‘Politicians need to stop playing KerPlunk with the prison system,’ said former prison governor and inspector John Podmore on Tuesday night, reports Mary-Rachel McCabe. ‘One day someone’s going to pull more…

Gerry Conlon of the Guildford Four and Breeda Power, daughter of Billy Power of the Birmingham Six, together with the families of Jean Charles de Menezes and Alfie Meadows, led more…

The legal and social issues that surround sexual offences are complex and, by their very nature, dependant upon their own particular facts, writes Mark Barlow and Mark Newby. The protection more…

REVIEW: ‘Clive Stafford Smith did a better job of defending Kris Maharaj in this book than his defence team ever did,’ according to HMP Wandsworth’s book club in their review more…

APPALLING VISTAS: This month’s Queen’s Speech presents the most appalling of vistas. The easy targets are legal aid and the rights of the unpopular, but the constitutional implications are dramatic. more…

The House of Commons’ Science and Technology Committee has been inviting some of the major players in forensics science to give evidence to it about how forensics science is developing more…

EVENT: JUSTICE fundraiser 12 Angry Men at the ICA. ‘Jury service enlarges one’s sense of self,’ argued Baroness Helena Kennedy QC on Monday night, following a fundraising screening for JUSTICE more…

In the midst of the attack on legal aid, the plans for price competitive tendering and Save UK Justice campaigning, it is important that as lawyers working to preserve the more…

‘Reoffending rates in this country have been too high for too long,’ said the Justice Minister Chris Grayling in a statement to the Commons last week. ‘Almost half the number more…

The Justice Gap won the legal journalism category at the inaugural Halsbury Legal Awards, in a ceremony that recognised Sir Sydney Kentridge QC as well as Leveson inquiry lawyer Robert more…

EVENT: Join Clive Stafford Smith, John Podmore, and David Jessel  in the third annual Prisoners’ Advice Service/ JusticeGap debate  – hosted by the UCL Centre for Access to Justice. Book now. more…

  ‘It is important that tactical options other than sheer physical force, with inherent dangers, be explored as a matter of urgency… . The use of batons carries significant risk more…

On-the-spot fines were once reserved for minor procedural issues such as parking or failing to have a train ticket, writes Josie Appleton. Josie Appleton (below) is director of the civil more…

APPALLING VISTAS: Chris Huhne, the former cabinet minister jailed for eight months for perverting the course of justice, has found his experience of prison so far ‘fascinating‘, according to the more…

‘It was a lonely experience,’ said Hughes Cousins-Chang , describing being strip-searched and held in custody for over 12 hours, without being allowed to contact his mother. Hughes, a sixth-form more…

INTERVIEW: Michael Turner is fired up. He has just delivered a speech to a jury at Guildford Crown Court, and the sleet is lashing down outside as he sits in more…

Alfred Moore was ostensibly a poultry farmer living with his wife and four young children at a small holding known as Whinney Close Farm, at Kirkheaton, a small village on more…

Many notorious miscarriages of justice, such as the Guildford Four and Birmingham Six, occurred when suspects were denied access to solicitors and were coerced into making false confessions, writes Hannah more…

Theresa May has agreed to act after a High Court ruling outlawing the Home Office policy of treating 17-year-olds in police custody as adults and denying them protections enjoyed by more…

INTERVIEW: There can’t have been many candidates less likely to make Queen’s Counsel, that most venerable rank of legal distinction, than Stefan Cross, writes Jon Robins. To say that the more…

  Appalling Vistas:  It’s appalling that the state should ever have funded poor people to go to law, writes Francis FitzGibbon QC. It’s appalling that foreigners who’ve lived in the UK more…

  There is no longer any credible doubt that the Cardiff Five are innocent, but they always were, writes Satish Sekar. Satish Sekar is a journalist who has specialised since more…

  It was reported that earlier this year the Metropolitan Police are being kitted out with mobile fingerprint scanners that can detect suspects within two minutes, writes Nicholas Dent. According more…

JOIN US for a debate about what the law means to young people in 21st Century Britain at City Hall. The JusticeGap has joined forces with Hackney Community Law Centre, more…

On 4 April, a matter of days after the cuts to civil legal aid were brought into effect, Chris Grayling has announced the Government’s intention to cut legal aid for more…

INTERVIEW: James Saunders is one of the lawyers representing the Hillsborough Family Support Group. He speaks to Oliver Lewis. Oliver Lewis is a higher court advocate with 20 years’ experience as more…

Perhaps it isn’t surprising that many criminal defence lawyers are wary of journalists, writes David Rose. David Rose is special investigations writer for the Mail on Sunday and a contributing more…

APPALLING VISTAS: In 1980, West Midlands Police successfully appealed against a High Court ruling that civil action for assault brought by the men convicted of the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings more…

Many solicitors firms and chambers influential in criminal defence in the last few decades were founded by lawyers who cut their teeth in the Law Centre movement, writes Oliver Lewis. Oliver more…

As the dust settles in the wake of the Eastleigh by-election, the mainstream political parties, panicked by the apparent ascent of UKIP, have been engaged in a race to the more…

‘Mind the Justice Gap’, our legal education project, visited Hackney Community College earlier this month, reports Miranda Grell. The project is run by Hackney Community Law Centre, UCL Centre for more…

Writing this, it is difficult to know what identity I should use, writes the Chief Legal Ombudsman Adam Sampson. Half a lifetime ago, I used to be a probation officer in more…

REVIEW: A 13 year old boy is wrongly accused of a crime, writes Francis Fitzgibbon QC. His accuser is an unaccountable organ of the state, which finds him guilty without more…

‘I hate to imagine how many children there were who complained of molestation or who were or knew they would be, if they did complain, subjected to corporal punishment of more…

Instead of closing the gap, a huge chasm has just opened up right at the top of the system, writes Michael Mansfield QC. It is a shocking and disgraceful manoeuvre more…

The reaction of the mainstream UK press to Tuesday’s announcement of an agreement on regulation was as predictable as some of it was misleading, writes Juliet Shaw.  In 2003 Juliet more…

At the age of 24 years – and after having epilepsy since I was 16 years old – I had my first child. The pregnancy sailed along with less seizures more…

