Monthly News Archives: September 2022
26 September 2022 by Matthew Johnson
In the news
The Law Commission has proposed to ban discrimination in the appointment of arbitrators. At present, women are still ‘around three times less likely to be appointed as arbitrators than men’. The proposed reform would amend the Arbitration Act 1996 so that any agreement in relation to proposed arbitrator’s protected characteristics should be unenforceable. At present, many arbitration agreements require a ‘commercial man’ or similar. This situation received judicial treatment in 2011 in the case of Hashwani v Jivraj, where it was decided in the UKSC that since an arbitrator was not appointed under a contract of employment, employment law rules against discrimination did not apply.
Barristers on strike have had the first talk with the Justice Secretary, the newly appointed Brandon Lewis. The chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, Kirsty Brimelow KC, said the group was willing to negotiate, having taken the decision to strike following repeated requests to meet with Lewis’ predecessor, Dominic Raab, to no avail. The Justice Secretary described the talks as a ‘constructive initial meeting’ and urged the CBA to stop the strike while negotiations were underway. The CBA is still asking for a 25% rise in pay for legal aid in defence cases.
Continue reading →Like this:
Like Loading...
26 September 2022 by Rosalind English
This year Law Pod UK celebrates its fifth birthday. In 2017 we were amongst the very first to roll out a specialised series of podcasts about the law in the United Kingdom. And after a brief hiatus we’re back with a bang, with two new presenters and a number of exciting upcoming guests.
May I first introduce Jim Duffy, whose episode this is: Psychology or Pseudoscience? (No. 168)
Jim has extensive experience across clinical negligence, inquests and inquiries, personal injury, human rights, tax and employment and discrimination.
He is a member of the Attorney General’s Panel of Counsel (‘B’ Panel) and has particular experience of prison law and employment claims, acting on both sides.
In this episode he talks to Clare Ciborowska and Richard Ager at the Brighton Annexe of 1 Crown Office Row about how the family court deals with allegations of ‘alienating behaviour’ by one parent against another. They examine in particular the part psychologists play in that process.
Waiting in the wings is our second new presenter, Lucy McCann. You will be meeting her shortly. Lucy has recently joined Chambers after a stellar pre-pupillage career, including editing the OUP’s practitioner text, Judicial Review: Principles and Procedure and lecturing in public law at City Law School.
Back to Law Pod UK: we now have a strong following amongst lawyers, law students and those interested in legal issues. We recently surpassed 645,000 listens and have hosted guests including Nazir Afzal OBE, Bill Browder, Gráinne de Búrca, Lord Anderson of Ipswich KC, Harriet Wistrich and Joshua Rozenberg, and panels involving Lord Justice Singh and Sir Steven Sedley.
Like this:
Like Loading...
20 September 2022 by Lucy Stock
In the news
- On Thursday 8 September, Queen Elizabeth II, the UK’s longest-serving monarch, died peacefully at Balmoral aged 96. She is succeeded by her son, King Charles III. He described the death of his mother as a ‘moment of great sadness’ for him and his family, and that her loss would be ‘deeply felt’ around the world. Her state funeral this Monday was watched by around 4 billion people worldwide, and more than a million people lined the streets of London to pay tribute.
- On Friday 17 September, the measure known as section 28 was extended to five more crown courts, taking the total number to 63. The policy allows complainants of offences including modern slavery to be cross-examined before trial in front of a limited number of people. Although many barristers support the principle of the policy, some have stated there are insufficient resources for the scheme, particularly in the light of the indefinite walkout over legal aid fees. Many advocates refused to do section 28 cases pre-strike given the amount of extra unpaid work required.
- The quarter-of-a-billion-pound IT project rolled out by the Ministry of Justice to increase the efficiency of sharing information between courts, lawyers and police has come under criticism. The Common Platform software system has been accused of putting the justice system ‘at risk’. It is reported the system has been resulting in difficulties for lawyers, unlawful detentions, and wrongful arrests. Whistle-blowers have called the system ‘faulty, unsafe and unfinished’.
Continue reading →Like this:
Like Loading...
20 September 2022 by Guest Contributor
On 8 September 2022, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) handed down its decision in Drelon v France (application nos. 3153/16 and 27758/18).[1] The Court unanimously found a violation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights in relation to the collection by the French Blood Donation Service, the Établissement Français du Sang (EFS), of personal data relating to a potential blood donor’s presumed sexual orientation and the excessive length of time the data was kept in a public institution.
