Lawyer news

• Solicitor reprimanded for email calling opponent a 'plonker'

  18-08-2015 23:33 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  In the course of litigation Richard Barca also referred to his opponent client’s as ’Tweedledum and Tweedledee’.
  
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• Shock as law firm 'star' is found killed - Express.co.uk

  18-08-2015 22:36
  Express.co.uk
  Shock as law firm 'star' is found killed
  Express.co.uk
  TRIBUTES poured in yesterday to a “beautiful, talented star” trainee lawyer found strangled at her family's home. By John Twomey. PUBLISHED: 21:24, Tue, Aug 18, 2015 | UPDATED: 21:31, Tue, Aug 18, 2015. Elizabeth Nnyanzi was strangled at family's ...en meer »
  

• Shaker Aamer still waits in chains | Letter from Joy Hurcombe

  18-08-2015 20:18
  Your report (Shaker Aamer return blocked by Pentagon, 14 August) reveals the Kafkaesque nightmare that is Guantánamo Bay. It is now time for the UK government to do more to demand the release and return of Aamer to the UK. The prime minister and senior officials from the Foreign Office should go to Washington and demand the immediate release of this legal British resident. The UK has diplomatic, trade and security and intelligence agreements with the US. Perhaps it is time to reconsi
  
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• We need answers on Eritrean legislators | Letter from Ann Clwyd MP

  18-08-2015 20:07
  I would like to congratulate the Guardian for trying to shed light on a country which does not often get a mention in the news, with its Inside Eritrea series. As chair of the Inter-Parliamentary Union committee on the human rights of parliamentarians, I, with a number of parliamentarians from around the world, have been trying to establish the fate of the 11 Eritrean parliamentarians detained since September 2011, referred to in one of your reports. I would like to ask the Eritrean governm
  
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• NHS sounds compensation alarm after £120,000 lawyer bill from £5,000 claim

  18-08-2015 19:29
  NHS Litigation Authority says a third of £1.1bn paid out last year went to lawyers and that government legal aid reforms have led to rising costsA third of the £1.1bn paid out by the NHS in compensation last year was handed to lawyers, with one firm submitting a £121,700 bill following a £5,000 claim.The cost to the taxpayer is expected to rise to £1.4bn next year, with the NHS conceding that it faced an “increasingly difficult task” in managing the leve
  
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• NHS sounds compensation alarm after £120,000 lawyer bill for £5,000 claim

  18-08-2015 19:29
  NHS Litigation Authority says a third of £1.1bn paid out last year went to lawyers and that government legal aid reforms have led to rising costsA third of the £1.1bn paid out by the NHS in compensation last year was handed to lawyers, with one firm submitting a £121,700 bill following a £5,000 claim.The cost to the taxpayer is expected to rise to £1.4bn next year, with the NHS conceding that it faced an “increasingly difficult task” in managing the leve
  
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• Trigger warnings don’t hinder freedom of expression: they expand it | Lindy West

  18-08-2015 18:59
  Some content may be distressing. A considerate heads-up surely isn’t too much to ask?Back in early July, comedian Jimmy Fallon tripped on a rug in his kitchen, caught his wedding ring on the counter as he fell, and suffered a gruesome injury called a “ring avulsion”– basically, a medical term for ripping your finger off. Fallon spent 10 days in intensive care and came close to losing the digit, which, unfortunately, most ring avulsion sufferers do. Explaining his massive
  
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• Trigger warnings don’t hinder freedom of expression: they expand it

  18-08-2015 18:59
  Some content may be distressing. A considerate heads-up surely isn’t too much to ask?Back in early July, comedian Jimmy Fallon tripped on a rug in his kitchen, caught his wedding ring on the counter as he fell, and suffered a gruesome injury called a “ring avulsion”– basically, a medical term for ripping your finger off. Fallon spent 10 days in intensive care and came close to losing the digit, which, unfortunately, most ring avulsion sufferers do. Explaining his massive
  
