Law Weblog

Murder cases given just one prosecutor as CPS pressured to cut costs

Thursday 14 April 2011 at 5:05 pm | In News | Post Comment It is reported in the Guardian that murder cases will be given just one prosecutor as the Crown Prosectution Services is pressured to cut costs.

Barristers say the workload is too much for one lawyer while victim support groups fear miscarriages of justice

Barristers and victim support groups have expressed concerns that in some murder trials, including forthcoming cases involving multiple defendants, the Crown Prosecution Service is instructing a single counsel for the prosecution.

The Guardian has learned of a murder case in which a single barrister without a junior counsel has been instructed for the prosecution in a trial with potentially four defendants. Each defendant is likely to have both a junior and leading counsel, meaning that a single prosecutor could face as many as eight defence counsel.

Full report here

Training contracts -v- no training contracts

Thursday 14 April 2011 at 1:51 pm | In News | Post Comment

The College of Law (CoL) is warning the profession that training contract vacancies are expected to exceed the number of students completing the Legal Practice Course (LPC).

According to the CoL a shortfall could arise as early as this year and may jump considerably in 2011-12, meaning there are 14 per cent more available training contracts than students passing the LPC in that year, a graduate shortfall of around 550.

It is in stark contrast with statistics published by the Law Society last week, which revealed that despite 14,510 LPC places being available to law students across two modes of study in 2009-10, only 4,874 training contracts were registered between 1 August 2009 to 31 July 2010.

CoL blog here

Baring barred

Thursday 14 April 2011 at 1:26 pm | In News | Post Comment

The Sunbeds Regulation Act 2010 now in force, means that under 18 year olds are no longer allowed to purchase time on a sunbed.

Six per cent of 11 to 17-year-olds in England previously used sunbeds, rising to 50% of 15 to 17-year-olds girls in some areas.

Sunbeds increase the risk of getting skin cancer, with an estimated 100 deaths a year as a result. Two people under 35 are diagnosed with the deadliest form of skin cancer every day in the UK.

Businesses who fail to comply with the new rules could be fined up to £20,000 if they allow anyone under 18 to use their sunbeds.

In Wales, from 31 October, sunbed use will have to be supervised, under-18s will not be able to buy or hire beds themselves and all adults will have to wear protective eyewear.

Accounting + legal services + legal advice from a RBS

Sunday 10 April 2011 at 10:24 am | In News | Post Comment Last week, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) launched a product that will provide legal documentation and advice to its small business customers. A clear indication how Tesco’s law may look in the future, and how law firms may be squeezed out of some markets.

The service, Smarta Business Builder, incorporates a range of online accounting, business and legal services, with legal software provided by Epoq.

The package provides business clients with a suite of legal documents required to set up a business, such as shareholder agreements.

Premium users access legal advice provided by FirstAssist.

Home disguised as hay barn unlawful

Friday 8 April 2011 at 7:25 pm | In News | 1 Comment In Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government & Anor v Welwyn Hatfield BC [2011] UKSC 15 Lord Hope describe the actions of Mr Beesely thus:

“Frankly, the dishonesty involved in this case is so far removed from almost anything else that I have ever encountered in this area of the law that it appears to constitute a category all of its own.”

Mr Beesley, a property developer who carried out a “deliberate, elaborate and sustained plan” to outwit planners has finally lost a legal battle over the £500,000 home he built disguised as a hay barn.

Mr Beesley was granted permission in 2001 to build a barn for agricultural use only, but fitted it out as a luxury house complete with three bedrooms – two with en suite bathrooms – a study, living room, a garage and gym.

From the outside, the property, North Brook Meadow, near Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, looks like any other hay barn with a curved roof, no windows, and surrounded by farmyard machinery.

Mr Beesley, 38, and his 35-year-old wife Sarah moved into the completed property in 2002 and applied for a certificate of lawfulness four years later on the basis that the time for enforcement action against the use of the building as a dwelling had expired.

Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council refused but an inspector appointed by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government allowed Mr Beesley’s appeal in 2008. This was reversed at the High Court the following year.

But the next twist in the legal battle came last year when a panel of three appeal judges ruled immunity from enforcement had been established. The council then appealed to the Supreme Court and the seven justices unanimously ruled in its favour, setting aside the certificate of lawfulness relating to the property.

