Rive Gauche: Judge uses ‘My wife punched herself in the face” defence… and other nonsense from lawmakers and lawyers

Sophocles had a point… yet this week we have a number of examples of judicial and political misbehaviour.  The Sun reported “A JUDGE’S career was in tatters tonight – after being found guilty of battering his wife because she was late with his tea. Deputy High court judge, James Allen QC AND his wife a [...]

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#Without Prejudice 6: Tomlinson – Separation of powers and injunctions – Privacy – and The Role of GCs

Listen to the podcast Tim Bratton blogs in a personal capacity – and his latest post: One for the students: so, you want to work at Big Law? is a good one for law students, particularly. David Allen Green, solicitor,  is the author of the Jack of Kent blog and is the legal correspondent  at The [...]

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Law Review: A Schilling for your thoughts? – and other matters…

The press is running riot with stories about Schillings and their ‘reputation management’ skills after the injunction fiasco and the cunning plan to ‘sue twitter’. The Guardian…. Injunction publicity backfires on celebrity law firm “After Ryan Giggs’ lawyers tried to sue Twitter for the initial internet leaks, thousands more tweets followed in retaliation” Predictably… The [...]

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A very SPESHIAL Relationship…. POTUS plays wiff waff

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Law Review: The injunction saga moves towards the end game… but is it check-mate to The Sun?

“Should the court buckle every time one of its orders meets widespread disobedience or defiance? In a democratic society, if a law is deemed to be unenforceable or unpopular, it is for the legislature to make such changes as it decides are appropriate.” Mr Justice Eady Well…..after 75,000 unpaid ‘reportertweeters’ for The Sun et al.. [...]

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Postcard from The Staterooms: ********** Edition

Dear Reader, While the publication of Lord Neuberger’s report gave us an insight into current judicial thinking on the use of injunctions and ‘superinjunctions’ – and prompted this (lawful) tweet…. from @DavidJonesMP : “Unimpressed by sight of Ld Chief Justice & Master of Rolls sitting under banner “Judiciary of England & Wales”. Bit like Match [...]

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Rive Gauche: We need an Aristofart to lead us? – Rafofskylypse – a truly astonishing saga of a US lawyer suing 74 US lawyer bloggers

After a surreal week of dentals, serious meds and a birthday – and reeling from the Court of Twitter on Ken Clarke – I read with mounting astonishment some world class nonsense in The Telegraph which restored a degree of sanity to my fevered brow… David Cameron’s uncle says voters want to be led by [...]

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Law Review: Injunctions, law by rule and the Ken Clarke saga

Britain is right to honour this champion of the rule of law Lawyers and non-lawyers who find law interesting  will need no introduction to Lord Bingham. [Pic credit: The Guardian] Peter Oborne, writing in The Telegraph, has a fine piece on Lord Bingham’s considerable influence in our society through his work as Lord Chief Justice [...]

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Guest Law Review: Social Care Reform – Essential Change is needed to Protect Service Users

Social Care Reform – Essential Change is needed to Protect Service Users BY Eddie Jones, Head of Clinical Negligence, JMW I receive many enquiries from clients who are concerned with the social care they or a family member receive. Many of these enquiries fail to fulfil the criteria of medical negligence as there is an [...]

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Law Review: Supreme Court TV – Reform of The Lords – Lawyers go for a Walk

For some years now I have kept to the principle that I do not work on the anniversary of my arrival on Earth.  As blogging, for me, is not work… I am able to blog. The UK Supreme Court proceedings are now being broadcast on Sky.   Although the first transmission involved a complex matter [...]

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The Might of Tweeters is Right and The 50 million flies eat shit, so it is good – Doctrines

The philosophical foundation and gold standard for  any modern progressive and democratic society in the 21st Century, it can be argued reasonably, involves a trinity of respect for (1) Human rights,  (2) A free Press and freedom of speech and (3) The Rule of Law. Ironically, it is this very trinity which has led to [...]

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Dr Erasmus Strangelove records his address to #UKLAWBLOGS 19th May 2011 – a Transcript

Guten Abend meine Damen und  Herren.. und… even…  Juristen… . aber die Zeit  ist Geld … so I will keep this brief. It is with regret that I cannot join the distinguished panel of pundits, mavens, prognosticators und blawgers at ze #UKLAWBLOGS Convention at The Law Society on 19th May 2011.  I am Dr Erasmus [...]

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Rive Gauche: Chef Charon at The Staterooms… eating Boeuf Buggerorf a la Charon

Bonsoir … Bienvenue aux  The Staterooms .. Je suis  Chef Charon …. avec des étoiles (dix-huit) à mon nom … histoire vraie … Tonight, after eating boeuf bourguignon to death about a year ago ( I do eat things to death and cannot face them for months after), I shall be dining in splendid isolation, [...]

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Lawcast 184: Jon-Paul McTavy founder of Solicitalawyer.co.uk

Lawcast 184: Jon-Paul McTavy founder of Solicitalawyer.co.uk In a slight departure from my podcasts on the legal profession, where I interview lawyers,  I thought that it would be interesting to talk to the founder of an online directory for lawyers.  Marketing, a presence on Google and a good website are basic requirements for all law [...]

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Law Review: Does the legal profession need *BIZSPIVLAWYER* and ‘commoditised’ legal education?

“Ultimately, lawyering is becoming more of a business than a profession. Some lawyers decry this. Others welcome it. Few deny it. Because the American market cannot grow as it used to, firms will have to find new strategies and make use of sophisticated branding to stand out.” The Economist If we start from the first [...]

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Misogyny – jingoism – absurdity – GERMANS!… and a deficit cutting plan to tax lawyers

Well.. it probably won’t gain traction.. but it does not seem unreasonable to levy the legal profession for using a  national asset… called “Law”?  In the ‘National Interest’?  And then… this front page from The Express to give a taste of what a wonderful country we live in.  I don’t read The Express.. but twitter [...]

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Law Review: Mosley, privacy and the human right of newspapers to cash in on shaggery and general skulduggery

It is unlikely that our Great Leader, prime minister Camerondirect, will feel the need to park a tiger ( a euphemism/synonym for vomiting which I have used for 30 years) after reading the European Court of Human Rights decision in MOSLEY v UNITED KINGDOM. The ‘unelected’ judges did the biz today for some vested interests. [...]

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Guest Law Review Post: Mesothelioma Claims- Why the Supreme Court got it right

Mesothelioma Claims: Why the Supreme Court got it right By John Carr, Solicitor Carrs Solicitors pride themselves on delivering successful and fair results in all of our injury at work claims. This includes the compensation we have won for workers suffering from the effects of asbestos diseases an area that is often the subject of [...]

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Muttley Dastardly LLP (21): Monthly Psyops Report to The Partners from Dr Erasmus Strangelove

EYES ONLY To: The Partners From: Dr Erasmus Strangelove, Partner, Director of Psyops, Strategy and Education RE: MONTHLY PSYOPS REPORT *** 1. “Many reasons for solicitors to start using social media” There are many reasons why we would encourage other solicitors to use social media.  I select but two: (a) Tie up of competitor human [...]

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Law Review: ‘Contemptuous’ tweeting – A diverse judiciary – Coppers to get right to prosecute back

What now for contemptuous tweeting and media innuendo in the privacy injunction saga? – Judith Townend In a precise and incisive blog post, Judith Townend writing on the Informm blog writes: The BBC Radio 4 Today programme’s legal correspondent, Clive Coleman, reported: “The posts on Twitter point up what for some time has been a concern [...]

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