuesday. The nation is addicted to incarceration, he said. In 1970, before America launched its “war on crime” and ...en meer »
  
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• Omar al-Bashir case suggests South African foreign policy is going rogue

  15-06-2015 16:01
  
  Decision to ignore South Africa’s high court and allow Sudanese president accused of war crimes to leave looks like two fingers to west and ICCThe South African government’s brazen decision to bypass the high court in Pretoria and seemingly allow Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president accused of genocide and war crimes, to leave the country on Monday raises serious questions about the ANC-led administration’s commitment to the rule of law and looks like an enormous V-sign aimed at key alli
  
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• Sudan president Omar al-Bashir leaves South Africa as court considers arrest

  15-06-2015 15:50
  
  International criminal court had ordered the arrest of the Sudanese president, who was attending African Union summitThe Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, has flown out of South Africa in defiance of the country’s high court, which was considering whether to enforce an international warrant for his arrest. Related: Omar al-Bashir case suggests South African foreign policy is going rogueRelated: Omar al-Bashir: conflict in Darfur is my responsibilityContinue reading...
  
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• Cameron condemned for 'using Magna Carta day to push British bill of rights'

  15-06-2015 15:49
  
  Civil liberties campaigners accuse PM of hypocrisy for attacking Human Rights Act on 800th anniversary of document underpinning modern lawThe prime minister has been accused of hypocrisy for using a speech on the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta to deliver an attack on the European convention on human rights. At a speech at Runnymede Green where King John added his seal to the charter, David Cameron signalled his intention to push ahead with controversial plans for a British bill of rights to re
  
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• ‘Money for lawyers’ triggers jump in reopened divorce cases

  15-06-2015 15:45 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Eight-fold increase since 2011 in people returning to court to get a better deal from former spouse. 
  
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• 'Money for lawyers' triggers jump in reopened divorce cases

  15-06-2015 15:45 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Eight-fold increase since 2011 in people returning to court to get a better deal from former spouse. 
  
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• Elite firms accused of ‘poshness test’

  15-06-2015 15:01 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Top firms base hiring criteria on factors such as accents and travelling experiences, chair of mobility commission claims.
  
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• Q&A: the legal significance of Magna Carta

  15-06-2015 14:56
  
  What does the Great Charter say, are any of its clauses still in force in British law, and why do Americans revere it so much more than the English?The legacy of Magna Carta has been celebrated with an outpouring of speeches from senior members of the judiciary, lauding the symbolic agreement but also cautioning about historical over-interpretation.The document signed by rebel barons and sealed on behalf of King John at Runnymede 800 years ago on Monday was swiftly repudiated, revised and reissu
  
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• Magna Carta: leaders celebrate 800th anniversary of the Great Charter

  15-06-2015 13:50
  
  Queen is joined by top officials in the place where King John was forced to seal historic document that underpins modern democracy and human rightsRoyalty returned to Runnymede 800 years after a group of rebellious barons forced a medieval king to put his seal on a historic document on which the foundations of parliamentary democracy, human rights and the supremacy of law over the crown were laid.
  Eight centuries after the sealing of Magna Carta by King John in a boggy meadow on the banks of the
  
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• Magna Carta: leaders celebrate 800th anniversary of great charter

  15-06-2015 13:50
  
  Queen is joined by top officials in the place where King John was forced to seal historic document that underpins modern democracy and human rightsRoyalty returned to Runnymede 800 years after a group of rebellious barons forced a medieval king to put his seal on a historic document on which the foundations of parliamentary democracy, human rights and the supremacy of law over the crown were laid.
  Eight centuries after the sealing of Magna Carta by King John in a boggy meadow on the banks of the
  
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• Coodes continues Cornwall expansion

  15-06-2015 13:33 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  County’s ‘premier firm’ merges with Falmouth practice Preston Goldburn.
  
