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Legal aid lawyer careers Assisted Suicide Policy Are juries fair? Standard Crime Contract 2010 Encouraging or Assisting Suicide The Legal Services Commission Stop and search “abuse” Jackson Review of Civil Litigation Costs Royal Courts’ trial without jury Right to refuse first hearing by ‘virtual court’ removed Procurement of Criminal Legal Aid in England and Wales – National Audit Office report LSC propose graduated fees for VHCC cases –  “not viable”, says Law Society. Rape – the Victims’ Champion’s Review Public Prosecution Service – DPP sets out core quality standards Judge alone trials – Jury tampering. Legal Aid Funding Reforms – Law Society says NO to more fee cuts Police Cautions The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) Prosecution Principles
 
Legal aid lawyer careers

Legal aid lawyer careers

Students from low-income backgrounds can no longer afford to become legal aid lawyers, according to a recent report. Social mobility in the legal aid profession is increasingly being curtailed by the financial difficulties of training, and has reached critical levels. Legal aid is becoming a no-go area for ordinary people who want to become lawyers. So [...]

Legal aid lawyer careers
Assisted Suicide Policy

Assisted Suicide Policy

Debbie Purdey was told by the law lords that she was entitled to clarity over whether her husband would face prosecution should he help her to take her life in Switzerland. Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions, quickly produced an interim policy. Yesterday he unveiled his definitive policy guidelines. This followed a consultation exercise which [...]

Assisted Suicide Policy
Are juries fair?

Are juries fair?

That was the question posed by the Ministry of Justice. Even though juries decide less than 1% of all criminal cases in England and Wales, defendants in these cases are charged with the most serious criminal offences and face the greatest possible loss of liberty. The fairness of jury decision-making is of fundamental importance to [...]

Are juries fair?
Standard Crime Contract 2010

Standard Crime Contract 2010

All crime legal aid providers have to sign a contract with the Legal Services Commission. The current Unified Contract (Crime) has been extended to 13 July 2010, and the new 2010 Standard Crime Contract will come into force on 14 July. The LSC has just announced the new tendering procedure, and the main points are [...]

Standard Crime Contract 2010
Encouraging or Assisting Suicide

Encouraging or Assisting Suicide

The Coroners and Justice Act 2009 has cropped up in these blogs several times before. This grab-bag of an Act covers a wide range of subjects. Apart from coroners and inquests, it deals with murder, indecent photographs, anonymity of witnesses, live links to court, confiscation orders, legal aid, criminal memoirs, and many other matters. The latest [...]

Encouraging or Assisting Suicide
The Legal Services Commission

The Legal Services Commission

Hard on the heels of the National Audit Office’s highly critical report to Parliament on the procurement of Criminal Legal Aid in England and Wales comes the Public Accounts Committee’s savaging of the Legal Services Commission, the body charged with administering the programme. The Legal Services Commission (LSC) spends £2.1 billion a year on buying civil [...]

The Legal Services Commission
Stop and search “abuse”

Stop and search “abuse”

Police stop and search powers under anti-terrorism legislation in the United Kingdom are too wide and not adequately safeguarded by the law against abuse. So held the European Court of Human Rights in a recent judgment. The case concerned the police power in the United Kingdom under sections 44-47 of the Terrorism Act 2000 to [...]

Stop and search “abuse”
Jackson Review of Civil Litigation Costs

Jackson Review of Civil Litigation Costs

Last week Lord Justice Jackson unveiled a large scale shake-up of civil litigation costs. After a year-long review into the rocketing costs of bringing legal action in England and Wales, he has made radical proposals that include accident victims paying “success fees” to lawyers out of any compensation they are awarded. The sweeping changes mostly [...]

Jackson Review of Civil Litigation Costs
Royal Courts’ trial without jury

Royal Courts’ trial without jury

This week John Twomey, for the fourth time, is on trial on charges in connection with a robbery at Heathrow airport in 2004. The particular significance of this trial, involving three other defendents at the Royal Courts of Justice, is that, for the first time in some 400 years, a trial on very serious criminal [...]