George Davis, a professional criminal and armed robber was at the centre of one of the highest profile miscarriage of justice cases of the post-war era, writes Brian Williams. Brian more…

WRONGLY ACCUSED: Show me a miscarriage of justice and, nine times out of 10, I will show you the blueprint that caused it, writes Eric Allison. Eric Allison is the more…

Last week a unanimous verdict of not guilty was delivered in the trial of Alfie Meadows and Zak King, writes Nadine El-Enany. Nadine El-Enany is Lecturer in Law at Birkbeck, more…

As legal advice for welfare benefits falls out of the scope of legal aid from 1st April, the government forges ahead with its programme of reform of the social security more…

Since the riots of Summer 2011, stop and search and poor relations between young people and the police in Tottenham have been prominent in the news, write Sophie Hostick-Boakye and more…

On 1st September 2012, section 144 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO) was passed into law, making squatting in a residential building in England and more…

The Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, today has delivered a speech calling for a national consensus on the investigation and prosecution of child abuse cases suggesting that the more…

Young people in detention are amongst the most vulnerable groups in society in terms of accessing justice, writes Laura Janes. They tend to have only come across criminal lawyers who more…

It was inevitable, and perfectly understandable, that the piece ‘Poor Defence’, written by Maslen Merchant for the Wrongly accused: who is responsible for investigating miscarriages of justice? collection of essays more…

Family breakdown is the ‘most complained about area of law’, according to a new report out today. Excessive charges, poor service and customers who unfairly blamed lawyers for the outcome more…

Worse than doing nothing – that was Labour’s damning indictment of the coalition’s flagship Work Programme following the publication last week of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC)’s report on the more…

When a Home Secretary starts accusing the judiciary of subverting democracy, we should get nervous, writes Kate Blagojevic. But when new legislation designed to bypass human rights law is announced, more…

On the 25th January, Justice Minister Helen Grant announced a proposed package of measures to ‘clean up the bailiff industry’, writes Kate Briscoe. Kate Briscoe founded the www.legalbeagles.info consumer website 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…

You can now search some 2.5 million criminal records going back as far 1770 online at the National Archives. Click HERE to search Pic credit: findmypast.co.uk/National Archive. It shows the 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…

Earlier this week it was ruled that the Government’s Work Programme was unlawful. The three judges who heard this case in the Court of Appeal ruled that the Secretary of more…

Peter Fahy, chief constable of Manchester and a senior member of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) yesterday responded to criticisms made by the Guardian journalist Martin Kettle which more…

Legal systems lie in the vulnerable position between the rock of justice and fairness and the hard place of workability and social control. Defence lawyers may be motivated by the more…

This week the gay marriage bill passed its first parliamentary reading in the House of Commons. Despite fears of an overwhelming Conservative rebellion, the bill went through 400 votes to 175, a majority more…

‘Woefully underequipped and hamstrung’ was the frank assessment of the Independent Police Complaints Commission by the Home Affairs Select Committee. The police watchdog had ‘neither the powers nor resources’ required more…

Very few people emerge with credit from the 1,700 pages and 270 recommendations of the Francis report on Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust. They are the relatively few staff who more…

Earlier this month defence lawyers called on its members to cite examples of ‘outrageous non-charging decisions where in the past on any sensible basis someone would have been put before more…

Blaming over-zealous police or irresponsible prosecutors for miscarriages of justice makes for a simple and straightforward narrative, writes Daniel Newman. As with most things, though, the reality is more complicated, more…

Yesterday it was ruled that a blanket requirement on job applicants to disclose minor offences, including cautions, amounted to a breach of their right to a private and family life more…

On 28 January 1896 the first ever speeding ticket was issued in Britain. Walter Arnold of East Peckham, Kent was fined a shilling (plus costs). He was travelling 8mph and more…

Barry George, wrongly convicted of the murder of BBC TV presenter Jill Dando, has lost a bid for compensation, ruled the High Court today. Three other people whose convictions had more…

A couple of months ago the justice secretary Chris Grayling opened consultation on the role of judicial review, writes Mhairi Aylott. He proposed major changes to the process: slashing the more…

During his People’s Budget speech in 1909, then Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George said: ‘I cannot help hoping and believing that before this generation has passed away, we more…

More than a century ago, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle used the columns of the Daily Telegraph and other publications to campaign for the exoneration of George Edalji wrongly convicted on more…

Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights grants citizens freedom of thought, conscience and religion, writes Mhairi Aylott. This includes freedom to change religion or belief, and freedom, more…

The deadly cancer mesothelioma is the latest target of proposed Government changes to the finding of legal actions which it claims will streamline the claims process, but in fact could more…

ESSAY: The Special Patrol Group is arguably the most controversial unit in the history of British policing, writes Brian Williams.  From 1973 to its replacement in 1986 the unit became more…

PROFILE: Chris Grayling, made history recently as the first non-lawyer to be appointed Lord Chancellor. So far he has not so far disappointed, writes Matt Evans. The rightwing, populist justice more…

The Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling, today has unveiled radical plans to outsource large parts of the probation service to the private and voluntary sectors, writes Mhairi Aylott. This announcement has more…

REVIEW: The Cardiff Five tells the story of a miscarriage of justice in which five innocent men were arrested, charged and initially held in prison for the murder of Lynette 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…

ADVICE GUIDE: You, like me, probably get the occasional letter addressed to the occupier, writes Samir Jeraj. Normally it’s some annoying direct marketing campaign or someone trying to get you sell more…

Merry Christmas and a Happy New from the JusticeGap. Thanks also to Isobel Williams for the festive sketch (www.izzybody.blogspot.co.uk.). See you in the New Year.     Jon, Kim & more…

For over four decades Tony Stock protested his innocence and fought to overturn a conviction for his part in the brutal robbery of a Tesco store in the Merrion Centre more…

Paula Gilfoyle was found hanged in the garage of the home she shared with her husband Eddie on the 4th June 1992. 32-year old Paula was eight and a half months more…

Transparency, accountability, equality. These are all things that this Government says it likes and respects, writes Laura Janes. Its actions also imply that these are qualities that we can reasonably more…

Most presume that the job of a defence lawyer ends when a magistrate or foreman of a jury announces that the defendant is guilty, writes Ian Brownhill. Or, when that more…

