‘This is a derisory document’. Thus, Professor Roger Smith described the MoJ’s paper on Transforming Legal Aid, when he gave evidence to the Select Committee for Justice last Tuesday. The more…

A question mark now hangs over implementation of just about the only new legal provision with the explicit aim of tackling deliberately exploitative employers to have been introduced by Coalition more…

Three years ago home secretary Theresa May vowed to reform the previous government’s ‘draconian’ vetting and barring scheme, which required every adult who worked or volunteered with children to register on more…

The global public loves to read about savage slayings. The tragic death of the innocent may help sell newspapers but manhunts, police chases, arrests and then the judicial process is more…

Why does the closure of every library inspire massive public protest while plans to close 142 local courts (put forward in 2010) prompted scarcely a whimper? Does it matter how more…

An Important Message to University Law Students: Innocence Projects are Not Immune ‘Price Competitive Tendering (PCT) in criminal legal aid will inevitably lead to a surge in applications to university more…

You may by now have started to hear rumblings that lawyers are not happy. You may not have paid very much attention, thinking that it was probably just lawyers concerned more…

The proposed plans of Chris Grayling, secretary of state for justice, are causing for the first time in legal history a united front between barristers and solicitors. This united front more…

It’s a decision they will probably regret but after the publication of the consultation document Transforming legal aid, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) apparently thought it would be a good more…

There is something deeply suspicious going on. I was struck the other day how the Ministry of ‘Justice’ no longer seems to carry the strapline of its predecessor, the Department more…

Do you – and your partner, if you have one – have total savings of more than £3,000? Something to supplement your (reduced value) pension during your imminent retirement, perhaps, more…

In saying ‘no’ to regulating will writing, it would appear that the Justice secretary, Chris Grayling, has something of a death wish. At the very least he is making it more…

Chris Grayling’s probation reforms have achieved their primary objective: namely, to make Mr Grayling a member of the Government people have heard of. He has achieved headlines that Malcolm Tucker, more…

It’s probably fair to say I am not a fan of this government, but that doesn’t mean to say I disagree with everything it’s doing, only about 99.9% of it. more…

Last month on this blog, I set out my utterly brilliant six-point plan for the next Labour government to ‘protect vulnerable workers’, and promised I would be expanding on each more…

Pick a number. 7. No, not seven days in the week. Seven times in a day. Seven times a policeman has stopped you in a 24 hour period. Ask Andre more…

The state has a responsibility to enshrine the principles of justice in legislation as well as establishing and maintaining the means of its implementation. This government and its predecessors have more…

Last month there were two important and successful judicial review challenges to the systems used by police authorities to disclose and retain personal data and information. In response to the more…

As if moving home weren’t stressful enough anyway: finding a house, having your offer accepted, selling your house, getting your mortgage approved, packing up your life, hoping everyone else in more…

There is nothing wrong with trying to cut costs and save a few quid, especially if your bank balance is a bit on the rocky side. But, as with everything more…

‘A lie can be halfway around the world before the truth has got its boots on’, said the then Labour Prime Minister Jim Callaghan in the 1970s (though earlier versions more…

Raising the Titanic: what Labour must do to protect vulnerable workers. By 2015, the Coalition Government will have transformed the UK’s legal framework for the protection of vulnerable workers. Transformed, more…

There are proposals to limit the advice given to persons arrested in the police station to a duty solicitor, as opposed to allowing them to request their own solicitor. I more…

What was looking like a quiet Friday in the office – I’d even started to tidy my desk – was brought to life just before lunchtime, by publication of the more…

A new judgment from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) brings welcome certainty to people and environmental groups seeking to use the law to protect the environment. For many years, more…

There once was a shepherd boy, let’s call him for argument’s sake Chris Grayling. He became bored as he sat on the hillside watching the villagers try to make sense more…

Whilst Coalition ministers claim that they want to ‘make work pay’, someone in government is considering how to freeze or even cut the National Minimum Wage. Yes, really. Last week, more…

What is a housing lawyer? Or what is a social welfare lawyer? Answer: we are people who represent and come to court for people with very little money. We are more…

Yesterday I took myself off to the Resolution Foundation, in Saville Row, to hear a speech by the BIS skills minister, Matthew Hancock MP, on ‘a Conservative agenda for tackling more…

Amidst the drama of Monday’s late night Parliamentary debate on the government’s response to the Leveson Report in the Courts and Crime Bill, few noticed the fate of an amendment more…

It is a little unfortunate that as calls for an ‘NHS Direct for law’ grow louder, the real thing is being broken up and auctioned off to the highest bidder, more…

In the week since Chris Huhne and Vicky Pryce were given prison sentences for perverting the course of justice there has been an upsurge in interest from both media and more…

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt says that ‘the era of gagging NHS staff from raising their real worries about patient care’ must end. He says there will be an immediate ban more…

What a difference a few days make. Some 48 hours after it recorded a massive 27 per cent leap in pre-tax profits, outsourcing giant Serco was told by a High more…

Business perceptions of the ‘burden’ of employment law do not reflect reality, according to a government-commissioned research study published last week by the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS). more…

