Lawyer news

• Cambridge University revises guidelines for handling claims of sexual assault

  04-08-2015 21:23
  
  Victims can now formally report allegations of sexual violence for the first time in move welcomed by student body and lawyersCambridge University has revised its disciplinary guidelines on reporting sexual assault and harassment, following criticism over its failure to protect students from sexual violence.The new policy, which would allow victims to formally report allegations of sexual violence to the university for the first time, was welcomed by the National Union of Students (NUS) and by l
  
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• SFO chief says more Libor charges on the way after Tom Hayes conviction

  04-08-2015 21:06
  
  David Green says the 14-year sentence handed to former trader is ‘part punishment, part deterrent’More criminal charges are to be brought against individuals suspected of rigging Libor following the conviction of Tom Hayes, according to the head of the Serious Fraud Office.David Green, the director of the fraud-busting agency, told the Wall Street Journal that the 14-year jail term handed down to Hayes would “send a strong deterrent message” to others considering rigging benchmark rates.
  
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• Amnesty International is right to take a stand on sex work | Letters

  04-08-2015 19:36
  
  It is not Amnesty International but your editorial page that seems guilty of “policy-wonking” by “protected western adults” (Editorial, 3 August). To claim that “no special legislation or policies are needed” to protect sex workers from murder, kidnap or rape overlooks what ought to be obvious: if your very occupation is criminalised, you are unable to turn to the police if you are attacked or if a fellow sex worker is abducted or murdered, because in many countries the chances are t
  
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• US State Department watered down annual report on human trafficking

  04-08-2015 17:51
  
  Department’s senior political staff overruled its human rights experts to inflate ratings of countries considered strategically important to WashingtonIn the weeks leading up to a critical annual US report on human trafficking that publicly shames the world’s worst offenders, human rights experts at the State Department concluded that trafficking conditions hadn’t improved in Malaysia and Cuba. And in China, they found, things had grown worse. The State Department’s senior political staf
  
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• Action day 35: SRA issues second warning

  04-08-2015 17:50 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Regulator says revised protocol still compromises solicitors’ professional obligations.
  
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• 14 years in jail for Libor rigging? The judge makes a persuasive case | Joshua Rozenberg

  04-08-2015 17:48
  
  Yes, Tom Hayes was given a bigger sentence than a rapist might get– but it seems to be in keeping with sentencing guidelines and the principle of deterrenceWas 14 years in prison too harsh a sentence for Tom Hayes, the former City trader convicted yesterday of rigging the Libor interest rate?A glance at the sentencing guidelines shows that the starting point for robbery involving serious injury is eight years. An aggravated rape might start at 10 years. The worst examples of intentional grievo
  
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• Libor sentence ‘good for lawyers’ as City seeks advice

  04-08-2015 17:39 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Sentence given to first person found guilty of Libor manipulation could encourage traders to assess their own liability, lawyers say.
  
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• Surrogacy in the UK vs Surrogacy Abroad – entirely different, or one and the same? - Family Law Week

  04-08-2015 17:29
  Family Law Week
  Surrogacy in the UK vs Surrogacy Abroad – entirely different, or one and the same?
  Family Law Week
  Nicola Scott, fertility lawyer at Porter Dodson LLP, considers those issues that often arise in UK surrogacy arrangements. Nicola Scott, solicitor, Porter Dodson 2015 has already seen a number of surrogacy judgments1 which challenge the law as it ...
  
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• Support cut-off for refused asylum seekers may affect 2,900 families in UK

  04-08-2015 17:25
  
  Home Office ministers calculate savings of £49m a year in move to withdraw state pay-outs of £36.95 a week to rejected applicantsAt least 2,900 asylum seeker families who have exhausted all their appeal rights to stay in Britain will each year have to leave the country within 28 days , or face destitution, under hardline plans on asylum support published by Home Office ministers on Tuesday.An official consultation paper and impact assessment estimates that as much as £49m a year could be
  
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• Assassination attempt on Burundian human rights activists triggers outrage

  04-08-2015 17:24
  
  Shooting of Pierre Claver Mbonimpa raises concerns about escalation in violence after controversial re-election of President Pierre NkurunzizaThe attempted murder of a leading Burundian human rights activist has triggered international outrage and concern.Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, who publicly opposed President Pierre Nkurunziza’s controversial and successful attempt for a third term in office last month, was shot in the face as he made his way home from work in the capital, Bujumbura, on Monday
  
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• Assassination attempt on Burundian human rights activists causes outrage

  04-08-2015 17:24
  
  Shooting of Pierre Claver Mbonimpa raises concerns about escalation in violence after controversial re-election of President Pierre NkurunzizaThe attempted murder of a leading Burundian human rights activist has triggered international outrage and concern.Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, who publicly opposed President Pierre Nkurunziza’s controversial and successful attempt for a third term in office last month, was shot in the face as he made his way home from work in the capital, Bujumbura, on Monday
  
