In a week where Chancellor Osbore has performed yet another U-turn (Government tally: 40+ and counting so far), we wake to news of yet more greed and fraud from the bankers – this time, fiddling LIBOR…
On the matter of Osbore’s U-turns – I watched the Paxman interview with treasury minister Chloe Smith MP who was ripped apart for the edification on the Newsnight watching horde the other evening – Guardian: Jeremy Paxman interviews Chloe Smith: the full transcript | The Car crash interview with Paxo. However, Chancellor Osbore comes out of this debacle with his reputation as a ‘coward’ intact… so some good news for CCHQ.
As to the banker LIBOR fiddling: It would seem that the Barclays ‘Big Society’ initiative to provide work experience for disadvantaged looters hasn’t gone too well.
Curiously – while imprisonment faced the young looters and rioters of last summer – Barclays (and other banks soon to follow) face only a fine. in the US, Barclays is believed to have secured immunity from criminal prosecution – paying only a hefty fine of £220 to the US authorities and £50 million (ish) to the FSA who seem to regard the matter as a purely ‘civil action’. Ironically, the fine will be used to reduce the fees for other banks – other than other British banks yet to be caught out in the LIBOR fraud.
But all in the world is good – our prime minister has said, with his usual acuity and precision..or, some might say, his usual vacuity and imprecision.”I think the whole management team have got some serious questions to answer. Let them answer those questions first.” (BBC)
City Unslicker writes: How did Barclays make it through that dark days of 2009?
By whistle-blowing Barclays are probably covered against future investigations and the other Banks will soon get their own place in the limelight of shame. It’s a sad story though and shows that even the heart of the markets cannot be trusted, a sad day for financial capitalism and the reputation of London – but a better day hopefully as it lead to positive changes at the Banks (or their regulators keeping a better watch).
Perhaps the CPS, when they have finished wasting court time with the prosecution of Paul Chambers in the #TwitterJokeTrial case, will be able to turn their minds to the possibility that bankers may have committed criminal offences? If no suitable criminal offences can be found in the HUGE database of UK wide crime laws – perhaps Parliament could address attention to remedying this for the future?
Anyway.. there we are: A further ‘dark’ thought occurred to me – which I tweeted…“If I rent a Barclays *Boris bicycle*.. can I be sure that someone at Barclays hasn’t fiddled with the settings or gearing?”
The Twitter Joke Trial has been in the news again with the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, presiding at a hearing yesterday. I did a podcast on the issue with Paul Chambers’ solicitor David Allen Green on the eve before the hearing: #WithoutPrejudice Special: #Twitterjoketrial with David Allen Green – and Carl Gardner did an interview with David Allen Green and counsel John Copper QC after the hearing: “Twitter joke” appeal: interview with John Cooper QC and David Allen Green
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Recent Lawcasts…
Lawcast 210: Barbara Hamilton Bruce on CILEX and the changing legal world…
Today I am talking to Barbara Hamilton-Bruce who describes herself as “Mother, wife, friend, worker bee, FILEX, social drinker and occasional disco dancer” on twitter where she tweets enthusiastically as @bhamiltonbruce
Barbara also has a blog – The Red Files – and one of her recent posts caught my attention and amused me: Law Tourism
Twitter Joke Trial
#WithoutPrejudice Special: #Twitterjoketrial with David Allen Green
Lawcast 209: Francis FitzGibbon QC on the Assange asylum bid
Julian Assange walked into the Ecuador Embassy in London on Tuesday evening to claim political asylum. The President of Ecuador is shortly to make a statement on Assange’s application. Today I am talking to Francis FitzGibbon QC about the law relating to asylum and the legal consequences of Assange’s extraordinary decision to seek asylum – a decision which surprised several of his supporters who put up the bail money and which they are possibly in danger of forfeiting.
Read – Francis FitzGibbon QC article: Julian the Asylum Seeker
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Legal education news sponsored by BPP Law School
Beautician turned barrister GEORGINA BLACKWELL awarded a First in law at BPP
Georgina Blackwell, the former beautician who made national headlines in 2009 when she won a High Court case with Bellway Homes has achieved a first class honours, the highest level of degree that can be awarded, from privately owned BPP University College. Georgina, aged 26, from Colchester, Essex who completed the LLB Law (Hons) in 2 years at BPP’s London Waterloo centre, is on her way to becoming a barrister following her examination results published this week. Peter Crisp, Dean of BPP Law School wrote to Georgina in November 2009, offering her a scholarship, having read about her court case, where she defeated the property developer in a dispute over access to her family’s garden, despite having had no legal training.
And Legal Cheek hones in on a current problem issue for legal education…
Restricting The BPTC To Students Who’ve Already Bagged a Pupillage Wouldn’t Breach Competition Law…
The plight of thousands of aspiring barristers who invest large sums of money to undertake the BPTC, but are increasingly unlikely to secure pupillage, has encouraged a lively debate in and around the profession (see, for instance, contributions from The Law Horse, Alex Aldridge and BPP Law School CEO Peter Crisp).
In this debate competition law looms like a spectre; often being referred to but rarely being discussed.
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New books from Oxford University Press
Highlights
New Edition
International Co-operation in Civil and Criminal Matters
Third Edition
David McClean
Charting the Divide Between Common and Civil Law
Thomas Lundmark
From Juvenile Delinquency to Adult Crime
Criminal Careers, Justice Policy and Prevention
Edited by Rolf Loeber and David P. FarringtonPaperback | 416 pages
From Single Market to Economic Union
Essays in Memory of John A. Usher
Edited by Niamh Nic Shuibhne and Laurence W. Gormley
Infrastructure
The Social Value of Shared Resources
Brett M. Frischmann
Negotiating Spaces
Legal Domains, Gender Concerns, and Community Constructs
Edited by Flavia Agnes, Edited by Shoba Venkatesh Ghosh, and Edited by Majlis
New Edition
The Future of Human Rights
Third Edition
Upendra Baxi
Creation without Restraint
Promoting Liberty and Rivalry in Innovation
Christina Bohannan and Herbert Hovenkamp
New Edition
Covert Investigation
Third Edition
Clive Harfield and Karen Harfield
Part II Law Review Weekly – later today or first thing Friday morning…
‘They fall across and in different ways and that figure will progress, if you like, through the course of the year …’
well exactly; i don’t think she could have made it clearer…
i was a bit miffed that the link wasn’t to footage of the interview. then i read it and thought i might well have cringed myself to death so was quite grateful.
and in other news…
bloody crisp never gave me a scholarship – and i can’t even accuse him of being after georgina blackwell’s body! i don’t imagine he was in love with the publicity at all.
“a hefty fine of £220”?