Consider these two distinct wrongs, with largely different sets of victims – but which share some common ground. One is: being sexually or violently assaulted, especially by someone more powerful more…

£4,000 is a heck of a lot of money for photocopying, even if you’d budgeted for it.  At 10p a sheet, that’s 40,000 sheets of paper, although of course if more…

In the wake of a flurry of press and media reports of the growing trend for NHS Trusts to employ ‘key clinical staff’ on so-called zero-hours contracts, under which workers have no more…

Over some 30 years as a policy wonk, I have attended a fair number of report launches.  Some have been good, a few have been bad, but most have simply more…

It is fascinating that at a time when the Justice Secretary has called for householders to be permitted to tool up against burglars and use disproportionate force, international news is more…

Under the proposed reforms of probation service, is there an opportunity for a charitable or voluntary organisation to supervise and re-habilitate ex-serviceman who have offended? asks Philip Newman. Philip Newman more…

Juries in criminal trials frequently ask questions after they have retired, writes Mark George QC. These usually seek clarification from the judge as to the directions of law he has more…

In 2010, under pressure from a series of Citizens Advice reports and faced with a research finding that half of all ET awards go unpaid, the Ministry of Justice introduced more…

Thanks to Tony Blair’s pathetic desire for a place in history as a defender of the western way of life and his consequent decision to take the UK into a more…

We are used to hearing the terms ‘privacy’ and ‘confidentiality’. The intention is to protect the dignity of people who find themselves at the heart of cases. But at what more…

There were calls this week to review the way sex crime trials are dealt with because a victim committed suicide during proceedings and in another sex abuse case an advocate was criticized more…

I am told that sex education isn’t compulsory in English and Welsh schools. It would seem it is the same for members of our Cabinet too if Chris Grayling’s recent more…

Gang injunctions – dubbed ‘Gangbos’ – came into force in February 2011 under the Policing and Crime Act 2009, writers Brigid Baillie. They are designed to stop ‘gang related violence’ more…

I have written previously about the case of someone who had difficulties in getting a part time job at a local football club and also starting a sports studies course more…

Over 9.2 million people with England and Wales have a criminal record. Having to disclose a past conviction, even an old and minor one from childhood, can cause significant disadvantage more…

The judiciary has just published its guide for self-represented litigants. This is, of course, a good thing to be welcomed, even if the necessity of such a guide is not more…

Who would have imagined that peers would have twice voted for and, twice sent back to the House of Commons, an amendment to exempt those dying from the fatal asbestos more…

Locking people up is easy. Getting them out, so that they don’t come back to prison is much more difficult and the one thing that continues to challenge the system more…

And so the government has taken its next big step in the rehabilitation revolution and it is another consultation. Yet despite the fact that this is the second such consultation more…

I have never been able to view Hillsborough with the dispassionate eye lawyers are supposed to bring to bear, writes Mark George QC. That’s probably because long before I ever more…

A few months back there was some discussion around the level of service that legally aided clients could expect in the era of permanent cuts in the legal aid budget.  more…

To consult, or not to consult: that is the question. On which there will be no consultation. Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, when Nick Clegg was more…

Quite right, Valerie Vaz MP. There are questions that must be answered about Abu Qatada’s outrageous legal aid bill of over £500,000. They are, however, more for ministers, largely in more…

This is the question now facing the Divisional Court following Mr Justice Hickingbottom giving permission to bring a challenge to the government over the new provisions which came into force more…

Yesterday’s long-awaited report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons and the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigrations confirms what most involved already know: long-term detention is a mess. The question more…

At the Conservative Party conference in October, the Chancellor, George Osborne, grabbed a few headlines by announcing plans to create a new ‘employee-owner’ status, under which workers will be able more…

The Question : Is there a role for fiction in raising awareness of law and rights amongst young people and if so, is there a market for it ? The more…

David Cameron has announced plans to clamp down on ‘completely pointless’ judicial reviews.  The court system apparently allows ‘hopeless cases’ to clog up the court system.  The ‘smart people in more…

Minimum standards for basic bank accounts are to be welcomed, but consumers may also need legal protection to ensure these accounts continue to promote financial inclusion and offer a simple more…

The abolition of the Indeterminate Sentence For Public Protection (IPP) has finally been brought into effect. As of today (Monday 3rd December) the relevant part of the Legal Aid Sentencing more…

Will Leveson’s ‘Arbitration Service’ improve access to justice in civil legal disputes? In Volume IV of his report, Lord Justice Leveson has recommended a new arbitration service for civil legal more…

This is why it is important that there is legal aid for people with benefit problems who are appealing to benefit Tribunals, writs Nathaniel Mathews. These are the cases that more…

The Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) ruled in Abu Qatada’s favour on one point only: if he is deported to Jordan, where he faces trial for terrorist offences, there is more…

The weekend before last the Observer’s front page reported that Labour party leader Ed Miliband has joined forces with his brother David to work up plans to deliver a ‘living more…

Earlier in the year, there was widespread reporting of the story of (in the words of the Daily Telegraph) the ‘Homegrown’ British terrorist bride jailed over Jewish plot’. Mr and more…

The 1992 Leicestershire Inquiry chaired by Andrew Kirkwood QC looked into allegations of abuse and maltreatment at a number of children’s homes in Leicestershire. The officer in charge of the more…

