Rive Gauche: The Bar bites back – UK Blawg roundup – Wife of MP convicted of nicking a kitten

Bar Council Chair Warns Conservative Conference of Consequences of Legal Aid Cuts Peter Lodder QC, Chairman of the Bar, will say at a Conservative conference fringe event next week: “I repeat here what I have said to your Coalition partners in Birmingham, and in many statements to the press, the public and parliamentarians from across [...]

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#WithoutPrejudice 12: Riots, sentencing appeals – Troy Davis execution – Legal Aid cutbacks and Clause 12

Criminal Law Special Sentencing in the wake of the riots and the forthcoming appeals Contempt of Court Troy Davis execution Legal Aid and Clause 12 re-visited Listen to the podcast *** I’d like to thank Cassons For Counsel, City University Law School,  David Phillips & Partners Solicitors, Inksters Solicitors,  Iken, LBC Wise Counsel, Carrs Solicitors,  JMW [...]

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Lawcast 198: Catherine Bailey on Marketing The Bar

Lawcast 198: Catherine Bailey on Marketing The Bar Today I am talking to Catherine Bailey founder and managing director of Bar marketing Limited.  With the changing legal landscape, the cuts in legal aid and competition from solicitor-advocates there can be no better time for barristers to market themselves within, of course, the rules of ethics [...]

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‘Fast Duck’ society….. are we *Ducked* ?

PM Camcorderdirect comes up with ‘Big Society’..and Miliband Minor… rapidly losing points in the polls… comes up with ‘Fast Buck Society’  and says his speech will be about a ‘Bargain’… I can barely contain my excitement at the prospect of listening to his speech… and  shall lose absolutely no time in doing so.  This is [...]

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Law Review: Bad law, bad judging and bad misrepresentation of law by a government minister..?.

Contempt of Court… 41 Prohibition on taking photographs, &c., in court. (1) No person shall— (a) take or attempt to take in any court any photograph, or with a view to publication make or attempt to make in any court any portrait or sketch, of any person, being a judge of the court or a [...]

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Law Review: Guest Post by James Vine, barrister, on Clause 12

Clause 12 James Vine, Barrister Author: The Bung Blog Clause 12 of LAPSO has already, and rightly, raised the proverbial storm of protest from all corners of the criminal justice community. There is universal concern at the ConDem’s attempts to reduce, if not eradicate, legal aid for representation of arrested persons in police stations. BUT [...]

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Redneck Taliban win the day in the good ole US of A…

You may find this essay by Christopher Hitchens of interest and value… Staking a Life

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Lawcast 197: John Cooper QC on legal aid and the pernicious effect of Clause 12 LASPO

Lawcast 197: John Cooper QC on legal aid and the pernicious effect of Clause 12 LASPO Today, I am talking to John Cooper QC about legal aid and, in particular, Clause 12.  To set the matter in context let me quote a passage from a recent blog post by a practising solicitor… CrimSolicitor writes: “The [...]

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Law Review: “….and then there was silence”

Photocredit: Minimum Cover blog I don’t know much about Police work.  I suspect that few of us outside the criminal justice system do.  May I ask you to read this remarkable blog post from the Minimum Cover blog? An extraordinary piece of writing about a very tragic situation which a police officer had to deal [...]

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Postcard from The Staterooms: Sardonic Tuesday…

Dear Reader A bit late with my ‘Postcard’ this week. I decided to take a few days away from blogging et al.  Punctuation is elusive to some, challenges many, and is an obsession for a few.  This ‘Oxford Comma’ graphic is amusing. Legal Bizzle turns his mind to the issue of  the role of GCs [...]

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Rive Gauche: Piss Up in a Brewery *Special*

Friday and the weekend provides me with an opportunity to look at some of the more surreal or even bizarre events in the legal world as well as covering a few law blogs. It seems appropriate to start with the theme of “Piss ups in breweries”. As ever, RollonFriday.com does the business with: Exclusive: Irwin [...]

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News Release: Bar marketing – a new UK marketing consultancy specifically for Chambers

I am always happy to promote anything which may help or be of value to lawyers. Bar Marketing, run by Catherine Bailey, has news of a new initiative which may be of interest to members of the Bar NEWS RELEASE Today saw the launch of a UK marketing consultancy specifically for barrister chambers.  Bar Marketing [...]

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Lawcast 196: Professor Gary Slapper – a round up on the Justice system and legal education

Lawcast 196:  Professor Gary Slapper – a round up on the Justice system and legal education Today  I talk with Professor Gary Slapper about the extraordinary changes coming up in our legal system, the legal aid cuts, the streamlining of justice proposed by the Ministry of Justice, their plans to promote our ‘Rule of Law’ [...]

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Law Review: A potpourri of legal misery

Magistrates were told to send rioters to crown court, emails show Owen Bowcott in The Guardian has an interesting article on how the ‘higher judiciary’ appear to have approved the departure from sentencing guidelines by allowing magistrates courts to send cases to the Crown Court. Bowcott writes: “Magistrates were urged to abandon sentencing guidelines when [...]

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Lawcast 195: Daniel Hoadley provides an insight into the world of the Law Reporter

Lawcast 195:  Daniel Hoadley provides an insight into the world of the Law Reporter Today I am talking to Daniel Hoadley, a member of the bar who went into law reporting for The Weekly Law Reports.  Daniel also blogs. Listen to the podcast Daniel Hoadley’s blog: Carrefax *** And…thank you to Cassons For Counsel,  Justgodirect.co.uk [...]

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Rive Gauche: A Tale of Tarts and Vickers (HT @oflynnexpress )

An old cocaine/hooker story about Chancellor Osbore has resurfaced today from Guido Fawkes about Mr Osbore’s alleged antics in an earlier life.  There is now an added #Hackgate and #Coulsontmakeit up spin. The Aussies have got in on the act with an interesting interview with the woman at the epicentre of the story – See @tom_watson  [...]

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Postcard from The Staterooms: #Aldridgegate edition….Have you been *Aldridged*? and some other b*ll*cks

Dear Reader, First a bit of culture from Prologue to the Satires…. Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, And without sneering, teach the rest to sneer; Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike, Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike. “Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot” by Alexander Pope (1688–1744) The technique of damning [...]

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Lawcast 194: Nichola Higgins, Chair of The Young Barristers Committee, on the mentoring scheme with Zimbabwe lawyers

Lawcast 94: Nichola Higgins, Chairman of The Young Barristers Committee on the Mentoring scheme with young Zimbabwe lawyers Today I am talking to Nichola Higgins, Chairman of the Young Barristers Committee about the new mentoring scheme for young lawyers from Zimbabwe.  We also take the opportunity to do a round up of issues affecting young [...]

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The Smoke That Thunders – Chapter 4: Like a Moth to a Flame

The meaning of the Greek word ψυχή, or psyche, was “life”. The Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote a treatise on the psyche;  in Latin De Anima and in English On the Soul.  Thoughts of Aristotle were prompted in Carver’s mind when a brown moth, small wings tinged with gold flecks, landed on his desk to the [...]

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Law Review: “Ave, Camcorderdirector, morituri te salutant” … Prime Minister calls for sentencing to be televised in Courts.

The BBC reports: The government is considering whether to allow some sentencing in English courts to be televised, it has emerged. At first assessment it seems to be a sensible idea in part.  It will give the public a chance to see how our criminal justice system works and is all very worthy.  Many judges [...]

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