About 20 years ago – as a young and naïve trainee solicitor – I travelled from London to Lincoln prison to see a client, writes Matt Evans. The prison was more…

The Joint Committee on the Draft Communications Data Bill produced its report yesterday (available here) and it’s a devastating piece of work, writes Paul Bernal. It rips the bill, and more…

The House of Lords last week returned the Financial Services Bill to the House of Commons after completion of the third reading, writes Sarah Parkes. If passed, the Bill would more…

Judgments seldom make easy reading, even for lawyers. The judgments that really matter, by which I mean judgments that potentially introduce new principles or modify existing ones, tend to be more…

What works for men does not necessarily work for women – especially women with children, writes Mary-Rachel McCabe. The Prison Reform Trust has long been contending that this is what more…

‘Is it ever OK to break the law?’ It was one of the questions we asked of some 200 GCSE students at Mossbourne Community Academy in Hackney last week, writes more…

To be a cheerleader or a critic? As the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) faces a review of its own, this is the question for us all, writes Mark Newby. more…

As one of the 600 individuals and organisations who provided evidence to the Leveson enquiry, I was sceptical of the outcome, writes Juliet Shaw. I had first-hand experience of the more…

Two Newcastle fans in their late teens are watching their team play, writes Amanda Jacks. An equalising goal is scored and thanks to a surge of jubilant supporters – they more…

I was late, writes Ben Gunn. The iniquities of public transport coupled with my innate geographical deficits meant that I had to sneak through the doors and up to the more…

One of the many issues to emerge as a result of the McAlpine saga is the question of how vulnerable users of social media like twitter might be under defamation more…

Judicial review must be restricted. Not because it’s a bad thing, you understand. But because the economic imperative requires it – writes Ben McCormack. David Cameron’s argument is that business more…

ANALYSIS: Investigative journalism itself has come under the media lens recently following the BBC Newsnight error of judgment that resulted in Tory peer Lord McAlpine wrongly tainted with child abuse more…

ANALYSIS: The degree of British Government complicity in atrocities in Kenya during its Mau Mau rebellion against colonial rule only came to light in the spring of 2011, writes Brian more…

In England and Wales, the age from which children can be arrested, detained at police stations and questioned as part of an investigation is 10, writes Harriet Balcombe. This is more…

  When you think of a rough sleeper, do you think of a man or a woman? A new multimedia exhibition at the gallery@oxo this week will provide a unique more…

We’re making a few changes to the website – so bear with us. The changes will enable us to take ads. So if you want to advertise  – please email more…

The Justice and Security Bill plans to extend the use of closed material proceedings to all civil trials – secret court hearings – allowing the government to present evidence behind more…

ESSAY: Metropolitan Police Commander Peter Spindler described the Savile Case as a watershed in abuse investigations praising the media and the victims for exposing the scale of the abuse by more…

ADVICE GUIDE: 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 more…

Many still argue that prison for profit is wrong in principle but the debate is over as jurisdictions across the world seek ever cheaper solutions to their obsession with incarceration, more…

ANALYSIS: It might be assumed watching an appellant being released from the Court of Appeal that he or she will be compensated by the state for being wrongfully convicted and more…

REPORT: Demonstrators gathered outside Woolwich Crown Court on Tuesday earlier this week in support of Alfie Meadows, 21, who is being prosecuted for his involvement in the student tuition fees more…

‘We should treasure what happened in Liverpool. The families and indeed the public have faith in this,’ says Michael Mansfield QC of the Hillsborough Independent Panel and its ability to 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…

ESSAY: Bent for the Job:  A short history of police corruption and miscarriages of justice 1963 to 1990, by Brian Williams. Brian Williams (below)  is a Police Constable of nine more…

This week an independent tribunal in The Hague will examine the massacre by the Ayatollah Khomeini’s regime of some 20 to 30,000 political prisoners, men and women, in Iran in more…

A few weeks ago I wrote on the JusticeGap a blog about the Howard League for Penal Reform’s latest campaign, writes Lucy Russell.  The Howard League’s U R Boss project, more…

PCC elections: ‘A ‘relentless focus’ on cuts will be the number one priority for would be voters in the Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) elections. In one month’s time, voters more…

Regulation of the police station stage of the criminal process by the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and the PACE Codes of Practice is rightly regarded as a major more…

I explore the gunge in the waste disposal to retrieve the tiny pipette I use to fill a plastic brush-pen with ink. I take the wrong bus. Then I miss more…

A 2011 study by the Children’s Commissioner for England raised concerns about both the quality and variation in standards of care for young offenders with mental health issues, writes Kim more…

ANALYSIS: The evidence is clear: householders already have all the burglar-bashing rights they could wish for, writes Gordon Darroch. Elsewhere on the JusticeGap, you can read Mark George QC on more…

Chris Grayling, in his first speech as justice secretary today, is expected to give an indication as to where his priorities might lie by calling on all community sentences to more…

The question of who polices the police is more than rhetorical, writes Michael Etienne. It is a question posed in title of Ken Faro’s hard-hitting film documenting the death of more…

ANALYSIS: ‘They see the judge as being very fair to them. Even when he’s locking them up which he tries not to. This is the first court I have ever more…

ANALYSIS: On Tuesday 18 September, the Law Society held a public debate on the Defamation Bill, asking the panel – including two QCs, a libel reform campaigner and an in-house more…

There is a pressing need for accessible, high quality immigration advice in prisons and immigration removal centres (IRCs), a need which is recognised in official policy and specialist guidance, writes more…

REPORT: Detention Advice Service’s (DAS) 20th anniversary conference, which took place last week, went ahead under the title of ‘Foreign national prisoners: Meeting the challenges ahead’, writes Gemma Lousley. From more…

ESSAY: A story about Facebook went around twitter at the end of last week, a story that provoked quite a reaction: something that I had thought would be of interest more…

I’m going to start this piece by making three straightforward propositions, writes Daniel Hoadley. The first is that the law of England & Wales is difficult to get your head more…

PHOTO ESSAY: I met Bruce (15) and his partner Amy (17) as they were sleeping on the floor of a house in Market Town. Bruce went to the same high more…

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has announced that it will issue guidance on criminal charges for people who posting abusive comments on social media networks following homophobic tweets about Olympic more…