So, according to the House of Commons’ education select committee, it seems the care pendulum should be swinging back towards more children being placed in care. It’s interesting and maybe more…

‘Taxpayers’ money’, ‘greedy lawyers and a ‘hook-handed extremist’, with ingredients such as these the tabloid story writes itself. And so it did, in the Daily Mail, concerning the ‘nearly £680K’ more…

Your right not to be discriminated against at work: In the third of our JusticeGap series (here), I’m going to cover the law relating to workplace discrimination in the United more…

The case of ‘Tommy’ highlights everything that is wrong in practice with the system that is supposed to support children ‘in need’. Jon Robins wrote about Tommy in an article more…

I avoid social media at all costs – not because I have better things or because of some misplaced feeling of intellectual superiority – but rather because I suspect that more…

The events of June 18th 1984 during the 1984-1985 Miners Strike have been mythologized as the ‘Battle of Orgreave’ a modern day Peterloo Massacre, writes Brian Williams – a victory more…

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) recently announced that it will investigate the way in which the South Yorkshire Police handled the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster – writes Mark more…

A judicial review has been launched to challenge the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) consultation on closing the Independent Living Fund (ILF).  Six disabled claimants who receive support from more…

On February 27th 2012 a new drug guideline came into effect which reduced the sentences for those who were genuine drug mules considerably, and also for the first time encouraged more…

There is an unjustifiably little known text book called Miscarriages of Justice: a review of justice in error. Its editors were the esteemed Professor Clive Walker and (then) junior barrister more…

Getting away with murder – how police misconduct let a killer get away. The Police & Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) was one of the most significant pieces of legislation more…

Mr Trenton Oldfield only stopped the Boat Race for 20 minutes while he baptised himself in the Thames to protest against the evils of capitalism. He achieved a brief fame. more…

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) last month held unanimously that three prisoners who received IPPs in 2005 with tariffs of two years (Brett James), 12 months (Nicholas Wells) more…

In civilised life the art of rhetoric is perhaps a man’s most potent weapon. An ability to sway decision makers and establish consensus via a cocktail of well crafted ethos, more…

Forgive my cynicism but after 35 years of defending in criminal cases and watching the endless chipping away at the rights of defendants I smell a rat and feel a more…

Almost his first act as justice secretary and already it’s clear that non-lawyer Chris Grayling neither understands the law on the use of force by householders against intruders nor does more…

The Foreign Secretary, William Hague, today gave a speech in which he suggested that ‘An open internet is the only way to support security and prosperity for all.’ It was more…

‘Use your situation to change your destination’ is the catchphrase created by young people working with the Howard League for Penal Reform. Turning that ideal into a reality is a more…

Last week, the business secretary Vince Cable announced that more reforms were planned to make it ‘easier for firms to hire staff while protecting basic labour rights’. Further details of more…

JUSTICE GAP GUIDE: This is the second in a series of articles on employment law aimed at the public and specifically looking at the practice and procedure in the employment more…

As people digest the report of the Hillsborough Independent Panel it should come as no surprise that it is the South Yorkshire Police who are embroiled in a disgraceful attempt more…

The recent implementation of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act, section 144, creating a new offence of squatting, prompted many to ask whether a change in the more…

Most people in Liverpool can tell you what they were doing on 15th April 1989. At 3.00 I was listening to local radio following Everton FC’s FA Cup semi-final with more…

In July this year Judge David Harvey of the North Shore District Court in New Zealand stepped down from the Megaupload extradition case after his comments suggesting that ‘the US more…

This is our community page. You can find out about our news, forthcoming events, as well as links. JusticeGap in the community Since the site was launched in October 2011, more…

How open is the court at the Azelle Rodney Inquiry? Subject to any restrictions imposed by a notice or order under section 19, the chairman must take such steps as more…

This weekend I was  surprised to see a well-respected human rights commentator expressing concern about a news report failing to mention the full details of a man’s conviction for causing more…

I have previously suggested on the JusticeGap that one way to improve the shockingly low rate of compliance with employment tribunal (ET) awards might be to rework clause 13 of the Enterprise & more…

This is the first in a series of articles on employment law aimed at the public and specifically looking at the practice and procedure in the employment tribunal. The aim more…

A five year old girl, Thusha Kamaleswaran, was shot through the spine and paralysed from the waist down for life, in March 2011. She was in her uncle’s shop in more…

You might think that the introduction of a power for employment tribunals to impose a (moderate) financial penalty, in addition to an award, on ‘repeat offenders’ and rogue employers who more…

The Family Justice Review, the Courts Bill and Mr Justice Ryder’s response on behalf of the judiciary offers a once in a lifetime opportunity to modernise the family law system. more…

The long awaited report from Mr Justice Ryder was published yesterday – see here. For me the headline proposal from is the creation of a unified family court. For those more…

Patrick Harris was born on August 13th 1998. He was the son of Lorraine Harris and Sean Maguire. They lived with two daughters of Lorraine from a previous relationship. After more…

Paul Chambers has been cleared by the High Court. No surprises there really – can you think of anyone who thinks (or at least has gone public to say they more…

