So…what have the learned friends been up to this week?
Well…first up… is a fascinating story in The Observer about a TV and Radio producer turned barrister, Bruce Hyman, who faces jail for perverting the course of justice. Mr Hyman, recently qualified at the Bar after a glittering career in television, has pleaded guilty ‘to attempting to falsely incriminate the husband of a client he was representing’ in a family case.
Briefly – Mr Hyman, it is reported, ‘emailed a bogus judgment he had forged to his client’s former husband, who was trying to get greater access to the couple’s daughter’.
Hyman, apparently, went along to a computer shop in the Tottenham Court Road (as revealed by CCTV footage) to email the bogus judgment, believing that his email would be untraceable. The bogus judgment appeared to ‘bolster’ the father’s claim to greater access and the father produced the judgment in court, believing it to be genuine.
At this point, Hyman ‘pounced’ … ‘suggesting not only that the document was a forgery but that the father, who was representing himself, might have been responsible for faking it.’ The father then found himself looking the wrong way down the barrel of a charge of perverting the course of justice – and a possible prison sentence.
Hyman was caught because the bogus judgment email was traced to an address in Tottenham Court Road and CCTV stills, provided by the shop, showed Mr Hyman coming into the shop and sending an email from his laptop.
This is bizarre.
August seems to have taken a toll on the UK law blog world. Very little to report. Geeklawyer continues to write, as does John Bolch over at Family Lore. Victorian Maiden may well have been seduced by Tucker and is enjoying a post-blogging cigarette.(Although I note that she has returned to draw the line at Mr Hull (infra) bringing his emu on to Ruthie’s World.) Ruthie is off to the United States of America to meet Dan Hull of What About Clients?
I did a podcast with Dan Hull some time ago. He did not sound like Woody Allen then. Here is the podcast if you want to find out about the man Ruthie will be meeting.
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Clearly, I am at my post… ‘semper eadem’… serving to the best of my ability; selflessly refusing to fly in an icepack melting/global warming aircraft to a land where one is faced with the moral prospect of buying food and goods produced by non ‘Fair Trade’ endorsed companies.
I have become so green I have even stopped lighting my cigarettes with a lighter. I watched a survival programme on Discovery Channel the other night. I now prepare a small fire, using dry moss and wood shavings, which I light with a piece of organic knapped flint and a bit of fools gold to create a spark. The fire under my table also serves to keep me warm while I sit outside the Bollo smoking.
I had a late lunch today at the Bollo, a Sunday Roast. It was good not to have to call in DEFRA inspectors, in white jump suits, to assess the quality, origin or identity of what I was eating.
Another day of the Bank Holiday to survive… the heat… the scorching sun… I’m glad I read ‘Wilderness Way”.
I was flicking through my photograph albums the other evening and came across this picture taken a few years ago. I had been invited to give a keynote speech at a conference. Unfortunately, I had the Sunday morning 9.30 ‘graveyard’ slot. The audience were a bit quiet and not that responsive. Here I am, waiting with some of the delegates, trying to get a glass of wine at the bar. I can’t be sure, but I think the conference may have been in Blackpool.
Off to do a few more hours of work. Have a good one.
Nearly Legal also covers the Summer of our discontent and lawyers perverting the course of justice. Nearly Legal also notes the disappearing UK Blogs… in the comments section below. It is time for us to do what we can…
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I’d just posted on Hyman when I saw this. What with him and Shahid Pervez upholding the honour of the subaltern branch by faking alibis and doing dodgy accounting, it has been quite a summer for lawyers perverting justice.
It has also been a summer of disappearing UK blawgs, not just quiet ones. I posted on this a couple of days ago, with the result that a couple of the disparu resurfaced, but there were some disappointing losses confirmed.
Nearly Legal… I had noticed the disappearing blogs..
It reminds me of the Battle of Britain…. backs against the wall…. not many blogs left… our darkest hour… but…. never in the field of reason have so many owed so little to so few.
I wait… It is quiet at the moment… but, soon… the telephone will ring… and we shall have to do our duty… to do what we can to ensure that UK Blogs remain free and unfettered… a beacon of freedom…to stem the gathering storm.
Even at the turning o’ the tide… We few, we happy few, we band of brothers… We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire…Give us the tools and we will finish the job.
Let our banner be… To unpathed waters, undreamed shores.
I have linked to your post on this…
The Observer item is a bit short of detail. It says Bruce Hyman was arrested months before the police investigated the bogus email. So what was he arrested for?
Don’t know, John… I only read the story in The Observer.
Morning Charon
The good ship IMPACT(R) continues to sail its merry course, ranting occasionally (sometimes on-topic) but generally endeavouring to keep the world up-to-date on UK developments in IP & IT law.
I’m tempted to spend 10 minutes researching the differences between UK & US law blogs. Are we in the UK less inclined to blog, or is it simply that the higher volume of US law blogs reflects the greater number of lawyers over that side of the pond?
Hi Alex…. the UK Blawgs do seem to be a bit quiet… hopefully, a reflection of the summer holiday period rather than a general retreat from bloggin g.
But… I shall also sail on!
May even manage to squeeze a bit of law in too.
“Don’t know, John… I only read the story in The Observer.”
As did I. I was wondering, not asking. Seems a bit odd that such a case received almost no press coverage.
John… it is a curious business. I gather Hyman is to be sentenced on 12 September. Ruthie’s Law (see: blogroll) has a view…
Maybe more will come to light?
On the issue of UK Blawgs – on my part the lack of posting has certainly been influenced by the holiday season.
It’s not just the fact that I’ve only just returned from holiday, but also because the summer just hasn’t been as quiet on the work front as usual, and others being on holiday makes for a rather busy me. And September seems full of conferences!
I hope to resume a more regular service shortly.
Alex – for my two pennies worth, my feeling (no research undertaken!) is that lawyers (and certainly solicitors) in the UK are less inclined to blog, but I hope that is slowly changing.
The Hyman breaking is the top story on my blog at the moment stats-wise. Virgin territory being broken here. It doesn’t need sexing up. It’s juicy enough to stand up on its own.
John, same on my blog. I posted the story on sunday, but today (Weds) for some reason search hits for Hyman have gone through the roof, now over my previous record. Quite a few searching for Hyman + Doughty Street which suggests (cough) insiders.
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Thank you for your post