Royal Courts’ trial without jury
Right to refuse first hearing by ‘virtual court’ removed

Right to refuse first hearing by ‘virtual court’ removed

The right of defendants to consent or refuse a ‘virtual court’ hearing has been removed, leaving the initial decision about whether the case is suitable to proceed in this way to the police. In a virtual first hearing the defendant appears in the Magistrates’ court by a video link from the police station. The magistrates or [...]

Right to refuse first hearing by ‘virtual court’ removed
Procurement of Criminal Legal Aid in England and Wales – National Audit Office report

Procurement of Criminal Legal Aid in England and Wales – National Audit Office report

The National Audit Office’s latest report to Parliament on the procurement of Criminal Legal Aid in England and Wales will make uncomfortable reading for the Legal Services Commission. In 2008-09 the Commission spent more than £1.1 billion on criminal legal aid, £112 million of which was spent on 432 Very High Cost Criminal Cases.  871,000 acts [...]

Procurement of Criminal Legal Aid in England and Wales – National Audit Office report
LSC propose graduated fees for VHCC cases –  “not viable”, says Law Society.

LSC propose graduated fees for VHCC cases – “not viable”, says Law Society.

Last week the Legal Services Commission announced the launch of a consultation on the replacement scheme for Very High Cost (Crime) Cases (VHCCs). Chief Executive Carolyn Regan said: “The LSC is setting out a number of options for the most complex and expensive criminal cases that are designed to ensure clients continue to receive high quality [...]

LSC propose graduated fees for VHCC cases –  “not viable”, says Law Society.
Rape – the Victims’ Champion’s Review

Rape – the Victims’ Champion’s Review

In the eight years since her daughter Sarah was abducted and murdered by a paedophile, Sara Payne has become a familiar figure in British public life. In January she was appointed to the post of Victims’ Champion, a new independent public voice for victims of and witnesses to crime. This summer Home Secretary Alan Johnson invited [...]

Rape – the Victims’ Champion’s Review
Public Prosecution Service – DPP sets out core quality standards

Public Prosecution Service – DPP sets out core quality standards

The standard of work expected of public prosecutors, at every stage of the prosecution process, has been published this week and is open for consultation. The consultation document on core quality standards for prosecutors covers 12 key areas, from providing advice to police before a charge to sentencing and appeal processes. Prosecutors exercise powers on behalf [...]

Public Prosecution Service – DPP sets out core quality standards
Judge alone trials – Jury tampering.

Judge alone trials – Jury tampering.

A judge should not continue to try a case alone, after discharging the jury because of jury tampering, where an ‘informed objective bystander’ might legitimately conclude that there was a real possibility of bias by the judge. So held the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) in a judgement given on 17 November, allowing an appeal [...]

Judge alone trials – Jury tampering.
Legal Aid Funding Reforms – Law Society says NO to more fee cuts

Legal Aid Funding Reforms – Law Society says NO to more fee cuts

Solicitors who provide legal aid services are among the worst paid in the public sector according to a recent survey. The average salary of a legal aid solicitor is £25,000, less than a prison officer or sewage plant worker. It is also well below police officer, nurse and secondary school teacher according to figures compiled [...]

Legal Aid Funding Reforms – Law Society says NO to more fee cuts
Police Cautions

Police Cautions

Following widespread concern about the use of cautions to deal with violent offenders, justice secretary Jack Straw has this week announced a review into the way in which cautions, formal warnings and on the spot fines are used, and their impact on the courts in England and Wales. The review will also look at the [...]

Police Cautions
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD)

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD)

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) is an independent expert body that advises government on drug related issues in the UK. It was established under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Its terms of reference, set out in section 1 of the Act, are “to keep under review the situation in the [...]

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD)
Prosecution Principles

Prosecution Principles

The Crown Prosecution Service has this week launched a 12 week public consultation on important changes to the Code for Crown Prosecutors, which is the document that sets out the principles which prosecutors must follow when they decide whether or not to prosecute an individual. The test set out in the Code is applied in [...]

Prosecution Principles
Legal aid lawyer careers

Legal aid lawyer careers

05 March 2010

Students from low-income backgrounds can no longer afford to become legal aid lawyers, according to a recent report. Social mobility in the legal aid profession is increasingly being curtailed by the financial difficulties of training, and has reached critical levels. Legal aid is becoming a no-go area for ordinary people who want to become lawyers. So [...]