You’ve heard the adage that ‘prevention is better than the cure’. In the case of domestic abuse clearly that must ring true. Anyone who works with those at risk of more…

This week a jury acquitted PC Harwood of the manslaughter of Ian Tomlinson at the 2009 G20 protests. It was widely reported – for example, in the Evening Standard and more…

New employment tribunal statistics released this week by the Ministry of Justice, in reply to a parliamentary question by Caroline Lucas MP, show that the combined number of new single more…

Would you like the basic defence package, the standard package or the superior package? As of October this year that’s a question you will have to answer if you face more…

So, despite hardly any of the 140 organisations and individuals who responded to the Government’s consultation on employment tribunal (ET) fees expressing much, if any, support for its proposed fee more…

Announced barely a month ago, new immigration rules on family migration have come into effect. Alongside changes including a new income requirement of £18,600 for people wanting to sponsor a more…

The Actuarial Profession last week published a report in which they highlighted a marked increase in the number of personal injury claims made last year, despite a corresponding fall in more…

Amid continuing uncertainty around the Government’s Modern Workplaces proposals for reform of maternity and paternity rights at work, and continuing media reports of an increase in the number of pregnant more…

When the investigative journalist David Jessel heard in 1999 that Channel 4’s Trial and Error would be axed on the grounds that miscarriages of justice ‘are a bit 80s’, he more…

John Massey, 64, escaped from Pentonville prison in Islington at around 6.30pm on Wednesday 27th June using a makeshift rope. Pentonville houses up to 1,250 category B and C male more…

‘Members of the jury …expert evidence shows the witness was sexually abused …..well maybe not … .’ That is the question that vexed the Court of Appeal in the case more…

Is the employment tribunal backlog at a record high?  Is the employment tribunal system ‘completely overstretched’?  The Telegraph would have you believe it is so. One in four tribunal cases more…

At a meeting in the House of Commons yesterday, representatives from the CBI, the TUC, the Chartered Institute of Personnel Directors, the Law Society  and the Equality & Human Rights more…

A house purchase is delayed because the seller’s conveyancer loses some paperwork, writes Steve Brooker.  A victim of a violent attack is treated abusively by prosecuting counsel.  Beneficiaries are denied more…

The Indeterminate Sentence for Public Protection (IPP) was first implemented in 2005 following its introduction under the Criminal Justice Act of 2003. The purpose of this sentence was for it more…

Monday’s second reading of the Enterprise & Regulatory Reform Bill was a surprisingly bi-partisan affair, with not a single Liberal Democrat back-bench MP speaking in support of the Liberal Democrat more…

In July last year, the Government published a consultation document on family migration, aimed in Home Office and UKBA parlance, at reducing the ‘burden on the taxpayer, promote integration and more…

It is a common misconception that only the Crown, government agencies and other public bodies can bring prosecutions.  Individuals also have the right to bring prosecutions privately when they have more…

Over the last 20 years private prisons have become a significant feature of the correctional landscape in the United Kingdom. There are currently 13 private prisons run by G4S, Serco more…

The number of applications to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (the CCRC) is up this year from an annual total of a thousand a year to 1500. The first thing more…

There was much pomp and ceremony at Westminster as the Queen set out her Government’s legislative programme for the forthcoming parliamentary session earlier this month.  As expected, the Queen’s Speech more…

After arriving at Gatwick Airport at midnight, I spent an hour queuing at passport control. It was inconvenient but hardly life-threatening. For the many young children, and for the elderly more…

Now here’s something to make you think, especially those who support the return of capital punishment in the UK. Yesterday the prosecution in the case of Sam Hallam announced in more…

Last month the deputy coroner for West Yorkshire, Professor Paul Marks, announced the outcome of an inquest into the death of Gareth Oates. Gareth died on March 2nd 2010, less more…

It is not often that I read something that makes my blood boil. When I do, it usually relates to some new proposal by our Government (of whatever political persuasion) more…

Three years ago my job description was amended, from dealing with cases of private landlord harassment and illegal eviction, to include defending mortgage borrower’s in financial difficulty from repossession by more…

On 10 April, the Sun newspaper carried (under an ‘exclusive’ banner) a news story entitled ‘Hair Hitlers: EU rules to ban hairdressers from wearing rings and heels’. Under a photo of more…

The Al-Alas Wray case centred around care proceedings brought by the local authority, the London Borough of Islington, in respect of the parents’ new born baby Jayda Wray, following the more…

ANALYSIS. Kim Evans on three important events looking at the investigation of miscarriages of justice in the last three weeks. ‘Whilst there are problems with the Criminal Case Review Commission more…

Latest figures from the RSPCA show an almost 25% increase in the number of people convicted of animal cruelty and neglect in England and Wales last year, and a 13 more…

ANALYSIS: Michael Zander QC on whether the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) lives up to what the Runciman Royal Commission on Criminal Justice envisaged. This is a paper that Michael more…

Last week, I went along to the somewhat incongruously swanky offices of the Resolution Foundation think tank for a seminar on the National Minimum Wage (NMW). The Foundation was launching more…

So our courts are not like the Jeremy Kyle show after all? We think we sort of know how the courts work in the UK. We watch Coronation Street, remember more…

