First, a tip of the hat to John Bolch at Family Lore for spotting that the LSC has increased its provision of grants to for 'legal aid' traineeships by 100, on top of the current 492 (apparently, but only 71 firms involved?). While the grants might seem like...
Disability and tenancy – More on Malcolm
I posted on Lewisham v Malcolm ten days ago. Since then a couple of commentors have raised issues and Tessa has posted on the implications of the case at Landlord Law. So it seemed worth a further look. The caveat is that what follows is my understanding of...
Quantum in Disrepair
I've been meaning to post on this for a while and have been prodded into life by quite a few searchers on the topic. The reason I've been delaying is that, frankly, it is a bit of a sod. Unlike the carefully calculated, quantified, actuarialised and...
Possession claims dropping? Not all.
The latest figures, up to Quarter 2 2007 are available on the Ministry of Justice site, link to the PDF. The figures show quite a drop in the Q2 figures for non-accelerated possession claims issued (including claims by Councils and Housing Associations)...
Obvious filler 5
Time for another in the intermittent series of startling insights into human life afforded by the search terms that somehow brought people to this blog. Also known as a lazy post on a Saturday night. By the way, the campaign to make Nearly Legal the blog of...
Yossarian -v- the Legal Services Commission
A few more details on R(Southwark Law Centre) v Legal Services Commission [2007] EWHC 1715 (Admin), which I mentioned a few days ago. First, it is worth noting that Mr Justice Collins effectively said that 'net rent' for the purposes of the LSC entitlement...
Tenants' Rights – The Book
I have finally laid my hands upon a copy of the new book by Tessa Shepperson, the maestro of Landlord law blog and old friend of this blog. The book has been out since early summer, so apologies to Tessa for my belatedness. Given this intro, I can hardly...
Catching up – s.21 and tenants' deposits
A very interesting article by Francis Davey in September's Legal Action about the Housing Act 2004. The whole piece rewards a read, but two bits caught my eye. We don't do that many private tenancy possession defences, relatively speaking, so these were new...
Catching up – Disability Discrimination and possession
Time for some substantive law at last. I missed this one while I was on holiday and have just had it brought to my attention. LB Lewisham -v- Malcolm & Disability Rights Commission (Intervener) [2007] EWCA Civ 763. A very interesting case on the...
Don't put our client on the stand
_____________________________________ Brief to Counsel to the tune of Noel Coward's Don't put your daughter on the stage _____________________________________ Don't put our client on the stand Mr Worthington, Don't put our client on the stand. The possession...
The summer of dodgy lawyers continues.
An extraordinary tale in today's Observer. Bruce Hyman, a practising barrister, has pleaded guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice. The full story is at the link, but what apparently happened was that Hyman, representing a client in a family...
Moral Idiocy and Human Rights
Clear good sense on human rights and the Chiandamo affair in the Daily Telegraph of all places. (My own earlier take is here). Thanks to Tim Worstall for the link.