The Trials Issues Group has been formed to cut waste in the Criminal Justice System. The inter-agency group, launched by the Lord Chancellor’s Department last week, will oversee a number of initiatives to improve the quality of service to victims, witnesses and other court users. Projects include new-style case files, increased technology and joint performance […]
The College of Law is losing its chair of the board of management, Richard Holbrook. Holbrook, 61, is retiring after seven years as executive head of the college. In that time he has increased college income from £8m to £25m a year at a time when competition from other legal education providers increased and links […]
John Malpas reports THE QUALITY of advocacy training at the Bar has been praised by a team of South African barristers preparing to set up a similar scheme in their own country. The arrival of the delegation of 13 barristers in London as part of a govern- ment-sponsored aid programme was reported in last week’s […]
A challenge is now pending in the High Court to moves by Parliament to withdraw financial benefits from asylum seekers. Two London authorities, Westminster City Council and Hammersmith and Fulham Borough Council, have won the right to seek judicial review of the moves. They are challenging them on the basis that withdrawal of funding from […]
John Malpas reports TWO Chancery sets have agreed to merge in a move which both sides claim will lead to a stronger, more competitive chambers. Ten Old Square and 8 Stone Buildings finalised their merger at the beginning of January, and the two sets aim to operate as a single unit from 1 February. A […]
Labour will attack controversial government plans for outsourcing court computer systems and other functions in a parliamentary select committee inquiry into the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) this week. Labour legal spokesman Paul Boateng, briefing committee colleagues, called for a halt to the “dogma-driven” policy and for a full parliamentary debate on the matter after consultation […]
One of the most unusual libel actions for some time is heading for the High Court with lawyers for the plaintiffs saying it could be heard later this year. The action, launched by market and retail company Solitaire (Liverpool), of London W2, against Delyn Borough Council, based in Flint, Clwyd, is over an anonymous letter […]
The legal profession has received a sharp warning from the Court of Appeal on the dangers of giving lay clients free rein to put forward unsubstantiated allegations in court. The warning came in the case of Thatcher v Douglas & anor and is one that Donald Ramsbottom, a partner in Hayling Island firm Michael Daltons, […]
Directions where action transferred from High Court Tarry v Humberclyde Finance and KF Kirby (Harboro) (Third Party) and JI Case (Europe) (Fourth Party) (1996). CA (Sir Thomas Bingham MR, Waite LJ and Otton LJ) 12/1/96. Summary: Automatic directions in the county court do not apply to an action which was commenced in the High Court […]
The Vice-Chancellor Sir Richard Scott has been appointed head of civil justice by the Lord Chancellor. The decision to extend Sir Richard’s responsibilities to cover civil justice is in line with one of the recommendations of Lord Woolf’s interim report on reform in this area. Lord Mackay said: “As a senior serving judge, the Vice-Chancellor […]
CIVIL liberty and media groups are calling on the Lord Chancellor and Home Office to help “throw back the creeping blanket of secrecy” in the UK by making a series of commitments to open justice. These would include open access to court decisions and documentation, together with full-scale reform of the laws of contempt and […]
Members of City law firm Cameron Markby Hewitt have written expressing their sympathies to the parents of murdered trainee solicitor Johanne Masheder. Masheder, who was killed by a Buddhist monk while backpacking in Thailand, was due to start at the firm last month. A spokesman said that Cameron Markby Hewitt had been in touch with […]