It is more than 20 years ago since the Birmingham 6 were released as innocent men, but the stark reality is that if their appeals has not been successful they more…

Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it. It’s an ages-old warning, but seemingly one that the CBI and other employer lobby groups failed to heed when more…

The cavalier approach of some NHS trusts to spending public money to defend the indefensible is in the news again. When the JusticeGap reported Elliot Browne was awarded almost £1m more…

What happens if you break the terms of a mortgage possession order. For Rita’s guide to what to do if you are struggling with your mortgage read HERE. If you more…

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) recently announced that – in conjunction with Croydon Council and Professor Graham Roberts of Kings College Hospital – the start of a 3 month trial more…

Pointy-headed policy wonks like me who have elected to bat for the have-nots of society lead a strange, and strangely monotonous, work life. For long periods – years, decades even more…

Following a controversial death at the hands of the state, evidence presented by the pathologist at inquest or at a trial is absolutely crucial in determining what caused the death, more…

The general public perception is that sentencing in this country is soft. It is not always clear how that viewpoint is to be reconciled with the fact that the prison more…

A shocking example of confusion and clerical error has led to an amendment to the Legal Advice Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, which was debated in the House of more…

In July 2002 an 11-year old boy received a warning under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 from Greater Manchester Police. As might be expected given the punishment, it was more…

Captains of industry being what they are, there is nothing that newspapers out to bash the employment tribunal system like better than a nice, cuddly charity boss.  Early last year, more…

How to deal with mortgage possession proceedings? This guide relates to England and Wales. You may be facing the loss of your home for a range of reasons, your options more…

Innocent people today are, perhaps, more vulnerable that they have ever been to being wrongly convicted because of a string of legislation that has lowered the burden of proof required more…

The government is proposing in its Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill to withdraw legal aid funding for all clinical negligence cases. This is despite specialist firms of more…

A few weeks ago, I was attending a meeting on employment tribunal (ET) procedure when, somewhat predictably, the representative of the British Chambers of Commerce robustly voiced their concern that more…

The use of expert witnesses in family proceedings has raised controversy over many years. Concerns have been various: experts using the courts to promote views not shared by peers (copper more…

A new report by the Legal Action Group (London Advice Watch) provides a comprehensive overview of London’s landscape of advice agencies that currently cover social welfare law. Social welfare law more…

No reasonable commentator would deny that the current system sometimes fails victims of miscarriages of justice. Nor would they deny that it is the duty of all concerned with miscarriages more…

With the Budget approaching, dark forces within and around the Coalition Government have been trying to re-launch their seemingly stalled campaign for a right for employers to fire workers at more…

As a police station advisor, there is nothing guaranteed to make my heart sink more than a client who needs an interpreter for their interview. You can read John Storer more…

In a windowless, low-ceilinged courtroom in the basement of Glasgow Sheriff Court, a quiet experiment in justice is taking place. The drugs court, set up in 2001 as an attempt more…

The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Bill, which received another bashing in the House of Lords this week, is not a particularly friendly piece of legislation if more…

There was a time when the sight of an envelope addressed to me in green ink, as though written studiously along a ruler’s edge, with each letter truncated in line, more…

Following the tragic death reported yesterday of Pc David Rathband, the officer shot and blinded by Raul Moat in 2011, I began to think how many of, not only my more…

The UK Border Agency is to be split in two following an official inquiry by John Vine, the Independent Chief Inspector. In a report published at the end of last month, more…

Since I wrote about the Cardiff Three scandal yet more changes have taken place twisting the saga into a new beast.  Towards the end of January 2012 the missing, presumed more…

On Tuesday a report (Forging the links: Rape investigation and prosecution) by the Inspectorate of Constabularies and the Crown Prosecution Service was published looking at the recent review into rape more…

Open Justice Week is a project that hopefully will be of great help in demystifying the courts. Whilst people read about high profile criminal case, the ‘bread and butter’ court more…

It might be possible for a banker to earn a six figure sum and survive public hostility but it’s not so easy if you head the body that is supposed more…

Research from the LSE suggests that access to specialist legal advice may be the first to go if the government goes ahead with the implementation of cuts to civil legal more…

Regular readers of this blog (hello, Mum) will know that I am not too impressed with the Ministry of Justice’s two options for an employment tribunal (ET) fees regime.  Both more…

At first it was difficult to get people too excited about extradition.  It’s something that happens to other people, and anyway, if they didn’t want to be extradited then they more…

In January the president of the solicitors’ representative body, the Law Society, John Wotton caused a bit of a kerfuffle with his prediction that, sooner or later, the distinction between more…

Do you really understand what’s meant by your ‘right to silence’? A report showed that only one in 10 of people given a caution really understood it, although 96% claimed more…

My name is Frankie Owens I was prisoner A1443CA and the library orderly at Her Majesty’s Pleasure until 2nd August 2011. As a first time offender I had no idea, more…

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the rights of foreign criminals are routinely privileged over those of the individuals they have offended against, as well as the wider public more…

Contrary to the impression given by much press and media reporting – that the number of employment tribunal claims is spiralling upwards due to a wave of ‘vexatious’ or ‘speculative’ more…

