I was running through my blawg roll (on the right) earlier and realised I'd have to have a bit of a prune. Anything with no posts since May goes out, I thought. Blimey, a few surprises there. I'd put some silences down to it (technically) being summer, but...
Human Rights – once more with feeling
Another day, another case, another set of screaming tabloid headlines accusing the Human Rights Act of being the criminal's charter, another promise from Little Lord Fauntleroy to 'repeal the Human Rights Act and bring in a British bill of rights'. The whole...
It's always the conveyancers you have to watch…
Not content with passing off 'he was discussing insurance in my office' as an alibi for an alleged offence of abduction and extortion by a client in 2005, Shahid Pervez, a Scottish ex-conveyancer now convicted of perverting the course of justice, also fell...
Public funding and rent payable
I meant to post about this one a month ago but got sidetracked. A case for any civil legal aid people to note. Funding Certificates are means-tested. Funding issued by practioners under devloved powers can be and is yanked by the Legal Services Commission if...
Time fast and slow
Well that was quick. A few days and an intensive reminder of why I don't like defending ASB possession cases later and the holiday seems like nothing but an eye blink, already distant. Still, it was lovely while it lasted, although it always comes as a bit...
Legal Aid, one Judicial Review down…
The Society of Asian Lawyers and the Black Solicitors Network judicial review of the LSC proposals has been settled after an adjournment on the basis that the LSC carry out a full retrospective and prospective cumulative Race Equality Impact Assessment. (See...
Waiting for Counsel
(With apologies to Samuel Beckett, Literature, and everyone else) Act 1 Darkness. Lights up. Trainee sitting on a worn vinyl bench, to the right a board on the wall, with sheets of tattered A4 paper pinned to it. To the left a swing door. Trainee wrestles...
Double-take Corner
We can categorically state that we have not released man-eating badgers into the area. And "MR JUSTICE PETER SMITH: No, if you are going to say my conduct in court is quite remarkable, you have to say why. In which way do you think my conduct has been...
Brownfields to Brown homes?
I've been adopting a wait and see approach to the Brown government, but if this report in the Observer is true, it is most certainly a good thing. Councils are apparently to be permitted to build more housing stock and possibly have rent income released back...
Publawyer on public function
Just a quick note that Publawyer has posted an excellent discussion of YL v Birmingham and the broader impact on thinking about functional public authorities for the purposes of the Human Rights Act. Sure, it's a bit late, but he's been away. It makes a good...
The horse's mouth
I was delighted to see some comments from members of the Community Law Partnership on this blog today, adding to my notes on some of their Court of Appeal cases. The comments are detailed and very helpful, adding a lot to my scanty commentary, so, for the...
McGonagall
Corporate Blawg's Blawg Review is up. I believe the word that I am groping for is "awe", possibly "shock" as well, but definitely mostly awe. [For anyone bewildered by the title of this post, enlightenment may be found here]