Continue reading →Like this:
Like Loading...
16 September 2022 by Robert Kellar QC
In recent years, digital assets including cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have commanded considerable media attention. Speaking extra-judicially in the foreward to the UKJT Statement on Crypto-assets and Smart Contracts in November 2019, the Master of the Rolls, Sir Geoffrey Vos, has stated that: “In legal terms, cryptoassets and smart contracts undoubtedly represent the future”. To what extent should the law of the future grant property rights in respect of crypto assets? Will the inalienable right to peaceful enjoyment of possessions apply to tokens existing only on the blockchain? Or to NFTs residing only in the ‘metaverse’?
These are the questions addressed in depth by the Law Commission’s recently published consultation paper on Digital Assets (July 2022). In this article, the author offers a number of predictions about the future direction of English law based upon the Law Commission’s paper.
Continue reading →Like this:
Like Loading...
13 September 2022 by Matthew Johnson
In the news
One of the first decisions taken by the new Prime Minister, Liz Truss, has been to halt Dominic Raab’s Bill of Rights plan. The bill would have given legal supremacy to the UK Supreme Court, explicitly entitling it to disregard rulings of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The bill is now ‘unlikely to progress in its current form’, a Whitehall source of the BBC has expressed, leaving doubt over whether Raab’s attempts to repeal the Human Rights Act 1998 will materialise. Vice President of the Law Society, Lubna Shuja, said that ‘the only smart way to proceed would be to go back to the advice of the independent review it [the Government] commissioned.’
The legal challenge against the Rwanda asylum plan is being heard before the High Court. While the trial is ongoing, and no judgment will be handed down for some time, the Government’s legal arguments defending the plan are now known. Part of the defence advanced by Lord Pannick KC, counsel for the Government, relies on the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004, which confers on ministers the power to send asylum seekers to safe countries. If they are of the opinion the asylum seekers will be safe and not put in danger, the Home Secretary can transfer them to other states. The main hurdle for the Government in this defence will be the UN Refugee Agency’s declaration that Rwanda is an unsafe place for migrants. The Court has asked for a detailed response to this critical point.
Continue reading →Like this:
Like Loading...
7 September 2022 by Ruby Turok-Squire
In the news
Liz Truss has been confirmed as the new prime minister. She is expected to freeze energy bills at approximately £2,500 a year and to provide a £400 universal handout. She has reportedly ruled out the idea of a windfall tax on oil companies, which was proposed by Labour. She is apparently considering reviewing workers’ rights, as part of her plan to scrap remaining EU regulations by the end of next year.
The chair of the Criminal Bar Association has called on Dominic Raab to hold talks to resolve their industrial action, which began in April. On Monday, criminal barristers began an indefinite all-out strike, calling for legal aid fees to increase by 25% immediately.
In other news
Ministers plan to introduce legislation to encourage nurses and dentists trained elsewhere to begin working for the NHS. The health secretary, Steve Barclay, is hoping to boost overseas recruitment in health and social care. This move comes after the number of unfilled NHS posts reached a record high of 132,139 earlier this year. Link 5 – ministers to make it easier
Two councils are planning to seek permission to appeal to the Supreme Court following two successful appeals which involved the striking out of negligence claims that had been brought against them. The appeals considered when children being cared for by local authorities under the Children Act 1989 are owed a duty of care by those local authorities and the social workers for whom they are vicariously liable.
The conservation charity WildFish has asked the Government to withdraw its Storm Overflow Discharge Reduction Plan, on the grounds that it is ‘unlawful on many counts’ by encouraging breaches of environmental laws to continue. The Plan allows the continuation of environmental damage caused by up to 100% of storm overflows discharging into high priority sites. It has been labelled a ‘smoke and mirror’ approach which does not deal robustly with water companies’ sewage pollution of UK rivers.
Continue reading →Like this:
Like Loading...
6 September 2022 by Jonathan Metzer
In Secretary of State for the Home Department v HA (Iraq) [2022] UKSC 22, the Supreme Court has confirmed that the Court of Appeal was right to reject the idea that, when assessing whether it would be unduly harsh (and therefore disproportionate) for a person to be deported from the UK, the degree of harshness that would arise from this should be assessed by reference to a comparison with that which would ‘necessarily’ be involved for any child faced with the deportation of a parent. The Court also provided useful guidance concerning the application of the test for whether there are very compelling circumstances rendering deportation disproportionate in a given case.
Continue reading →Like this:
Like Loading...
Recent comments