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• Why does a Fisa court decide if Twitter can talk about its dealings with Fisa? | Hannah Bloch-Wehba and Bruce Brown

  15-06-2015 13:15
  
  Secret tribunals are not appropriate forums to resolve questions of constitutional law about Americans’ right to privacyCan a case about the freedom of speech be resolved in a secret court? In a widely publicized case, Twitter sued the Obama administration in a federal district court in California. The company wished to release a transparency report relating to the user information it is forced to turn over to the government under various surveillance collection programs, including the Foreign
  
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• 800 years after the Magna Carta, does Britain have a free press?

  15-06-2015 13:10
  
  London Press Club stages panel debate with Keir Starmer and Trevor KavanaghForget the fact that there was no press, let alone press freedom and let alone any freedom, in 1215. The London Press Club has cleverly used the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta to stage a panel debate on whether Britain now has a free press. Doug Wills, Press Club chair and Society of Editors’ president, said: “The idea for this debate was spurred on by the news of the collapse of the Operation Elv
  
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• Sudan says president Omar al-Bashir has left South Africa

  15-06-2015 13:02
  
  International criminal court had ordered the arrest of the Sudanese president, who was attending African Union summitThe Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, is reported to have flown out of South Africa in defiance of the country’s high court, which was considering whether to enforce an international warrant for his arrest.The abrupt departure, announced by a Sudanese official, came amid urgent calls from the United Nations general secretary, Ban Ki-moon, the EU and the US for Bashir to be det
  
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• Northern Irish woman launches legal bid to overturn abortion ban

  15-06-2015 13:02
  
  Challenge by Sarah Ewart, who was forced have an abortion in England, is backed by Northern Ireland human rights commissionA Northern Irish woman who travelled to England to have an abortion is launching a court challenge to the almost total ban on terminations in the region’s hospitals.Sarah Ewart’s legal bid to overturn the abortion ban is backed by the Northern Ireland human rights commission. Continue reading...
  
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• I read all the small print on the internet and it made me want to die

  15-06-2015 12:56
  
  Alex Hern decided not to do anything for a week – unless he’d read all the terms and conditions first. Seven days and 146,000 words later, what did he learn?When was the last time you read all the terms and conditions for a service you used? Have you ever read the terms and conditions? Probably not. So why do we spend so much of our time ignoring the thousands of words of legally binding “end-user licence agreements” (EULAs, if you like) legally-binding contracts we agree to every day? I
  
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• Legal aid billing system rollout postponed

  15-06-2015 12:41 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Mandatory application of CCMS put back to next February amid concern it is ‘not fit for purpose’.
  
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• CPS reviewing police file on Sun on Sunday's Mazher Mahmood

  15-06-2015 11:59
  
  Allegations against ‘fake sheikh’ involve perjury and perverting course of justice The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is studying a file on the Sun on Sunday’s investigative reporter Mazher Mahmood prepared by the Metropolitian police which could lead to charges of perjury and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. The CPS has confirmed that it received the final police report on the journalist known as the fake sheikh on 6 June “relating to allegations of perjury and conspiracy t
  
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• Fears of new crackdown as China holds two former members of rights group

  15-06-2015 11:53
  
  Detention of Guo Bin and Yang Zhanqing fuels fears that country’s crackdown on civil society has entered new phase of repressionTwo former members of a prominent Chinese human rights group have been detained, fuelling fears that the country’s crackdown on civil society has entered a new phase of repression that will see NGOs face increasing pressure. Guo Bin and Yang Zhanqing, who had both worked at Yirenping, a public health group that offers support to people with hepatitis B and HIV, were
  
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• PM has a cheek invoking a British Bill of Rights on Magna Carta anniversary

  15-06-2015 11:37
  
  Cameron’s British Bill of Rights is a self-inflicted disaster in the making, and he shows his cavalier attitude towards the Great Charter in justifying his own plans to ‘reform’ British rights on its 800th anniversaryFor an Oxford graduate with a first class honours degree David Cameron certainly has a cheek. He didn’t risk translating “Magna Carta” for an American TV chatshow audience. Yet at Runnymede today – so Patrick Wintour reports – he intends to invoke the Great Charter o
  
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• Will Stacey Hyde’s acquittal finally change hearts and minds? | Julie Bindel