ANALYSIS: In 2002 the Court of Appeal rejected 15 grounds of appeal presented by Jeremy Bamber in a challenge to his 1986 conviction for the murder of 5 members of more…

Yesterday the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) made a judgment on the case of James, Well and Lee v. the United Kingdom – one current and two former IPP 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…

New research released today by social policy think tank IARS shows that procedures for assessing and dealing with young women’s mental health issues in police custody need to be improved more…

I once made a television programme about the phenomenon of the ‘Vexatious Litigant’, writes David Jessel. It was meant to be a sympathetic portrait, which made it all the more more…

FEATURE: There are over 6,000 people in prison who arguably shouldn’t be there and have no release date, writes Sophie Barnes. Of this number about half have already served their more…

There has been a 61% rise in the number of reported High Court and tax tribunal cases involving unrepresented litigants in the last five years. According to the legal publisher more…

The number of defamation court cases fell 15% last year, according to the legal publisher Sweet & Maxwell. Public scrutiny following the phone hacking scandal has led to ‘a lower more…

PHOTO ESSAY: This is Amy – she is 17 years’ old – after a dispute with her mother five months ago over a desire to visit her father (serving 12 more…

Claims management companies providing a poor service could be forced to pay compensation, according to plans published by the Ministry of Justice today. From next year it will be the more…

An interesting video surfaced this week from the place where all interesting videos surface – Youtube from last Friday’s Critical Mass demonstration in London, writes Mike Etienne. Photo by biggerbyfar more…

Children were suffering as a result of family cases taking too long to go through court, the Lord Chief Justice said yesterday. Lord Judge, introducing a new report following on more…

A government in denial, changing the very laws which currently allow ‘access to justice’, no matter how deep their pockets. A junior minister championing those reforms who has investments in more…

I’ve just been to see Hamdy Shahein. He’s the Stoke Newington newsagent who was strong-armed by Hackney’s Trading Standards and Police officers to take down his Olympic Torch Relay (TM) more…

At the end of last year Tesco announced that it was going to re-submit its application for an out of centre supermarket in Holmfirth, writes Margaret Dale of Keep Holmfirth more…

‘Knives aren’t allowed so I forget about trying to sharpen charcoal pencils and end up smearing my face with burnt sticks as usual,’ writes Isobel Williams, about the perils of more…

The Crown Prosecution Service last year prosecuted 91,000 cases involving violence against women and girls, up from 75,000 cases three years before, and convictions rose by 29% over the same more…

ANALYSIS: Following the 2003 Home Office White Paper Respect and Responsibility: Taking a Stand Against Anti-Social Behaviour, and the 2008 Green Paper Engaging Communities in Criminal Justice, a greater emphasis more…

REPORT: Community justice: do we get it? Last week the JusticeGap and Hackney Community Law Centre hosted a debate on the House of Commons. Kim Evans reports.   ‘People should be more…

‘Blairism led to 21 criminal justice bills in 13 years,’ said justice secretary Ken Clarke on the Andrew Marr show last February  - and he didn’t mean that as a more…

REVIEW: Ken Clarke, the Talleyrand of early 21st century British politics, took part in a public ‘conversation’ with Roger Smith, the director of JUSTICE, on 10th July, writes Francis FitzGibbon more…

ESSAY: Parliament used the Legal Services Act 2007 to enshrine the need to increase access to justice within legal services regulation, writes Alex Roy of the Legal Services Board.  As more…

ANALYSIS: Are we heading for another summer of discontent, writes Kim Evans. Judging by a report recently published by the Equality and Human Rights Commission on the police’s use of more…

‘We’re back where we were in the late 1980s,’ argued Campbell Malone, the veteran defence lawyer and miscarriage of justice campaigner at a debate in Manchester last week.  ‘We have more…

The ‘Twitter Joke Trial’ was back in the High Court yesterday, writes Kitty Stainsby. The appellant, Paul Chambers, was convicted of sending a menacing tweet about Robin Hood airport, which more…

The Appeal judges yesterday considered whether a person had made an ‘informed, voluntary and unequivocal waiver’ of their right to legal advice in a police station, writes Kim Evans. The Court of more…

The prospect confronting a courtroom artist is not that aesthetically pleasing: plastic water jugs, computers, suits, a far-away view of the subject – and you’re not even allowed to draw more…

Following the JusticeGap’s Wrongly Accused debate at College of London in Store Street, London in April, we are running a second debate in Manchester. We are organising it with the more…

EVENT: The JusticeGap together with Hackney Community Law Centre (HCLC)  is hosting a debate at the House of Commons on the role of the advice sector in communities in the more…

The JusticeGap is joining forces with Hackney Community Law Centre and the University College London’s faculty of law to work on a major public legal education (PLE) project aimed at more…

My brother has just been handed a community sentence for a crime he committed last year, writes Kimberley Tew. Even though all of his friends and family have known about more…

A Tribute to Dylan, written by Julie Price and Dennis Eady. Dylan O’Brien is not a name that is instantly recognised in the miscarriages of justice arena, but his story more…

ANALYSIS: Just before 7pm on July 9th 2010 Anthony Frederick, a grandfather with no criminal convictions, was chatting to his neighbour in his own driveway, writes Sasha Barton, a solicitor more…

The Equality and Human Rights Commission reported this week that the police were 28 times more likely to use stop-and-search powers against black people than white people. You can read more…

ANALYSIS: A headline on the BBC’s website yesterday reads: ‘Websites to be forced to identify trolls under new measures’, writes Paul Bernal. Beneath it, the first sentence says something somewhat more…

Until a few years ago the phrase ‘miscarriage of justice’ was rarely heard in the Netherlands, writes Gordon Darroch. But a handful of high-profile cases have put the country’s justice more…

The number of court orders to evict squatters in London’s wealthiest  boroughs has rocketed by over 100% in the last 12 months. You can read about the government’s plans to more…

There are new calls upon the legal profession’s watchdog to accept complaints from non-clients and consumers otherwise prevented from complaining due to ‘technicalities’ out today. The Legal Services Board’s independent more…

‘I thought it was a beacon of light which would ensure those wrongly convicted got justice.’ Susan May talking about the Criminal Cases Review Commission earlier this year. Despite the more…