In 1996 Gambian asylum seeker Ibrahima Sey died at Ilford police station after being restrained by a number of policemen for a prolonged period of time. An inquest, held a more…

How many of us when posting messages to twitter or Facebook ever stop to think where those messages may end up, or who they might be seen by? Paul Chambers more…

The Government’s principal – if not only – defence against the charge that its proposed fees of up to £1,750 for employment tribunal (ET) claimants would create a substantial barrier more…

In the last 12 months or so, those of us involved in supporting families going through divorce and separation have been onlookers to any number of government announcements: Mediation will more…

On Wednesday 9 November 2011, after eight hours of deliberation, a jury at Newcastle Crown Court revealed its final verdict on the trial of Kevan Thakrar – not guilty of more…

If we consider the development of criminal justice policy in the USA over the last 40 years, we might deduce that all that is needed to resolve every single criminal more…

The Government has announced plans to rewrite the law relating to legal disputes about children following their parents’ separation to create a legal presumption of shared parenting. This is in more…

The Forensic Science Service (FSS) is a Government-owned company. It provides services to police forces across England and Wales, together with other agencies such as the Crown Prosecution Service, British more…

Alison Saunders, chief crown prosecutor for London Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), recently gave a speech relating to the prosecution of rape and serious sexual offences and hoped would spark debate more…

In the week that the Guardian published this interview with Alison Saunders, head of the Crown Prosecution Service, talking about ‘the demonisation’ of young women contributing to the failure to more…

Ken Clarke, the justice secretary, told MPs that changes were needed to make the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board (CICB) scheme economically sustainable.  The changes to the compensation scheme form part more…

The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill is this week being debated in the House of Lords, and John Prescott noted on Monday that media companies have been more…

In November 2008 Lord Justice Jackson was asked by the Labour Government to review how civil litigation was funded. The following autumn, Sir Ian Magee was brought in to shake more…

What does a compensation culture look like? What is a health and safety culture? Is it statistics which show road traffic accident (RTA) claims rising year on year?  It cannot more…

My blog here last week on the Government’s proposals for an employment tribunal fees regime generated a fair bit of comment (Pass the Ibuprofen).  Much of the response was supportive more…

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has been heftily criticised in the last year for numerous failings, but its ability to shoot itself in the foot appears unabated. The news that more…

Last week Europe’s highest human rights court found that the UK’s ‘whole life’ tariff did not constitute inhuman or degrading punishment contrary to article 3 of the European Convention on more…

Over the past few days, I have been trying to get my head around the Government’s proposals for charging fees in employment tribunals, as set out in the consultation paper more…

The Innocence Network UK (INUK) has recently called for reform of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC). At the same time, some campaigners are considering whether abolition of the CCRC more…

‘Today’s orthodoxy may be tomorrow’s outdated learning,’ reflected  Lord Justice Toulson when considering a case where the evidence of expert scientific witnesses was central to the case. Last month the more…

The closure of the Forensic Science Service (FSS) has caused ripples to run through the police service and create questions about the way that evidence may be dealt with in more…

According to The Sun – Human Rights judges will be put in the dock today by David Cameron – for presiding over a ‘small claims court’ for ‘terrorists and chancers’. more…

This week the Justice Committee published a report stating that the law on joint enterprise is so confusing for juries and courts alike that legislation is needed to ensure justice more…

As Dr Theodora Dallas begins her six month sentence for contempt of court, you may be wondering whether the principles of jury duty can survive in a world where information more…

For the past 12 months or so, the press and other media have been awash with stories about the ‘spiralling’, ‘out of control’ number of ‘vexatious’ and ‘speculative’ employment tribunal more…

Strasbourg judges have dismissed an appeal from, Jeremy Bamber, Douglas Vintner and Peter Moore, that their ‘whole-life’ sentences should be struck down because they have no hope of release. The more…

Media and public reaction to the publication of the report of the Commons Justice Committee on 17 January 2012 on the joint enterprise law has been extensive. Those of us more…

A recent report in the Independent has highlighted government plans to ban ‘convicted criminals’ from ‘claiming compensation for injuries sustained in attacks, in prison or after release’.  The policy relates more…

Earlier this month the BBC screened a three-part drama series, Public Enemies. It starred Anna Friel as Paula, a probation officer supervising Daniel Mays’ Eddie, a released murderer, and focused more…

While Dobson and Norris and their friends were murdering Stephen Lawrence on 22nd April 1993, his blood got onto their clothes. That was the evidence that enabled the Court of more…

Earlier this month many NHS staff joined Doreen and Neville Lawrence in welcoming the jailing of their son’s racist killers. Their campaigning led to an understanding of ‘institutional discrimination’, in more…

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) was wrong to ban the BBC from filming an interview with a terror suspect held for seven years without trial, judges ruled yesterday. The broadcaster more…

Picking up where the Department of Business Innovation and Skills and the Ministry of Justice left off at the end of 2011 – hailing their erosion of hard-won workers’ rights more…

They always come good in the end, these miscarriages of justice, and – inch by excruciating inch – the case of Eddie Gilfoyle is nearing the point where the Criminal more…