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• Assassination attempt on Burundian human rights activist causes outrage

  04-08-2015 17:24
  
  Shooting of Pierre Claver Mbonimpa raises concerns about escalation in violence after controversial re-election of President Pierre NkurunzizaThe attempted murder of a leading Burundian human rights activist has triggered international outrage and concern.Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, who publicly opposed President Pierre Nkurunziza’s controversial and successful attempt for a third term in office last month, was shot in the face as he made his way home from work in the capital, Bujumbura, on Monday
  
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• Council denies acting for Liverpool mayor in personal dispute

  04-08-2015 16:53 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Judge questioned correspondence from Liverpool City Council as part of employment appeal judgment.
  
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• Number of barristers conducting litigation growing

  04-08-2015 15:25 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  But the 214 barristers authorised to conduct litigation since January 2014 is still lower figure than expected, bar regulator says. 
  
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• Firms referred over Sonae group litigation

  04-08-2015 14:45 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Court hears of forged signatures, pop-up shops and cold calling in unsuccessful PI claims after Merseyside fire. 
  
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• Amnesty must stand firm on decriminalising sex work

  04-08-2015 13:46
  
  Human rights group’s backing will make sex workers less vulnerable to violence and help those who don’t have many other options Amnesty International is “poised to make a serious mistake” that would “severely and irreparably tarnish” the organisation’s reputation. What is the mistake? Listening to sex workers globally and considering adopting a policy supporting the decriminalisation of sex work.The past week has seen a battle of petitions and open letters defending and attacking A
  
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• Cee-Lo Green apologises for Twitter rape remarks

  04-08-2015 13:39
  
  ‘I do realise I’m an artist, that I’m flawed – and sometimes, you know, you don’t think,’ says the singer Cee-Lo Green has admitted that a series of controversial tweets he sent amid accusations that the singer had spiked a woman’s drink were “highly irresponsible”.Green, whose tweets included, “People who have really been raped REMEMBER!!!” and, “When someone brakes on a home there is broken glass where is your plausible proof that anyone was raped,” said his online re
  
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• Political row in Scotland over police snooping on journalist

  04-08-2015 13:31
  
  Newspaper claims that officers contravened Ripa code by seeking to discover a reporter’s confidential sourcesA political row has broken out in Scotland over the use by police of covert monitoring in order to discover a journalist’s confidential sources.According to the Sunday Herald, Police Scotland’s counter corruption unit (CCU) snooped on the reporter without obtaining judicial approval. That practice was banned in March 2015 following controversy over officers using the Regulation of I
  
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• Chronicler of crimes by Hissène Habré confident that justice finally at hand

  04-08-2015 12:30
  
  Souleymane Guengueng says adjournment of the trial in Senegal is but a minor delay in the long journey to bring the former Chad dictator to bookSouleymane Guengueng sits down with a cold bottle of water and looks out over the Atlantic Ocean. He has been hounded by journalists and film crews, and he’s tired.He had been expecting to stay in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, for several months, but since the trial of the former Chadian leader Hissène Habré was adjourned until 7 Septemb
  
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• Choosing to live should not mean living with indignity in old age | Lucy Webster

  04-08-2015 11:02
  
  Gill Pharoah’s assisted suicide is easier to understand when you know she nursed older people – we need a care system that treats people with kindness and respectThe story of Gill Pharoah, a healthy 75-year-old ex-nurse who decided to end her life at a Swiss Dignitas clinic, has made headlines this weekend. Despite an absence of disability or illness, Pharoah made the decision that getting old was not something she wanted to do. Many support her exercise of free will, others are worried that
  
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• Pakistan hangs Shafqat Hussain despite claim he was a child at time of crime

  04-08-2015 10:50
  
  Supporters say Hussain was 14 when sentenced to death for murder of a seven-year-old, after confession his lawyers say police obtained by torturePakistan has hanged a man whose execution was repeatedly postponed amid international pressure over claims that he was a child at the time he murdered a boy more than a decade ago.Shafqat Hussain was executed at 4.30am local time in the central jail in the southern city of Karachi. He had had four last-minute reprieves in recent months.Related: Justice
  
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• Judge overturns Idaho's 'ag gag' law in victory for animal rights campaigners

  04-08-2015 01:28
  
  A ban on undercover surveillance inside factory farms – introduced after a 2012 secret video exposed cruelty and neglect – has been ruled unconstitutionalA federal judge has lifted a controversial ban on undercover surveillance inside Idaho’s factory farms, delivering a significant victory to animal rights’ activists.Related: ‘Ag gag’ laws: The battle for animal welfare is a battle over information | Siobhan O'SullivanContinue reading...
  
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