Legal publisher LexisNexis asked their lawyers to nominate 10 ‘landmark’ legal cases that have taken place during HM’s reign, apparently to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Their imaginative team came more…

‘Prison is a society. It felt at times like we were prisoners of war and that there was an enemy outside. Perhaps that enemy was the media.’ Lord Hanningfield speaking more…

ANALYSIS: On 23 May, the Government published its Enterprise & Regulatory Reform Bill, as trailed in the Queen’s Speech, writes Richard Dunstan. With the aim of ‘improving the employment tribunal more…

A week after Lady Justice Hallett warned against her courtroom be ‘turned into a circus’ – see HERE – and the circus turned up to the Royal Courts of Justice. more…

ANALYSIS: Every criminal advocate knows that Crown Courts are ghost towns compared to a few years ago, writes Mark George QC. Many have suspected that the cause must be changes more…

Business Secretary Vince Cable yesterday attacked ‘ideological zealots who want to encourage British firms to fire at will’.  He was speaking after a draft of the venture capitalist Adrian Beecroft’s more…

Last week, those of us involved directly or indirectly in the miscarriage of justice world were celebrating that rare event – the decision by the Court of Appeal to quash more…

ANALYSIS: I read with dismay the latest government proposals regarding the so called ‘streamlining’ of anti social behaviour orders (Asbos), and the proposed powers to put power to force the more…

REPORT: Sam Hallam was ‘the victim of a serious miscarriage of justice’, writes Kim Evans. So said Henry Blaxland QC in his opening address to the Court of Appeal today. more…

Sam Hallam was freed on bail today after the prosecution said it would not oppose his appeal against the conviction. Pic: Sam Hallam leaving court today (Kim Evans) Read Kim more…

‘It made me feel furious and totally helpless that someone could easily take my photo and set up a fake account in my name pretending to be me. The reaction more…

Broadcasters welcomed the inclusion in the Queen’s speech of the promise of legislation to allow them to film court proceedings. In a joint statement from Sky News, ITN and the more…

Defence firms ‘should make it clear to legal aid clients how their publicly funded status affects the service they get’, according to a leading solicitor advocate. ‘It’s a myth that more…

Ministers are to announce plans to allow magistrates to sit on their own in community centres or police stations in a bid to speed up justice. According to a report more…

Join the Justice Gap team for the London Legal Walk, which takes place after work on Monday 21st May 2012. Thanks to Amanda Bancroft who writes Beneath the Wig blog more…

TICKETS AVAILABLE: As part of the Justice Gap, series we are teaming up for a second year with the Prisoners Advice Service to host their annual debate. You can read more…

The day before district judge Richard Chapman talks to the JusticeGap is a typically frantic day at Telford County Court. On his list, there were 12 ‘Children Act’ cases featuring more…

‘My brother, Eddie Gilfoyle has just spent 18 years in prison for something he didn’t do. 18 years is a long time in prison if you are guilty. If you more…

The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Act 2012 received Royal Assent today. The legislation will remove £350m from the £2.2bn legal aid budget by removing entire areas more…

A High Court judge yesterday blamed a ‘Hello magazine’ culture to marriage for fuelling a dramatic rise in divorce.  Sir Paul Coleridge, who sits in the Family Division, speaking on more…

The High Court last week ordered a toddler be returned to her parents after she was removed at birth following the death of her brother in 2009 bringing to an 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…

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 Prof more…

BBC, ITN and Sky are pushing to overturn the ban on cameras in courtrooms. The broadcasters are joint signatories to a letter calling for the provision to be included in more…

The number of people convicted of cruelty and neglect to animals rose by nearly a quarter last year, according to RSPCA figures announced today. You can read Dr Angus Nurse more…

ANALYSIS: Felicity Gerry considers how courts treat vulnerable defendants. Since the trial of Venables and Thompson where two children were tried in an adult court for the murder of James more…

Ministers backed down on controversial plans to make it harder for victims of domestic violence to claim legal aid; but otherwise refused to bow to all but three of the more…

As Billy Mills stood on the steps of the Edinburgh Court of Criminal Appeal in March 2009, he was overcome with relief as the words of Lord Gill echoed in more…

ADVICE GUIDE: Rita Jackson explains 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 more…

ANALYSIS: The UK currently has the most privatised prison system in Europe, writes Michael Teague. Is privatisation the answer to our overcrowded prison system? Pic credit: Alberto. From April 2012, more…

ANALYSIS: Here’s a paradox, writes Francis FitzGibbon: in the same week, the government says it wants more powers to scrutinize your phone calls and online communications, it insists on less more…

GARETH PEIRCE: ‘It is not the first time in history that the Court of Appeal has been an impediment to cases being reopened. There have been battles in the past more…

LIVE TWEETING AND BLOGGING  from the courts today and tomorrow. Jon Robins (@JusticeGap) is taking part in the Guardian Live Justice project this week. On April 3rd Jon is reporting more…

The Co-operative has become the first major consumer brand to be licensed by the solicitors’ regulatory body to offer the full range of high street legal services. Co-operative Legal Services more…

The House of Lords’ constitution committee today published a report calling for ‘a more diverse judiciary’ to ‘improve public trust and confidence’ including the possibility for targets for female and more…

An innovative video conferencing scheme linking lawyers to the public, free to use and provided by Instant Law went live in an Oxford community centre today. As reported before HERE, more…

ADVICE GUIDE: Almost one in four complaints about lawyers relate to clients feeling ‘over-charged, confused, or surprised’ at the costs. The following guide is aimed at consumers to make sure more…

FEATURE: Kim Evans reports on the tragic death of a young father after a police chase. In the early hours of the 18th May 2008, 22-year-old Lee Lewis made a more…

ADVICE GUIDE: Rita Jackson advises you on what to do if you are struggling with your mortgage repayments and fear that you might lose your home. This guide relates to more…

‘Cost’ was the single most common cause of complaints from clients about their lawyers, according to a new report published Legal Ombudsman. It found that in ‘20% to 25%’ of more…

ANALYSIS: The decision to award Applied Language Solutions the contract for court interpretation services has met with fierce criticism – yesterday interpreters demonstrated outside the House of Commons. Marc Starr, more…

