Lawyer news

• Opposite-sex civil partnerships are the legal solution for the happily unmarried | Letters

  20-10-2015 20:16
  
  The 3 million opposite-sex cohabiting couple families in the UK should keep an eye on the House of Commons this week. A 10-minute rule bill on 21 October by Tim Loughton MP will propose changing the law to permit these “happily unmarried” couples to enter into civil partnerships. Currently, only same-sex couples can enter into a civil partnership, but MPs from across parliament, including Stephen Twigg, Caroline Lucas and Andy Slaughter, agree that the law as it stands is nonsen
  
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• Women suffering under Sharia law in UK, Govt acknowledges - The Christian Institute

  20-10-2015 20:00
  The Christian Institute
  Women suffering under Sharia law in UK, Govt acknowledges
  The Christian Institute
  Baroness Caroline Cox has campaigned against the harmful use of Sharia law for many years. Sharia law in Britain: New site backs Bill to tackle issue (30 September 2015) · Ex-spy chief: 'Anti-extremist' law could target preachers (02 July 2015 ...
  

• The Latest: Chinese lawyer urges UK to back human rights - WNEM Saginaw

  20-10-2015 19:46
  The Latest: Chinese lawyer urges UK to back human rights
  WNEM Saginaw
  (AP Photo/Matt Dunham). People wearing I love China t-shirts pose for a photograph as they wait to see Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan pass by in a carriage ride along the Mall to Buckingham Palace in London, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 201.
  

• The Latest: Chinese lawyer urges UK to back human rights - KPHO Phoenix

  20-10-2015 19:38
  KPHO Phoenix
  The Latest: Chinese lawyer urges UK to back human rights
  KPHO Phoenix
  (AP Photo/Matt Dunham). People wearing I love China t-shirts pose for a photograph as they wait to see Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan pass by in a carriage ride along the Mall to Buckingham Palace in London, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 201.en meer »
  

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• The Latest: Chinese lawyer urges UK to back human rights - WHDH-TV

  20-10-2015 19:36
  The Latest: Chinese lawyer urges UK to back human rights
  WHDH-TV
  (AP Photo/Matt Dunham). People wearing I love China t-shirts pose for a photograph as they wait to see Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan pass by in a carriage ride along the Mall to Buckingham Palace in London, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 201.en meer »
  

• The Latest: Chinese lawyer urges UK to back human rights - Yahoo News UK

  20-10-2015 19:30
  Yahoo News UK
  The Latest: Chinese lawyer urges UK to back human rights
  Yahoo News UK
  A protestor holding a Tibetan flag is encircled by supporters of Chinese President Xi Jinping holding up a Chinese dragon before he passed by on a horse-drawn carriage with Britain's Queen Elizabeth II on the Mall en route to Buckingham Palace in ...en meer »
  

• Lady Hale joins chorus of concerns over criminal courts charge

  20-10-2015 18:04
  
  Deputy president of supreme court reiterates importance of access to justice in relation to fears charges may incentivise defendants to plead guiltyThe deputy president of the supreme court, Lady Hale, has become the latest judge to question whether the newly imposed criminal courts charge encourages defendants to plead guilty.In a speech entitled Magna Carta: did she die in vain?, the only female judge on the UK’s highest court explored the contemporary relevance of the 800-year-old chart
  
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• On assisted dying, California will be a test site for the world | Andrew Brown

  20-10-2015 17:33
  
  The argument over legalising assisted suicide has nothing to do with religious dogma – it’s about whether a law will protect the weakest in society, and now we can find outCalifornia is still in some respects a laboratory for the rest of the world. Really good things have come out of there, like tight emissions standards for cars, and really bad things, like techno-libertarianism. Now it has embraced assisted suicide, and in this done the rest of the world a huge favour.Although ther
  
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• Crowds greet Xi Jinping with flags seemingly brought by Chinese embassy

  20-10-2015 16:56
  
  Thousands line president’s route to Buckingham Palace, but boxes suggest banners were imported to London from ChinaChina’s president, Xi Jinping, has received a rapturous reception in London from thousands of Chinese nationals, a significant number of them carrying giant flags and banners that appear to have been distributed by the country’s embassy.Many of those present on the Mall to cheer Xi as he headed to Buckingham Palace with the Queen at the start of his state visit ins
  
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• Crowds greet Xi Jinping with flags distributed by Chinese embassy

  20-10-2015 16:56
  
  Thousands line president’s route to Buckingham Palace, but boxes suggest banners were imported to London from ChinaChina’s president, Xi Jinping, has received a rapturous reception in London from thousands of Chinese nationals, a significant number of them carrying giant flags and banners that appear to have been distributed by the country’s embassy.
  Many of those present on the Mall to cheer Xi as he headed to Buckingham Palace with the Queen as the start of his state visit, i
  
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• Client pressure putting City firms in danger of collapse – report

  20-10-2015 16:05 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Many commercial firms are being forced to accept more risk from their clients, a report commissioned by the SRA shows. 
  