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• Gavel bashing: why banging in court on TV is a serious factual offence

  18-08-2015 18:44
  The Scandalous Lady W is the latest in a long line of programmes to make the binding legal error of giving an English judge a gavelMonday night’s costu-romp The Scandalous Lady W – starring Natalie Dormer – concentrated on a 1782 court case of the “criminal conversation” (ie, a cuckolded man seeks compensation from his wife’s lover). It featured, as many dramatised English court scenes do, a judge yelling “silence” and bashing his gavel like Keith
  
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• Eric Garner case: coalition petitions state court to unseal grand jury documents

  18-08-2015 17:59
  New York Civil Liberties Union and others request court overturn ruling that declined release testimony after decision not to indict officer for Garner’s deathThe New York Civil Liberties Union is joining a coalition of petitioners in asking the state’s highest court to unseal the grand jury minutes and testimony in the case of Eric Garner, a black man who died after being placed in a chokehold by a white New York police officer.The civil liberties organization, along with New York c
  
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• Judge dismisses LIP's bid to get solicitor jailed

  18-08-2015 16:56 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  High Court finds litigant in person culpable of ’abuse of process’.
  
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• Defendants 'venue shopping' for more lenient sentence

  18-08-2015 16:55 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Law Society urged magistrates to be trained in applying sentencing guidelines correctly.
  
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• Defendants 'venue shop' for more lenient sentence

  18-08-2015 16:55 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Law Society calls for magistrates to be trained in applying sentencing guidelines.
  
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• Palestinian detainee vows to continue hunger strike after emerging from coma

  18-08-2015 16:34
  Mohammed Allan, who fell into a coma after a hunger strike as he waits for the case on his detention to be heard, says he will refuse water if he is not freedA Palestinian detainee in Israel who slipped into unconsciousness last week after a two-month hunger strike has emerged from the coma and says he will continue his protest.His lawyer, Jawad Bullos, said Mohammed Allan vowed to “hunger strike until he is freed” after he recovered consciousness on Tuesday. Continue reading...
  
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• Producer of abuse documentary An Open Secret taking director to court

  18-08-2015 16:30
  Oscar-nominated film-maker Amy Berg being taken to arbitration over ‘failure to cooperate’ in the production of controversial exposé of the film industryThe producer of controversial documentary An Open Secret is taking the film’s director, Amy Berg, to arbitration. Related: An Open Secret review – damning documentary takes aim at sexual abuse in HollywoodContinue reading...
  
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• NGO alert: anti-slavery NGOs in Mauritania threatened by draft law

  18-08-2015 16:24
  Draft legislation could restrict NGOs and activists working with victims of slavery in the west African country Where: MauritaniaWho: anti-slavery activists Related: NGO alert: Cambodia legislation gives government new powers to monitor, fine or disbandContinue reading...
  
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• I’ve seen how debating skills win the argument for rehabilitation in jail | Zehrah Hasan

  18-08-2015 15:30
  A volunteering scheme by student barristers shows how giving prisoners debating skills can transform their confidence and change perceptions on both sides of the classroomOn a summer afternoon in a classroom in west London, eight individuals fiercely compete in a public debate on: “This house would legalise vigilantism in areas of high crime”. A speaker for the motion wryly explains that they needed vigilantism in his area because the police were so slow that a criminal had time to e
  
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• BSB granted retrial after evidence blunder

  18-08-2015 12:57 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Bar regulator said it is ’right’ that the disciplinary tribunal will rehear disbarment matter despite the history of the case.
  
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• Judge criticises LAA over translation costs

  18-08-2015 12:32 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Legal Aid Agency was invited to clarify its position in relation to document translation costs.
  
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• Circuit judge criticises LAA for lack of help

  18-08-2015 12:32 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Legal Aid Agency was invited to clarify its position in relation to document translation costs.
  