Yvette Livingstone is the mother of six-year old Annie, who was left with severe life-long disabilities after a series of medical blunders. Yvette argues Annie’s legal action for compensation could more…

One in five psychologists instructed as expert witness in the family courts was deemed ‘inadequately qualified for the role’, in a new report out today. Evaluating Expert Witness Psychological Reports: more…

OPEN JUSTICE: You can read the JusticeGap guide to court reporting below. The guide was prepared to tie in with a Scottish initiative called Open Justice week  which aimed to more…

Cutting costs was damaging Crown Court cases, according to a report into the Crown Prosecution Service. Michael Fuller, chief inspector of Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI), warned that more…

Last year, the legal action involving 100 families seeking compensation on behalf of their children against the anti-convulsant Epilim came to a premature end, writes Janet Williams. You can read more…

The Government’s legal aid reforms Bill received another bashing at the hands of peers yesterday. The Legal Aid, Punishment and Sentencing of Offenders Bill – which aims to strip away more…

If you are interested in attending the launch for Wrongly accused. Who is responsible for investigating miscarriages of justice? let us know. WHERE: College of Law, 14 Store Street, London more…

The controversial legal aid Bill is back in the House of Lords this week, as the campaign against its planned £350m cuts are joined by faith leaders as well a more…

ANALYSIS: In the very same week that the BBC announced it was to axe Rough Justice, three Appeal Court judges quashed the murder conviction of a young man, whose wrongful more…

LATEST IN THE JUSTICE GAP SERIES OUT NOW: ‘Our system of criminal justice is not perfect,’ writes Mr Justice Sweeney in his introduction to a new collection of essays about more…

Improvements needed be made to police rape investigations, according to a new report out this week. The report by HM Inspectorates of Constabulary and the Crown Prosecution Service (Forging the more…

The Ministry of Justice yesterday tabled two amendments to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill. On domestic violence: Ministers have promised to ‘put it beyond doubt that more…

Warring neighbours have been warned away from resorting to the courts to sort out boundary disputes by the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal was considering a ‘protracted boundary more…

ANALYSIS. John Storer writes about the growing crisis enveloping  a controversial new contract to run court interpreter services. I live and work as a criminal defence lawyer in Boston, Lincolnshire, a more…

Next week marks the start of a potentially fascinating experiment that aims to shine some light on those under-exposed parts of the justice system. ‘Open Justice week’ is a Scottish more…

At 9.30am on Friday this week Christopher Tappin must report to Heathrow’s police station. Tappin (it was noted in this Saturday’s Times) makes ‘an improbable criminal’. Christopher Tappin is a more…

Ministers have promised a ‘major legal overhaul of the bailiff industry’ setting out ‘how ethical activity should be enshrined in law’. ‘Too many people have experienced intrusive, expensive and stressful more…

‘Society wants to know about prison life, an interesting place to visit but you wouldn’t want to live there.’ Frankie Owen, from The Little Book of Prison. You can read more…

The Prime Minister David Cameron launched his latest attack on the ‘compensation culture’ pledging to slash the £1,200 fee for lawyers on small personal injury claims. [Pic by Sehb Hundal]. more…

Judges this week retired to mull over whether a Twitter message threatening to blow up a snowbound airport ‘sky high’ was a ‘a menace to society’. Illustration by Sehb Hundal. more…

Michael Teague asks why UK penal policy is so influenced by the American experience. ‘Our Europe-leading imprisonment rate appears positively puny compared to the USA’s muscular embrace of mass incarceration. more…

Ministers have backed a ‘presumption of shared parenting’ between fathers and mothers following a relationship breakdown, flying in the face of the views of an independent review of family justice. more…

The demonization of young women was leading to a failure to secure more convictions of suspected rapists, according to Alison Saunders, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service in London. more…

Reforms of ‘no win, no fee’ will play into the hands of big business and media groups,  campaigners told peers as they debated the legal aid Bill in the House more…

Criminals are to be banned from making claims for injuries from a special fund set up to help victims of crime, according to the Guardian. Ken Clarke, the  justice secretary, more…

Fulcrum TV is looking for willing volunteers to take part in a new BBC ONE series that aims to show consumers that they have rights and can get justice for more…

Missing documents that led to the dramatic collapse of a multi-million pound police corruption trial in the Lynette White case last month have resurfaced despite claims they were shredded. You more…

The Innocence Network UK, an umbrella group for the university-based Innocence Projects set up by law students to investigate miscarriage cases, has  called for an overhaul of the CCRC and more…

David Cameron yesterday called for reform of the European Court of Human Rights to prevent it turning into ‘a small claims court’ that was  ‘swamped’ by ‘spurious’ cases. The Prime more…

Concerns are mounting over the closure of the Forensic Science Service scheduled for March 2012. In a letter to the justice secretary Ken Clarke, the Law Society predicted ‘a contraction more…

Up to four million library users will be able to access free legal advice via webcams. Birmingham and Westminster city councils are teaming up with Instant Law, which recently launched more…

The fundamental right to free legal advice for people held in police stations will not be cut as part of the package of legal reforms which threatened to remove £350m more…

New advice published aimed at people going through the courts without legal advice. The Royal Courts of Justice Advice Bureau, together with AdviceNow, this week publishes a series of advice more…

The law on joint enterprise was ‘so confusing for juries and courts alike’ that legislation was necessary to ensure justice for both victims and defendants and end the high number more…

‘This was a deliberate act by Merseyside Police to frame me.’ So said Eddie Gilfoyle on BBC Radio 4′s Broadcasting House at the weekend. He was convicted in 1992 of more…

The increase in claims for whiplash is the main reason for the growth of motor insurance premiums, according to a report releasd today by the House of Commons Transport Committee. more…

INTERVIEW: Michael Mansfield QC on Stephen Lawrence. Michael Mansfield’s CV serves as a reasonably exhaustive list of left wing causes célèbres spanning  three decades: miners’ strike, Birmingham Six, Jean Charles more…

The government is determined to kill off the ‘health and safety monster’ by limiting the fees lawyers can earn from personal injury claims. The Daily Telegraph reported that David Cameron more…

Explosive new evidence has been uncovered by The Times in the case of Eddie Gilfoyle, jailed for murdering his pregnant wife Paula. He was jailed for life in 1993 for 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…