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• European court of human rights rules secret hearings legal

  20-10-2015 15:45
  
  Strasbourg court says rights of Pakistani students Sultan Sher, Mohammed Rizwan Sharif and Mohammed Umer Farooq were upheld in terror inquiry Secret hearings to determine whether suspects should be held without charge during anti-terror investigations are legal, the European court of human rights has ruled.
  Dismissing a claim by three Pakistani students that their detention for nearly two weeks breached their rights, the Strasbourg court said UK courts were permitted to hold closed sessions when
  
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• Hung jury in Dewey & LeBoeuf criminal trial

  20-10-2015 15:20 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  New York jury undecided on the most serious counts against three former executives at defunct Dewey & LeBoeuf.
  
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• UN inquiry considers alleged UK disability rights violations

  20-10-2015 14:50
  
  Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ confidential investigation into effects of coalition’s welfare cuts will not publish report until 2017The findings of a UN inquiry investigating alleged violations of disabled people’s human rights in the UK as a result of welfare reforms will not be published for two years, the Guardian has learned.The UN launched its confidential investigation at aclosed hearing in London on 14 October, at which UN officials took evidence
  
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• German parliament passes new, comprehensive data retention law - Ars Technica UK

  20-10-2015 14:32
  Ars Technica UK
  German parliament passes new, comprehensive data retention law
  Ars Technica UK
  The German Bundestag (parliament) has passed a controversial law requiring telecoms and Internet companies to store customers' metadata and to make it available to law enforcement agencies investigating "severe crimes." Specifically, "phone providers ...en meer »
  

• Mishcons loses sanctions appeal after DLA’s late notice

  20-10-2015 14:10 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Judge says relief from sanctions preferable to further satellite litigation.
  
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• What Guatemala can teach fragile states about cleaning up the justice system | Seth Kaplan

  20-10-2015 13:50
  
  As the presidential runoff approaches, Guatemala is revelling in a quiet justice revolution, triggered by a UN-backed agency calling the elite to accountGuatemala’s principle claim to fame, until recently, was a justice system considered to be among the worst in the world. Yet even in a country as troubled as this, change is possible.Take, for instance, the looming presidential election. The favourite to win the runoff vote on 25 October is comedian Jimmy Morales. Unusually for a Guatemala
  
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• Lord chief justice steps in to diversity debate

  20-10-2015 13:33 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  ‘Robust judicial activism’ but no quotas to achieve a more diverse bench, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd says. 
  
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• Ban media from naming sex abuse suspects before charge, says top lawyer

  20-10-2015 13:30
  
  Alison Levitt, former principal legal adviser to Britain’s leading prosecutor, says move would protect people such as the late Lord BrittanA former top prosecutor has said parliament should pass a new law banning the media from naming suspects in sex abuse cases until they are charged.The call for the controversial new law comes from Alison Levitt QC, formerly principal legal adviser to the director of public prosecutions DPP, Britain’s leading prosecutor.Continue reading...
  
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• Judiciary is making progress on diversity, says lord chief justice

  20-10-2015 13:02
  
  Lord Thomas urges greater efforts to achieve gender equality and appoint judges from varied backgrounds but believes improvements are being madeSignificant progress is being made towards a more diverse judiciary, according to the lord chief justice, who has declared: “We are on the road to delivery.”
  In a speech that may be read as a rebuke to those warning it could take 50 years to achieve gender equality on the bench, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd said that appointing judges who reflect
  
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• What do the new legal apprenticeships mean for budding solicitors?

  20-10-2015 11:46
  
  The new scheme will provide a tuition-fee path way into law, but apprentices will work long hours and miss out on the university experience
  If you want to be a solicitor, but are put off by the prospect of racking up massive debts and the uncertainty around securing a training contract, you may want to consider the government’s new apprenticeship scheme.Kicking off next September, the scheme will enable students to sign up straight from school to a five or six year programme of work-based
  
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• What if the Chinese were to ‘raise human rights’ with us? | Simon Jenkins

  20-10-2015 11:22
  
  The British could pretend to care about China’s human rights, but it would be impolite, pointless, hypocritical and probably counter-productiveBritish ministers are to “raise human right concerns” with their Chinese guests this week. What on earth for? It is impolite, pointless, hypocritical and probably counter-productive. We are cringing supplicants for Chinese capital – as we claim to be for Saudi “intelligence”. What has this to do with human rights?The it
  
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• Slater and Gordon plans boardroom pay boost

  20-10-2015 10:04 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Shareholders asked to approve higher maximum pay and new incentives at the AGM on 20 November.
  
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• US cuts millions in Mexico cartel-fighting aid amid human rights concerns

  20-10-2015 01:00
  
  Experts say 15% reduction in funding amounts to symbolic slap on the wrist as widespread evidence suggests police and army abusesThe United States has withheld millions of dollars of aid from Mexico aimed at helping the country’s authorities combat drug cartels, amid concerns over its human rights record.
  The State Department confirmed the decrease in funding on Monday – a 15% reduction that experts said is a symbolic slap on the wrist given the US’s previous unwillingness to c
  
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