You might have read reports about ‘dodgy’ breast implants from France. If you have been following the news and have had breast implants manufactured by Poly Implants Prothese (PIP) you more…

I was a serving officer with the Metropolitan police in 1993 when I heard of Stephen Lawrence’s brutal murder at the hands of a gang of racist thugs. The Lord more…

The rule against double jeopardy was evidently already an ancient one when in 1716 William Hawkins said in his Pleas of the Crown, chapter 35, section 1: ‘That a man more…

Gary Dobson and David Norris were yesterday sentenced for their part in the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993. Mr Justice Treacy sentenced them on the basis that theirs was more…

The government’s proposed £350 million legal aid cuts will be a false economy, according to an report by the King’s College London. The report, Unintended Consequences: the cost of the more…

Money for nothing – or how the Ministry of Injustice plans to leave employment tribunal claimants in dire straits. Christmas came early to the CBI and its members, when on more…

‘The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man: “You are more…

On 2nd October 2007, a 26 year old Polish care worker, Magda Pniewska, was walking home from the nursing home where she worked in south London.  As she was talking more…

Life in prison – as any number of accounts of prison life document – is often experienced as painful, humiliating, and negative. Yesterday two prisoners, who challenged the Ministry of more…

What Price Justice?  Convicting three men of murder in 1990… about £10m. Bringing the officers who caused three innocent men to be convicted of that murder to trial in 2011… more…

‘You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you more…

Registering concerns about patient care is not as Health Minister Anne Milton said on Tuesday night on the Channel 4 News ‘a right’ of NHS workers. It is a professional more…

The Lord Chief Justice is the UK’s most senior judge and has particular responsibility for the administration of criminal justice in the courts. When he suggests that the ‘fiendishly difficult’ more…

Earlier this month, the Employment Relations Minister, Ed Davey, told a conference of trade unionists: ‘I like to be evidence-based in the policies that I make.’  Music to my policy more…

After six years of decline in the divorce figures, they are back on the rise again. The Office for National Statistics announced yesterday that divorces rose by almost 5% in more…

Well, the phoney war is over, and now we employment policy wonks can start sinking our teeth into some actual new policy, as opposed to mere proposals ‘under consultation’ or more…

After five months of a trial costing ‘tens of millions of pounds’, the collapse of the biggest ever miscarriage of justice trial, involving eight police officers and two witnesses over more…

Anyone who kills another, often a loved one, out of an act of mercy, faces being prosecuted and convicted as a murderer and sentenced as such.  Recent guidance has been more…

Three years ago almost to the day, Kay Gilderdale helped her daughter to die. She didn’t want to, but her daughter had finally tired of her suffering, and so this more…

In another blow for the private parking civil recovery industry, a Manchester County Court judge refused to award £240 claimed by the Parking Eye car park management company in respect more…

Have you ever been invited along to the police station for a chat? Would you think twice if you were? This weeks’ blog is about the police interview, and how more…

There is renewed concern about the government’s intention to return children to Afghanistan when their asylum claims have been rejected. The Refugee Council issued a statement urging the government to more…

Anyone claiming disability living allowance has their medical condition assessed by Atos, a hugely controversial French IT company contracted to the Department for Work and Pensions. Their refusal rate is more…

Bernard Hogan Howe, the newly appointed Commissioner of Police, has said that every police car should be equipped with tasers that can then be made more routinely available to police more…

How do you avoid having harsh regulation thrust upon you? Well, a good first step is don’t demonstrate complete disrespect for those who might wish to – and even have more…

Maybe this has passed you by but there has been a particularly fraught and somewhat unenlightening debate about banning ‘referral fees’: these are payments made by lawyers to claims management more…

Yesterday morning I went along to hear the Business Secretary, Vince Cable, set out how the Government intends to proceed with reform of both employment law and the employment tribunal more…

My great grandfather was Spanish. Salvador was a railway engineer by trade, who rose to be a transport minister for the Republican Government of Spain in the civil war against more…

I was disappointed, although not altogether surprised, to read yesterday that Stafford Scott and John Noblemunn have resigned from the IPCC community reference group. The three-man group was set up more…

Our legal aid system, of which we have been rightly proud, is facing the most devastating cuts in its history. The Bill is making its way through Parliament. It has more…

There has been a lot in the press recently about the inordinate and unconscionable delays in the making of adoption orders, the decline in number of orders and their general more…

David Lammy, the Labour MP for Tottenham has renewed calls for the officer who shot Mark Duggan to be suspended. Speaking in a House of Commons’ debate yesterday, Lammy said more…

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, a newly-elected Prime Minister called Tony Blair claimed to have invented a wondrous thing: joined-up government. From now on, the then more…

Some 3,000 people walked through our doors in the last year at Hackney Law Centre. That’s at least a 40% climb in people seeking legal advice. There are a dozen more…

The significance of the insignificant I watched yesterday’s parliamentary committee session on privacy and injunctions with interest – after all, privacy is one of my subjects. See here. The excellent more…

Can you kill a burglar? A simple enough question, and one that regularly exercises the minds of politicians and the ruled alike. See here. To many, an Englishman’s home is more…

ADVICE GUIDE: Around one and a half million people are arrested every year in England and Wales. It can be a frightening experience. If you’ve had the misfortune to be more…

