Upper Case - The Anya Legal Journal. News, Comment & Opinion on Law, Technology & Legal Practice.

Calls for Evidence on contract law and data protection

A Call for Evidence is a consultation paper containing proposals for change and new policies, which invites the public to comment within a given time period. The Ministry of Justice has recently announced two such consultations on European Commission initiatives. The first seeks views on the EC’s Green Paper on potential changes to contract law. Published [...]

Law Society prepares for legal action over civil tender results

The Law Society found itself on the horns of a dilemma when the recent tender for civil and family legal aid work sparked a row with the LSC. Just over half the firms bidding for family contracts were successful, and the Society says this means businesses will close and people may find it difficult to [...]

Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Rules

Criminal Procedure Rules affect all criminal courts in England and Wales – magistrates’ courts, the Crown Court and the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) -and provide the framework for the running of a criminal trial. Since 2005, the Criminal Procedure Rule Committee has made these rules for the criminal courts in England and Wales. The Criminal [...]

Civil contract tendering

In February the Legal Services Commission (LSC) announced that, as current civil legal aid contracts come to an end on 13 October 2010, any organisation who wishes to deliver legal aid work in Family (including Family Mediation) or Social Welfare Law from 14 October 2010 would need to apply for and be awarded a new [...]

U-turn on rape charge anonymity?

One of the more surprising pledges in the Coalition programme for government was to extend anonymity in rape cases to defendants. Such a move would turn the clock back to 1976, when the Sexual Offences Act introduced anonymity for those accused of rape. That provision was repealed in 1988. Shortly after the Coalition pledge, which [...]

Legal aid training scheme for young lawyers axed

Legal aid minister Jonathan Djanogly has announced plans to scrap a £2.6 million per year training contract grant scheme. Since the scheme began in 2002 more than 750 trainees have benefited from grants of over £20,000 each to help cover their training fees and salary. The Legal Services Commission gave the grants to legal aid [...]

Review of counter-terrorism powers

Yesterday Home Secretary Theresa May told Parliament that a rapid review of key counter-terrorism and security powers is underway. The review, a commitment in the coalition agreement, published on 20 May 2010, will look at what counter-terrorism powers and measures could be rolled back in order to restore the balance of civil liberties and counter-terrorism [...]

Rules on stop and search changed

Home Secretary Theresa May told Parliament yesterday that the government will change how stop and search powers under section 44 of the Terrorism Act are used, with immediate effect. The move is in response to a decision by the European Court of Human Rights, which found that the use of stop and search powers under section [...]

Defence Costs

The Law Society is celebrating victory in defeating the previous Government’s plans to make acquitted defendants pay most of the costs of their own defence. A High Court judgment handed down on 15 June by Lord Justice Elias and Mr Justice Keith has ruled unlawful an attempt by the previous Lord Chancellor, Jack Straw, to [...]

Proposed closure of 157 courts

The Ministry of Justice have announced plans to close 157 magistrates and county courts in England and Wales, at a saving of £36.8m. In a written statement to the Commons on 23 June, Secretary of State Kenneth Clarke said that Her Majesty’s Courts Service (HMCS) currently operates out of 530 courts, some of which do not [...]

Legal Aid Review

The Government has wasted no time in pursuing its aim to review the legal aid system as promised in the Coalition programme for government published in May. In a written ministerial statement to Parliament on 23 June, Secretary of State for Justice Kenneth Clarke set out the background of the Government’s immediate priority to reduce the [...]

Faffing around

It will come as no surprise that the results of yet another new survey have burst upon an expectant world. According to the Learning and Skills Council, we Brits live up to our reputation as the world’s greatest faffers. The shock revelation is that that an average of 40 days a year is wasted as [...]

Stop and search used illegally

The blog posted on 23 June 2009 concerned the annual report by Lord Carlile, the government’s official anti-terror law watchdog, about the use of s.44 Terrorism Act 2000, which grants police the power to stop and search anyone in a designated area without suspicion that an offence has occurred. He found that examples of poor [...]

Anonymity for rape trial defendents

One of the more surprising pledges in the Coalition programme for government was: “We will extend anonymity in rape cases to defendants.” This move would turn the clock back to 1976, when the Sexual Offences Act introduced anonymity for those accused of rape. The provision was later repealed. This proposal has produced a storm of adverse [...]

BME firms and professional indemnity insurance

Law Society research has found a growing divide in the PII market with smaller firms and black and minority ethnic (BME) firms finding renewal tougher than the wider profession. The survey found more BME firms (16%) than wider profession firms (6%) were not offered cover by their previous insurer. BME firms were notified of a decision [...]

Coalition update

Blog “Civil liberties and the coalition government”, posted last Monday, dealt with the initial Tory and Liberal coalition agreement. It was to be followed in due course by a final and fully comprehensive agreement, and now, surprisingly early, comes that agreement. It is a schedule of over 400 objectives under 31 separate detailed headings (compared [...]

Review of experts costs in legal aid work

The Ministry of Justice has announced a further analysis of expert witness fees paid in legal aid work. It is seeking the support of civil and criminal legal aid solicitors in a data collection exercise being conducted on their behalf by the Legal Services Commission. This follows a consultation exercise carried out last year on legal [...]

Civil liberties and the coalition government

Party manifestos are really little more than wish lists. But the unprecedented Tory and Liberal coalition agreement, produced at breakneck speed, and to be followed in due course by a final and fully comprehensive agreement, is something else. It is little short of a Queen’s speech for a whole parliament. Section 10 of the agreement [...]

Judges reject use of secret evidence in civil trials

“The importance of civil trials being fair, the procedures of the court being simple, and the rules of court being clear are all of cardinal importance. It would, in our view, be wrong for judges to introduce into ordinary civil trials a procedure which…cuts across absolutely fundamental principles (the right to a fair trial and [...]

Calls for Evidence on contract law and data protection

Law Society prepares for legal action over civil tender results