Read the full story

Posted in Legal AidComments (0)

Assisted Suicide Policy

Assisted Suicide Policy

26 February 2010

Debbie Purdey was told by the law lords that she was entitled to clarity over whether her husband would face prosecution should he help her to take her life in Switzerland. Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions, quickly produced an interim policy. Yesterday he unveiled his definitive policy guidelines. This followed a consultation exercise which [...]

Read the full story

Posted in Case Law, Civil Liberties, Criminal JusticeComments (0)

Are juries fair?

Are juries fair?

23 February 2010

That was the question posed by the Ministry of Justice. Even though juries decide less than 1% of all criminal cases in England and Wales, defendants in these cases are charged with the most serious criminal offences and face the greatest possible loss of liberty. The fairness of jury decision-making is of fundamental importance to [...]

Read the full story

Posted in Case Law, Criminal Justice, OffencesComments (0)

Standard Crime Contract 2010

Standard Crime Contract 2010

22 February 2010

All crime legal aid providers have to sign a contract with the Legal Services Commission. The current Unified Contract (Crime) has been extended to 13 July 2010, and the new 2010 Standard Crime Contract will come into force on 14 July. The LSC has just announced the new tendering procedure, and the main points are [...]

Read the full story

Posted in Legal Aid, LegislationComments (0)

Encouraging or Assisting Suicide

Encouraging or Assisting Suicide

12 February 2010

The Coroners and Justice Act 2009 has cropped up in these blogs several times before. This grab-bag of an Act covers a wide range of subjects. Apart from coroners and inquests, it deals with murder, indecent photographs, anonymity of witnesses, live links to court, confiscation orders, legal aid, criminal memoirs, and many other matters. The latest [...]

Read the full story

Posted in Civil Liberties, Legislation, OffencesComments (0)

The Legal Services Commission

The Legal Services Commission

11 February 2010

Hard on the heels of the National Audit Office’s highly critical report to Parliament on the procurement of Criminal Legal Aid in England and Wales comes the Public Accounts Committee’s savaging of the Legal Services Commission, the body charged with administering the programme. The Legal Services Commission (LSC) spends £2.1 billion a year on buying civil [...]

Read the full story

Posted in Criminal Justice, Legal AidComments (0)

Stop and search “abuse”

Stop and search “abuse”

27 January 2010

Police stop and search powers under anti-terrorism legislation in the United Kingdom are too wide and not adequately safeguarded by the law against abuse. So held the European Court of Human Rights in a recent judgment. The case concerned the police power in the United Kingdom under sections 44-47 of the Terrorism Act 2000 to [...]

Read the full story

Posted in Case Law, Civil Liberties, Criminal JusticeComments (0)

Jackson Review of Civil Litigation Costs

Jackson Review of Civil Litigation Costs

19 January 2010

Last week Lord Justice Jackson unveiled a large scale shake-up of civil litigation costs. After a year-long review into the rocketing costs of bringing legal action in England and Wales, he has made radical proposals that include accident victims paying “success fees” to lawyers out of any compensation they are awarded. The sweeping changes mostly [...]

Read the full story

Posted in LegislationComments (0)

Royal Courts’ trial without jury

Royal Courts’ trial without jury

14 January 2010

This week John Twomey, for the fourth time, is on trial on charges in connection with a robbery at Heathrow airport in 2004. The particular significance of this trial, involving three other defendents at the Royal Courts of Justice, is that, for the first time in some 400 years, a trial on very serious criminal [...]

Read the full story

Posted in Case Law, Criminal Justice, OffencesComments (0)

Right to refuse first hearing by ‘virtual court’ removed

Right to refuse first hearing by ‘virtual court’ removed

04 January 2010

The right of defendants to consent or refuse a ‘virtual court’ hearing has been removed, leaving the initial decision about whether the case is suitable to proceed in this way to the police. In a virtual first hearing the defendant appears in the Magistrates’ court by a video link from the police station. The magistrates or [...]

Read the full story

Posted in Civil Liberties, Criminal JusticeComments (0)

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