The justices ruled that there had been no change of use within the section of the Town and Country Planning Act which imposes a four-year time limit for taking enforcement action against breaches of planning control, and that, in any event, Mr Beesley’s “dishonest” conduct meant he could not rely on the section.

Lord Brown said:

“On any possible view the whole scheme was in the highest degree dishonest and any law-abiding citizen would be not merely shocked by it but astonished to suppose that, once discovered, instead of being enforced against, it would be crowned with success, with Mr Beesley entitled to a certificate of lawful use to prove it.

Increase in minimum wage

Friday 8 April 2011 at 7:03 pm | In News | Post Comment The adult national minimum wage will increase by 15p an hour, to £6.08, from 1st October 2011.

Other increases are:-

18-20 year olds: by 6p to £4.98ph
16-17 year olds: by 4p to £3.68ph
apprentices: by 10p to £2.60ph

Cornish Pasty must come from Cornwall

Saturday 2 April 2011 at 8:11 am | In News | 1 Comment The Cornish Pasty Association has obtained Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) from the European Commission.

Which means a Cornish Pasty must:

• be made in Cornwall in order to be given the term ‘Cornish’;
• have a distinctive ‘D’ shape, crimped on one side;
• contain a chunky filling made up of minced or cut beef that makes up no less 12.5% of the finished product;
• have a golden pastry colour glazed with milk or egg; and
• no artificial colours or additives whatsoever.

The Cornish pasty is now part of the other 42 British protected products including Cornish Cream, Melton Mowbray Pork Pies and Abroath Smokies.

The Cornish pasty evolved when Cornish tin miners needed a suitable lunch to eat underground

Become a Barrister: Bar Council and Inns of Court Launch New Careers Website

Monday 28 March 2011 at 8:13 pm | In News | Post Comment The Bar Council, which represents barristers in England and Wales, along with the four Inns of Court, has launched a new careers website to provide a range of accessible information to school and university students. ‘Become a barrister’ (www.become-a-barrister.com) is a new portal for anyone interested in a career at the Bar and includes a series of films and case studies aimed at demystifying entry to the profession.

The portal will be launched at Inner Temple, and will include contributions from the Chairman of the Bar, Peter Lodder QC, the Master of the Rolls, Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury and the Treasurer of Inner Temple, Lady Justice Hallett.

Peter Lodder QC, who will also provide an update on the Bar’s wider social mobility and entry initiatives, said:

“I am delighted that we are able to launch become a barrister today and to continue to highlight the importance of enabling the best candidates to come to the Bar, regardless of background. Whether through a coordinated ‘speakers for schools’ programme, a placement scheme with the Social Mobility Foundation, supporting the Citizenship Foundation’s Bar National Mock Trials Competition or a number of other initiatives, the Bar Council is determined to make a difference.

“Alongside these efforts, we are also launching the Bar Barometer, an annual report on statistical trends within the Bar, so that we can monitor the effect of these activities over a period of time. Whilst there is still much more that we can do, I am confident that we are on the right track.

“Thanks must go to Lincoln’s Inn, Inner Temple, Middle Temple and Gray’s Inn for their financial and practical support in creating both the films and the website, as well as for the substantial work which they do in removing barriers to entry.”

 

 

Women well represented at the bar

Sunday 27 March 2011 at 4:34 pm | In News | 1 Comment

A recent survey undertaken by the Bar Standards Board has shone a light on the ratio of male to female lawyers at the Bar. ‘The

Bar Barometer’ shows that while women make up only 34% of practising barristers, they account for nearly half of employed barristers – ie those based ‘in-house’ at a law firm or company, or those working for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) or Government Legal Service (GLS).

Full article is here

 

 

Convicted criminals not deterred or rehabilitated

Friday 18 March 2011 at 6:54 am | In News | 1 Comment Both the Telegraph and the Daily Mail have the same headline today “A life of crime: Offences by serial thugs up 50% in a decade”

Figures issued by the Ministry of Justice show a confusing picture of reoffending.
The re-conviction rate overall fell 24 per cent
The re-conviction rate classified as the most serious (severe)
rose by 16.0 per cent.

Reconviction rates are notoriously difficult to measure, but these figures do confirm the findings last autumn (reported here)  that a majority of convicted criminals continue with a life of crime and are not deterred or rehabilitated.

Telegraph here
Ministry report here