Lawyer news

Leonard Leigh obituary

30-03-2025 20:32

Writer, barrister and member of the Criminal Cases Review Commission who investigated claims of miscarriages of justiceAmong the first cases investigated by Leonard Leigh when he joined the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) were the hanging of Mahmood Hussein Mattan and the imprisonment for life of Patrick Nicholls. Neither, he helped reveal, had committed the murders for which they had been sentenced.As a driving force behind the organisation created to examine claims of miscarriage of ju

Read more
Racial slurs should be banned on all public platforms | Letters

30-03-2025 18:31

Sherri Davis says the normalisation of slurs within specific communities does not detract from their offensive nature. Plus letters from Caroline Airs and another readerNels Abbey’s article raises an important debate about the use of racial slurs and how they are interpreted in legal and social contexts (A racist screaming the N-word and a Black person using it in conversation are poles apart. Why can’t the CPS see it?, 24 March). While I understand that intent and context matter, I

Read more
The Guardian view on attacks on lawyers: democracies must stand up for justice | Editorial

30-03-2025 18:30

From Russia to the US, those who seek to uphold the law are coming under increasing pressureWhat the law says on paper is irrelevant if it cannot be upheld, or even stated clearly. That is why lawyers are targeted – with harassment, disbarment from the profession or even jail – by repressive regimes.Russia’s attempts to suppress the voice of the opposition leader Alexei Navalny did not end with his death in an Arctic prison colony. In a bleak coda, three of his lawyers have bee

Read more
Shabana Mahmood plans bill to overrule Sentencing Council in ‘two-tier justice’ row

30-03-2025 15:05

Ministry of Justice drafts instruction for judges in England and Wales to ignore guidelines on age, sex and ethnicityMinisters are planning to introduce a last-minute rule change this week to overturn sentencing guidelines that could have led to criminals getting different sentences depending on their age, sex and ethnicity.Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, is planning to bring a bill to the Commons this week to overrule the guidelines, which are due to come into force in England and Wales

Read more
Advertisement
MP, rape victim, teenage mum . . . and first Mother’s Day as a grandparent

30-03-2025 14:00

Natalie Fleet, unwillingly pregnant at 15, says the state support she received inspired her to stand for parliamentToday marks Natalie Fleet’s first Mother’s Day as a grandmother – or nana, as she says. The Labour MP for Bolsover will spend the day in her constituency, surrounded by her children, her daughter’s newborn baby, her husband, mother and sister.Fleet is only 40 years old. Her eldest daughter, now 24, was conceived when Fleet was a teenager after she was groomed

Read more