Courts will be put under a legal duty to ensure that both fathers and mothers are given access to children in divorce settlements, according to a report in the Daily more…

David Norris and Gary Dobson (left and right) have been ordered to serve minimum sentences of 15 and 14 years respectively for the ‘terrible and evil’ murder of the black teenager more…

Women were told to expect ‘definitive advice’ on faulty breast implants by the end of the week by Andrew Lansley, the health secretary. Lansley told  BBC Radio 4′s Today programme more…

FEELING FESTIVE? Season’s greetings from www.thejusticegap.com here. Check out Jules Carey’s blog and also read Citizen’s Advice’s Richard Dunstan’s blog.  Illustration: Sehb Hundal  

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…

ADVICE GUIDE: ‘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. more…

A teenager who exchanged fire in a gunfight leading to the death of a passer-by died has been found guilty of murder despite not firing the fatal shot. The Supreme more…

Whistle blowers in the NHS should be ‘championed’ and not served with gagging clauses, argued the doctor who blew the whistle on the inadequacies of the department in which Baby more…

Advances in neuroscience indicate the age of criminal responsibility – 10 years in England and Wales – might be too low, according to a study. The Royal Society report (Neuroscience 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…

Instant Law, a new law firm based in Oxford, is inviting members of the public to take part in the trial of a new service to be launched in 2012. more…

The biggest trial of police officers in British legal history collapsed after a judge ruled that they could not receive a fair hearing. Eight former police officers and two civilians more…

The most senior judge in England and Wales this week made the case for reform of ‘fiendishly difficult’ murder law. The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge MPs urged to be more…

ADVICE GUIDE: Have you ever been invited along to the police station for a chat? Would you think twice if you were? Kim Evans on the police interview, and how more…

Ministers have delayed the implementation of its controversial legal aid reform programme under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill by six months. The plans would remove a more…

Pressure is mounting on the government to reconsider plans to start returning child asylum seekers to Afghanistan. The current situation is that unaccompanied asylum-seeking children from the war zone are more…

Vince Cable yesterday announced ‘the most radical reform to the employment law system for decades’ – as part of the Government’s plan for ‘cutting unnecessary demands on business while safeguarding more…

The justice secretary Ken Clarke has announced a last minute change of heart and decided to back the creation of the new office of chief coroner. It was the second more…

Only three things are wrong with the legal aid Bill’s approach to social welfare law: it is immoral, unconstitutional and crazy. ‘First of all it is immoral to pick on more…

Ministers have announced almost £17 million fund for the legal not-for-profit advice sector, as the controversial legal aid bill which looks to decimate the sector enters the House of Lords. more…

‘Making the best of a bad job.’ That was the downbeat assessment of the independent judicial body, the Civil Justice Council on its own recommendations to secure access to justice 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…

The High Court has ordered the man behind the SolicitorsFromHell.co.uk which claimed to ‘name and shame’ allegedly poor lawyers to shut his site  down.  The court ordered Rick Kordowski to more…

Scrapping legal aid for employment will have ‘the perverse effect’ of increasing tribunal cases, according to a new report by Citizens Advice out today. You can read the full report more…

A new paper by the independent judicial body the Civil Justice Council on unrepresented litigants has predicted that the number of those unfortunate enough to come before the courts without more…

ADVICE GUIDE: Kim Evans on what you need to know if you are arrested – read it here. Around one and a half million people are arrested every year in more…

In 2003 Juliet Shaw received a request from a freelance journalist writing for the Daily Mail to take part in a feature about the benefits of moving from city to more…

We are very pleased to announce that www.thejusticegap.com is part of the Guardian Legal Network. The Guardian Legal Network (in its words) ‘brings together the best blogs and sites that more…

The Supreme Court yesterday ruled that a man from who split up from his partner nearly two decades ago is not entitled to half the value of the house they more…

This week is National Pro Bono week – where lawyers put their customary reserve to one side to talk about the good works they do for nothing. According to LawWorks more…

INTERVIEW WITH THE LEGAL OMBUDSMAN: Law firms and individual lawyers will be named and shamed where there is a pattern of complaints or when it is in the public interest more…

The Office for Legal Complaints, which oversees the Legal Ombudsman, has decided to ‘name and shame’ lawyers in specific circumstances. From next year, for the first time specific information about more…

If you haven’t got a will, then you probably ought to – see the Justice Gap advice guide. November is Will Aid week where some lawyers forgo their fees donating more…

According to a survey by Citizens Advice and the family lawyers’ group Resolution, of almost 1,000 cases involving family break up over half (54%) needed to be referred to a more…

Family rights campaigners have expressed ‘serious concerns that not more was being proposed to avert care proceedings’, in their response to the Family Justice Review’s final report out today. Cathy more…

The government has pulled the plug on its national mediation helpline whilst pledging to move out-of-court initiatives ‘centre stage’. The helpline was axed as a result of a continuing decline in more…

On Saturday 29th October I returned to Dale Farm as one of a small team of legal observers, writes legal observer Susannah Mengesha. There’s an ever-growing list of required safety more…

ANALYSIS: High profile miscarriage cases attract publicity because of corrupt police or dishonest or incompetent experts, writes Maslen Merchant; however, compare those relatively few cases with the number of cases more…

Ahead of MPs debating the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill this afternoon a group of 24 national charities including Mind, Scope, the RNIB, Mencap, and Leonard Cheshire more…

Report from Dale Farm: Susannah Mengesha, a volunteer legal observer for the Dale Farm Solidarity campaign, reports on what’s going on to the residents and their supporters at the controversial travellers’ site, why it isn’t being reported by the press and why it’s important for legal observers to shine a light on what’s really happening.

Eagle-eyed shoppers on the high streets of England and Wales might have detected the first signs of a ‘revolution’ in legal services: the appearance of the first national chain of law firms.
Quality Act: The X-factor’s Stacey Solomon opens a new branch of Quality Solicitors (below).