  15-06-2015 11:00
  
  I hoped that, after Emma Humphreys’ case 20 years ago, women like Hyde would not have to go through such cruel treatment. We still have far to goWhen Stacey Hyde walked free from Winchester Crown Court last month, there were tears of joy, along with much hugging and celebratory shrieking from Hyde and her many supporters.In 2009 Hyde stabbed Vincent Francis to death as he was attacking her. The man Hyde killed was the partner of Hyde’s best friend, Holly Banwell, who had also suffered violen
  
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• The Magna Carta enshrined our liberties - now we must fight for them again | Tim Farron

  15-06-2015 10:15
  
  The Human Rights Act is a direct descendant of that great charter. Tory plans to scrap it will destroy freedoms of which Britain should be proud Related: Magna Carta: Queen leads celebration at Runnymede Standing modestly in a solitary field in Runnymede is a commemoration to a moment when Britain became great. The sealing of the Magna Carta – “the Great Charter of the Liberties” – 800 years ago today, effectively ripped up the idea that monarchs have an invincible and divine right to ru
  
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• Gillian Triggs on Magna Carta: Coalition and Labor agree on laws that violate our freedoms

  15-06-2015 09:46
  
  In Alice Tay lecture in law and human rights, the president of the Human Rights Commission says counter-terror and detention laws are limiting common law rightsGillian Triggs, president of the Human Rights Commission, gave the Alice Tay lecture in law and human rights to an audience in Canberra, marking the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta.
  I have been asked to speak to you today about human rights in contemporary Australia, a large subject that is stimulated by our celebration of the 800th
  
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• Australia and the Magna Carta: how the Coalition and Labor agree on laws that violate our freedoms

  15-06-2015 09:46
  
  In an anniversary lecture, the president of the Human Rights Commission says counter-terror and detention laws are limiting common law rightsGillian Triggs, president of the Human Rights Commission, gave the Alice Tay lecture in law and human rights to an audience in Canberra, marking the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta.
  I have been asked to speak to you today about human rights in contemporary Australia, a large subject that is stimulated by our celebration of the 800th anniversary of the
  
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• Search for polished lawyers makes UK law firms prone to recruit the elite - The Global Legal Post

  15-06-2015 09:44
  The Global Legal Post
  Search for polished lawyers makes UK law firms prone to recruit the elite
  The Global Legal Post
  A UK academic study designed to find how the top end of employers recruit has found that law and finance firms 'continue to be heavily dominated at entry level by people from more privileged socioeconomic backgrounds'. Botond Horvath. London firms are ...en meer »
  
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• New job? Six things to know before signing that contract

  15-06-2015 08:00
  
  Don’t agree to working hours you will regret, and negotiate terms from the outset, says employment lawyer Philip LandauYou may be feeling elated because you’ve been offered a new job, or perhaps it is your first foray into full-time employment. If the salary stacks up and it’s what you want to do, shouldn’t you just skim the more detailed aspects of your employment contract and simply sign up? Well, no. It’s always best to read and understand what you are signing.So what are the top th
  
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• Any payments to people smugglers 'may have broken Australian law'

  15-06-2015 05:51
  
  Exclusive: legal experts say breaches could carry jail terms of up to 20 years, but no prosecution could be undertaken without consent of attorney generalAny Australian officials paying people smugglers to take asylum seekers back to Indonesia may have broken Australian laws carrying potential jail terms of up to 20 years and contravened international law, judicial experts say.
  But any domestic investigation of legal breaches would have to be authorised by the government, which is stonewalling a
  
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• Government says citizenship law could be 'toothless' if courts have greater role

  15-06-2015 04:49
  
  Ministers have been briefed to resist attempts to require a terrorist conviction to strip citizenship from dual nationalsMinisters should resist attempts to give courts a greater role in the revocation of citizenship for terrorism suspects in order to prevent the law becoming “toothless”, a leaked government document says.The question-time briefing paper, obtained by the West Australian newspaper, reveals the government’s talking points in relation to the proposal to strip dual nationals o
  
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