The Criminal Cases Review Commission is not the body we campaigned for. It never was. Most of us who, in the eighties, were concerned with miscarriages of justice had a more…

So a bunch of barristers get together in a London hotel. What does that mean to Joe Public? One assumes the immediate reaction would be from an ordinary person that more…

Legal aid solicitors have a difficult relationship with pro bono work and have done over the last 20 or so years. Over that period we have all had to work more…

In 2003 I was the subject of an article in the Daily Mail, resulting from an interview I willingly gave for the Female section of the newspaper.  The article that more…

I was reading this really rather excellent blog by @_millymoo on the guff currently being spouted by our PM David Cameron on national adoption week. In her usual no-nonsense fashion, more…

My parents had an ‘interesting’ marriage. Sometimes they were so interested in each other and their own battles that my brothers and I retreated to, in Social Service terms, a more…

The government, after a reportedly fierce cabinet battle, plans to extend the use of US-style minimum mandatory sentences into the British legal system. The proposals are part of the Legal more…

And so to Parliament again to hear about the impact of legal aid cuts on victims of domestic violence in a report by that very British group, the Women’s Institute. more…

As controversial, and unexpected as it may be to read, in my experience a very high proportion of wrongful convictions are the fault of poor defence work by lawyers. The more…

The Government has announced proposals to dramatically increase the deduction from benefits to meet fine payments for those convicted of criminal offences. At the moment the maximum deduction is £5 more…

On September 15th 2011 the prime minister stood in Liberty Square in Benghazi and told the crowd of Libyans: ‘Your friends in Britain and France will stand with you as more…

There are times in our professional lives when, no matter how experienced we are, we face ethical and moral dilemmas. Mine revolves around the right of a young person to more…

ADVICE GUIDE: Accidents happen but sometimes they happen not through bad luck, misfortune or ‘wrong place-wrong time’ but because somebody else made a mistake. If this should happen to you then you have the right to bring a claim for compensation for your injuries and other losses (lost income, damage to property damage, medical expenses).

Vincent Tabak is a violent sex obsessed murderer. That’s what the public think, what the jury decided and how the judge sentenced. He was convicted of the murder of Jo more…

As a volunteer legal observer at Dale Farm my role has been to monitor police and bailiff misconduct against residents and their supporters. There are many reasons why people have more…

My mum is every drug dealer’s best friend. Growing up I’ve got used to her going out to work at all hours but I never really knew what she did more…

The long sentences passed on the offenders in the August riot have re-opened the question of whether it can ever be right to pass ‘deterrent’ sentences – sentences that are more…

Prisoners should pay some of the money they earn in jail to victims (on top of the existing criminal injuries’ scheme) in order to recompense for their sins and as more…

On Wednesday, the appeals of Blackshaw and Sutcliffe, the so-called ‘Facebook Rioters’ were dismissed in The High Court, and their prison sentences upheld. Most commentators seemed to accept judicial wisdom more…

Tony Stock was convicted of robbery at Leeds Assizes in July 1970. He was sentenced to ten years imprisonment. Stock says he is completely innocent and for more than forty more…

The involvement of journalists carrying out investigations into alleged miscarriage of justice cases and influencing the criminal justice system in the UK has a long provenance. A grim roll call more…

My son Andy was part one of a group of 100 children who received a substantial amount of legal aid – £3.25million in total – to sue the pharmaceutical company more…

When I was growing up in the 1970s and 80s (ok 60s and 70s) it seemed as if the major worry for parents of teens was pregnancy. Unmarried motherhood and more…

In November, Britain takes over the chairmanship of the Council of Europe. Ken Clarke and Nick Clegg announced a few months ago that they will head a commission into the more…

Many of us involved in care proceedings in the provinces have looked at the Family Drugs and Alcohol Court in London and Drug in London with envy. They seem so more…

Barnardos recently highlighted the worrying drop in baby-adoptions to just 60 last year. This led to some debate about speeding up the system in recognition of the fact that once more…

Access to justice has always been a disputed concept – what do we mean by ‘access’, let alone justice? Our courts, tribunals and other redress or dispute resolution systems have more…

As I help my teenage children to tiptoe through the hormonal minefield that is their teenage years, I wonder if they are lucky or unlucky in their mother’s choice of more…

Today, historically, we begin to see the landscape change. Opening up the market ends the position where non-lawyers were prevented from owning a stake in law firms.

Fundamental rights and freedoms and the rule of law are vital checks and balances in any civilised society – but meaningless without access to justice.

Somewhere in the world, an 11-year old child lies on a mattress on the floor in a police cell. He is wearing a paper suit having soiled his own clothes. His Asberger’s means he is frightened of the toilet (it’s the wrong colour). He’s hungry and thirsty, his OCD means he can’t eat foods that have touched each other and he’s been in the cell for 11 hours.

News that Milly Dowler’s parents are negotiating a sizeable compensation sum under a ‘no win, no fee’ deal from Murdoch and News Corp, and that they have written to David more…

There was a time when the sight of an envelope addressed to me in green ink, as though written studiously along a ruler’s edge, with each letter truncated in line, more…