Up to £1 million a year will be taken from prisoners’ wages to support victims of crime, ministers have said. The Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke, as part of his rehabilitation more…

KIM EVANS AND FRANCIS FITZGIBBON QC: On Wednesday, the appeals of Blackshaw and Sutcliffe, the so called ‘Facebook Rioters’ were dismissed in The High Court, and their prison sentences upheld. more…

Lord Judge, the Lord Chief Justice and most senior judge in England and Wales, has said that courts need only ‘take account’ of the decisions of the European Court of more…

COMMENT: Eamonn O’Neill, lecturer in journalism at University of Strathclyde and award winning  investigative journalist on why the CCRC needs to be overhauled and why the media has played its more…

‘A SELF EVIDENT INJUSTICE’. Ralph Barrington, former head of Essex CID and up until March this year investigations adviser to the Criminal Cases Review Commission, goes through the controversial evidence more…

Emma Friedman, mother of 13 year old Andy, on the failed Epilim litigation against Sanofi-Aventis. Emma took the drug when pregnant to prevent epileptic fits. She was one of 100 more…

The forgotten thalidomide: Karl Murphy’s long fight for justice against the drug company that he believes damaged him in the womb.

The justice minister, Jonathan Djanogly, has been stripped of his responsibility to regulate claims management companies after a Guardian investigation that revealed how his family could profit from the legal more…

Harsh sentences handed out to anyone involved in this summer’s riots were upheld by the Court of Appeal yesterday. Rejecting all but three of 10 appeals considered, they stressed that more…

A hotel porter won a share of his ex-wife’s £500,000 National Lottery payout in what is reckoned to be the first divorce case involving the distribution of a lottery windfall. more…

Government plans to double the qualification period for the right to claim unfair dismissal from one to two years as part of a move to ‘increase business confidence to take more…

The Supreme Court ruled that immigration rules introduced in 2008 to bar foreign spouses from entering the UK if either spouse is under 21 was a disproportionate interference with the more…

For much of the Legal Services Commission’s 12-year life, legal aid lawyers have fired vitriol – some of it fair, much of it not – at the Commission and its more…

KIM EVANS: The relatively innocent fumblings of teenagers can ruin young lives. Last year I represented a 17-year old male who had been arrested for rape, quite possibly the worst more…

IAN ROBERTSON: We  look at the Family Drugs and Alcohol Court in London and Drug with envy. It seems so sensible and humane and so at odds with the reality more…

It was revealed that the number of babies adopted in England fell to just 60 last year  - compared to 3,660 under one year olds in care – according to more…

MATT EVANS: Theresa May, full time home secretary and part-time shoe fetishist, cited various ‘and I am not making this up’ examples including the now notorious Maya, a cat (which more…

‘David Cameron talked about the 120,000 most dysfunctional families in the country in the wake of the riots. Well, we are tackling some of them and with some success,’ says more…

JAMES SANDBACH: No-one expects that Government can replicate a universal NHS style service when it comes to dealing with people’s financial and legal problems. But its retreat from funding civil more…

KIM EVANS: As I help my teenage children to tiptoe through the hormonal minefield that is their teenage years, I wonder if they’re lucky or not in their mother’s choice more…

David Cameron is to make forced marriage a crime. In a speech expected to be delivered later today, the Prime Minister is expected to say that the Government wants to more…

Today marks a seismic shift in the law world. The introduction of non-law businesses – they’re called ABSs or alternative business structures – on October 6th under the Legal Services more…

MICHAEL MANSFIELD: ‘The Criminal Cases Review Commission needs to be supported and expanded. Let’s not go back to the iniquities of pre-history. There is a strong reactionary lobby which should more…

‘I genuinely believe “access to justice” is the hallmark of a civilised society.’ It was with those inspiring words that justice secretary Ken Clarke introduced his government’s legal aid reforms more…

A leading academic has lent his weight to a new campaign for proper compensation for the victims of miscarriages of justice. Professor John Spencer QC, of Cambridge University, has damned more…

Jonathan Djanogly was forced to admit this week that his two children had owned shares in a claims management firm despite his department’s responsibility for regulating the notoriously controversial industry. more…

The Government is planning to remove the ‘fundamental’ right to free legal advice for people held in police. Under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, clause 12, more…

The year that Tony Stock was convicted for his part in a brutal robbery of a Tesco store in the Merrion Centre at Leeds, Edward Heath became British Prime Minister more…

Workers will have to pay over £1,000 to bring unfair dismissal claims, the government announced. The chancellor, George Osborne is proposing that applicants will have to cover the costs of more…

A consortium of retailers and businesses led by the Association of British Insurers has called for an end to the ‘have a go’ compensation culture The group, which included Argos, more…

The ‘death in custody’ provisions in the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 came into force this month (1st September 2011). The campaigning group INQUEST welcomed the move arguing more…

A motor insurer has claimed that some 300,000 drivers might have accepted penalty points on behalf of someone else in the last ten years. The research from LV= estimated about more…

Cutting legal aid is ‘a false economy’, according to the report of  a panel of three non lawyer experts . Unequal before the law? the future of legal aid sets more…

Ken Clarke blamed the riots that swept across the UK on a penal system that failed to deal with the reoffending of ‘a feral underclass’. The Justice Secretary revealed that more…

Appeal judges attacked the approach to the sentencing of rioters taken by Judge Andrew Gilbart, the Recorder of Manchester. Following the August riots, Gilbart at Manchester Crown Court said the more…

The deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, writing in the Guardian, paid tribute to the UK’s ‘proud history of international leadership on human rights’. ‘Yet something strange has happened in recent more…

Divorces in England and Wales are apparently being held up by couples sniping over supermarket penalty points and air miles as the recession bites, according to Manchester-based law firm Pannones. more…

A mystery shopper exercise by the Legal Services Consumer Panel failed one in four wills. Currently, there are no restrictions on who can draft wills and there are increasing numbers more…

Over half of voluntary and community organisations have had to shut services over the last year and a similar number expected further closures over the next year

KIM EVANS: ‘I’d guesstimate that 90% of my clients have a personality disorder, mental health issues, and, or, serious substance addiction be it drugs or alcohol.’ Kim Evans has spent more…

Who said romance was dead? A legal expenses insurer has launched what it rather delicately refers to as ‘nuptial insurance products’. ‘As the first of their kind to hit the more…

The family of Milly Dowler, the murdered schoolgirl, has attacked the government’s controversial plans to overhaul ‘no win, no fee’ deals. In a letter to the Prime Minister, Sally, Bob more…