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• The truth about rape and sexual assault is ugly – and many women know this | Julie Bindel

  18-08-2015 11:16
  Rape is a sadistic crime committed by men who hate women – not by those who desire us so much they have no self-controlAnother week, another misogynistic comment by a high-profile man. During an interview with a national newspaper, Lord (John) Prescott raised a decade-old accusation that he had assaulted Linda McDougall by pushing her against a wall, saying that she was “built like a bloody barn door” and that the “fucking house would have fallen down” if he had don
  
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• As sex workers we welcome Amnesty's policy – it will help empower us | Kay Thi Win

  18-08-2015 11:00
  We hope Amnesty’s support for decriminalising the sex trade will move the discussion from moral frameworks towards putting sex workers’ safety firstSex workers around the world face diverse challenges: stigma, discrimination, violence – including state violence – harassment, criminalisation, isolation, marginalisation and a lack of adequate health services.Sadly, few people want to talk about these issues. Moral and religious discussions about whether the buying and selli
  
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• Current UK employment law is bad for small business - Startups.co.uk

  18-08-2015 10:54
  Startups.co.uk
  Current UK employment law is bad for small business
  Startups.co.uk
  When asked whether current employment law affected their decision to hire more staff, 39% of small businesses said they would if employment law was made simpler. Just 25% of respondents claimed it was acceptable in its present state, with a lack of ...en meer »
  

• Northamptonshire police ban stop and search by officers who abuse powers

  18-08-2015 09:19
  Northamptonshire police and crime commissioner says his force’s policy should be rolled out nationally to boost trust in policingA police force has agreed to strip officers’ right to stop and search suspects if they are deemed to have abused the controversial law-enforcement tactic.Northamptonshire police has quietly introduced the sanction that has already seen eight police officers banned from being able to use the power on the streets. Related: Stop and search is a disgrace across
  
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• Strike-off for solicitor who claimed false train fare refunds

  18-08-2015 08:02 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Nancy Lee said she needed the money to pay back legal practice course fees.
  
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• Innovative UK law firm doubles trainee investment - The Global Legal Post

  18-08-2015 08:01
  The Global Legal Post
  Innovative UK law firm doubles trainee investment
  The Global Legal Post
  Fixed-price firm Riverview Law is to train six existing members of staff under the legal training programme that it starts in October, nearly doubling the number of trainees at the practice. The firm has doubled the amount it will invest in its ...
  

• Rightwing Russian activists attack Moscow art exhibition

  18-08-2015 08:00
  Conservative Christian group takes offence over sculpture show depicting naked Christ and heads of John the Baptist. The Moscow Times reportsRussia has been accused of encouraging religious intolerance after rightwing activists attacked a major art exhibit in Moscow, claiming it offended their ultra-conservative beliefs and was therefore illegal under recent laws. Members of God’s Will, a Christian group led by self-proclaimed missionary Dmitry “Enteo” Tsorionov, vandalised the
  
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• Internet flowers – the perils of a thoughtful gift

  18-08-2015 07:59
  What should you do if your bouquet is delivered wilting, or even dead?Wilted, dead bouquets – or flowers that fail to turn up at all. Whether you’re trying to wish someone a happy birthday, or to cheer them up as they sit at home ill, there’s not much worse than discovering that your thoughtful gift was actually a bit rubbish.Earlier this year, delivery firm Yodel was forced to apologise after Mother’s Day flowers from customers who ordered from Marks & Spencer, Moonp
  
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• Police force bans stop and search by officers who abuse their powers

  18-08-2015 01:01
  Northamptonshire police and crime commissioner says his force’s policy should be rolled out nationally to boost trust in policingA police force has agreed to strip officers’ right to stop and search suspects if they are deemed to have abused the controversial law-enforcement tactic.Northamptonshire police has quietly introduced the sanction that has already seen eight police officers banned from being able to use the power on the streets. Related: Stop and search is a disgrace across
  
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• Conveyancing firm numbers dip in buoyant market

  18-08-2015 01:01 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Year-on-year figures show 3% decline. 
  
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