The morning’s top legal affairs news stories ‘A crisis for human rights’: new index reveals global fall in basic justice [The Guardian] Why we must change UK law to protect British citizens detained abroad from human rights abuses [Huffington Post] Changes to judges’ pension scheme found to be discriminatory at EAT [Personnel Today] Tougher laws planned to tackle UK terrorism [The National] British lawyers urge Iran to release rights advocates: ‘Strong and confident nations don’t arrest lawyers’ [Independent] Solicitor, paralegal and others face contempt of court trial over “fraudulent” PI claim [Legal Futures] Lisa Armstrong fires warning shot to Ant McPartlin as she ‘hires feared lawyer Baroness Fiona Shackleton’ [Metro] Concerns in the courtroom as algorithms are used to help judges rule on jail time which can flag black people as twice as likely to re-offend compared to white defendants [Mail Online] Sex offender offers to show judges his penis [Telegraph & Argus] Student event: Technology and the future of legal practice — with Womble Bond Dickinson in Leeds [Legal Cheek Hub] “Trainees and paralegals for the most part are underpaid and overworked – solicitors treat them like slaves. It’s worse still for paralegals who have a TC dangled in front of them for years whilst watching other graduates earn more and have less stress.” [Legal Cheek comments] The post Morning round-up: Thursday 1 February appeared first on Legal Cheek. from https://www.legalcheek.com/2018/02/morning-round-up-thursday-1-february/
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Legal profession most represented sector Sixteen City law firms feature in this year’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employer power list. Top ranking firms include Pinsent Masons, holding onto the number two slot for the second year running; Baker McKenzie at number six pipping Berwin Leighton Paisner to the post in seventh, closely followed by Clifford Chance which dropped from fourth to eleventh place. Compiled by equality charity Stonewall, the top 100 rankings — based on a benchmarking tool called the “workplace equality index” — are in recognition of the achievements of large organisations to promote inclusive places to work. The accolades given to the legal profession also include ‘Gay Role Model of the Year’ which was awarded to an associate at Slaughter and May, Krishna Omkar, and ‘Senior Champion of the Year’ which was nabbed by Narind Singh, a corporate M&A partner at Clifford Chance. The three City firms who made it to the top five of the power list also feature on the Trans Inclusion Top 10 — awarded to those organisations which have made the biggest improvements in trans inclusion in their workplaces: Baker McKenzie, Berwin Leighton Paisner and Pinsent Masons. Other law firms — including a number of magic circle players — which made their mark on the top 100 are: Norton Rose Fulbright (19), CMS sharing the 26th slot with Travers Smith, Hogan Lovells (31) and Herbert Smith Freehills (33). Outside of the top 50 were Taylor Wessing (51), Slaughter and May (54), Dentons (58), Kirkland & Ellis (73), Eversheds Sutherland and Linklaters sharing the 75th slot, and Allen & Overy (91). The Ministry of Justice made a stunning entrance this year at number 13. More than 400 organisations participated in total. The top slot was awarded to the National Assembly for Wales. Stonewall Top 100 UK (law firms only)
The post 16 City firms make it to LGBT top 100 employer list appeared first on Legal Cheek. from https://www.legalcheek.com/2018/01/16-city-firms-make-it-to-lgbt-top-100-employer-list/ Role reversal: Linklaters launches scheme which sees junior lawyers mentor senior partners1/31/2018 Diversity and inclusion push Linklaters is set to trial a new scheme where some of the global outfit’s most senior partners receive mentoring from its most junior lawyers. Turning the traditional mentoring model on its head, Links’ young lawyers and business support staff will be invited to share their insights with some of the magic circle player’s top brass. The pilot — which forms part of Linklaters’ diversity and inclusion programme — aims to give the firm’s 13-strong partnership board a better understanding of different employees’ perspectives and experiences. Applications for the role reversal scheme opened on Monday, with the firm particularly keen to hear from lawyers and support staff from under-represented groups, including the LGBT+ community and ethnic minority groups. Commenting on the move, Linklaters’ global diversity and inclusion partner, Fiona Hobbs, said:
Once a junior mentor has been assigned a partner, the pair will discuss their experiences over a monthly meeting or call. The pilot will run until November 2018 and, if successful, will be rolled out to other areas of the firm. This isn’t the first somewhat-unconventional management move made by Linklaters in recent months. In November, Legal Cheek reported that nine of its German lawyers had accepted smaller salaries for reduced working hours. These associates are paid 33% less, but are only expected to work a standard 40-hour week. If this programme were to reach UK shores, a Links NQ could stand to receive roughly £52,600, compared to the £78,500 earned by those working longer hours. The post Role reversal: Linklaters launches scheme which sees junior lawyers mentor senior partners appeared first on Legal Cheek. from https://www.legalcheek.com/2018/01/role-reversal-linklaters-launches-scheme-which-sees-junior-lawyers-mentor-senior-partners/ She will spend it in court Lady Hale will spend her first birthday as the president of the Supreme Court not enjoying a slice of Victoria sponge but by hearing a miscarriage of justice case on appeal from Antigua and Barbuda. Today is both Hale’s 73rd birthday and the Williams hearing, which she’ll be sitting on in her capacity as a justice on the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. She will hear the case alongside Lords Carnwarth, Hughes and Briggs, and Lady Black. These justices will consider whether there has been a miscarriage of justice in a case where a first-instance judgment has been given against a party who wasn’t present nor represented at the hearing. It’s all in a day’s work for Hale, who since her last birthday has decided cases on topics including: discrimination at the bar, Scotch whisky and smoking in prisons. But the achievement she’s perhaps best known for is making it to the Supreme Court’s highest post, its president, in October 2017 — the first woman ever to do so.
Hale has not had a typical ascent into the profession’s highest echelons. Raised by a single working mother after her father passed away when she was 13, Hale snubbed the profession from which most top judges are taken: the bar. While the 73-year-old did study law at Oxford and train as a barrister, she packed it in to pursue a career in academia. The top judge taught law at the University of Manchester full-time for 18 years, where she will next week return to give a lecture to students and staff. The post Lady Hale celebrates first birthday since taking Supreme Court’s helm appeared first on Legal Cheek. from https://www.legalcheek.com/2018/01/lady-hale-celebrates-first-birthday-since-taking-supreme-courts-helm/ One half are trainees and junior lawyers LawCare, a mental health charity that runs a helpline for stressed-out lawyers, has revealed it handled 900 calls from 616 callers in 2017, an 11% increase on the year before. Forty-five percent of 2017’s callers were trainees or had been qualified for less than five years. Common reasons for LawCare calls include: depression (17%), anxiety (7%), financial problems (4%), and bullying and harassment (4%). But the most frequently-cited topic of all was workplace stress (27%). Though the legal profession is opening its eyes to the likes of agile working initiatives, it’s undeniable law can be a stressful profession to work in. Particularly at the top City firms, trainees and solicitors can expect to work an average of more than 10 hours a day and well beyond 8pm (Legal Cheek has collected data on firms’ average arrive and leave the office times). Unfortunately, long hours and heavy workloads can have a terrible impact. As Elizabeth Rimmer, CEO of LawCare, explains:
Legal Cheek reported earlier this month on a junior lawyer who claimed a “toxic” environment at her firm, where billing targets were “aggressively” implemented, caused her extreme stress. “Almost daily I would be in tears due to the pressures I was under,” she said. “My hair started to fall out and I put on weight.” The impact of work stress and mental health can strike in law school, too. Recently, Legal Cheek reported on three suspected suicides that had recently taken place in the Bristol law student community. While there is no indication law school pressures were the cause of any three of the student deaths, comments on the article included: “So much pressure to succeed, especially as a professional grade salary is now necessary to sustain the sort of humble existence that a low grade managerial job would have sustained in the 70s”, and:
Elizabeth Rimmer stresses that: “LawCare is here for all legal professionals through our helpline, we offer one-on-one peer support and we also work with employers to promote wellbeing at work. We would encourage the legal community not to stay silent and to contact us for support if needed.” You can contact LawCare by calling 0800 279 6888 in the UK or 1800 991 801 in Ireland. The post Number of lawyers calling mental health helpline at record high appeared first on Legal Cheek. from https://www.legalcheek.com/2018/01/number-of-lawyers-calling-mental-health-helpline-at-record-high/ The morning’s top legal affairs news stories Court finds government spying law unlawful [Sky News] Solicitor for student in rape case criticises police and CPS [The Guardian] UK could face court action over air pollution after EU warning: ‘We can delay no more’ [Independent] Henry Brooke: Tributes pour in for blogging and tweeting ex-Court of Appeal judge, who has sadly died [Legal Cheek] Motorists should be penalised for going just 1mph over the speed limit, Britain’s road policing chief says [The Telegraph] Judge ‘at wits’ end’ over secure unit shortages for young people [The Guardian] Couple lose bitter legal battle to stop their dog being evicted from their ‘no pets policy’ £1million penthouse [Mail Online] Court ruled emoji constituted apartment rental contract as lawyers struggle with interpretation [9to5Mac] Richard Spencer said he couldn’t find a lawyer to defend him against a lawsuit about the violence in Charlottesville [BuzzFeed News] Student event: Technology and the future of legal practice — with Womble Bond Dickinson in Leeds [Legal Cheek Hub] David Allen Green: “He [Henry Brooke] took to social media so deftly, and used it wonderfully to explain the substantive law, how it worked in practice, and why reform and policy change was needed. As a legal blogger and tweeter he was without equal, and we are so lucky to have had him. Such a sad and dreadful loss.” [Legal Cheek comments] The post Morning round-up: Wednesday 31 January appeared first on Legal Cheek. from https://www.legalcheek.com/2018/01/morning-round-up-wednesday-31-january/ The United States Department of Justice and the Securites and Exchange Committee have started investigating an Apple software update that slows down older iPhones, according to a Bloomberg report. Apple admitted late last year than an iPhone software update issued in February 2017 slowed down the processors on certain older devices. The company said it was to prevent unexpected shutdowns in devices with older batteries. The reported DOJ and SEC probes wouldn't be the first pushes for more information from Apple. Groups in both the Senate and the House of Representatives have questioned Apple, and the company faces over 45 class-action lawsuits from consumers. Apple wasn't immediately available to comment. "We don’t confirm or deny investigations," said a spokesperson for the Department of Justice. Apple previously said that it plans to release a new software update that will allow iPhone users to turn off the feature that diminished performance later this spring. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: The end of the iPhone X cycle could send Apple's stock tumbling from http://www.businessinsider.com/united-states-reportedly-investigating-apple-battery-issues-2018-1 Henry Brooke worked with Lord Denning and sat on the famous conjoined twins case A former judge who dedicated his retirement to blogging about legal affairs and challenging the government’s measly legal aid budget has sadly died, aged 81. Sir Henry Brooke was a well-respected lawyer who was appointed to the judiciary from his barrister practice at Fountain Court Chambers. He served as a High Court judge from 1988 before being promoted to the appeal court in 1996. Before retiring from the judiciary in 2006, Brooke sat on a conjoined twins case which will likely be instantly recognisable to LLB students studying criminal law, family law or medical law modules. The case — full name Re A (Children) (Conjoined Twins: Surgical Separation) — sits alongside fellow law school favourites Donoghue v Stevenson, Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball and High Trees as one of the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting’s top cases of the past 150 years. On his blog, which Brooke began during his retirement, the ex-Court of Appeal judge candidly revealed that he struggled to grapple with the complex legal issues unearthed by the case, and that the hearing coincided with a difficult period of his personal life — his mother’s funeral. There were some lighter moments, though. He said:
Other interesting snippets from Brooke’s blog include a tell-all account of what it was really like to work with law student-favourite Lord Denning. You can breathe a sigh of relief; Brooke thought he was a great guy:
Aside from reflecting on his distinguished career, Brooke spent his later years working to reverse the government’s swingeing cuts to legal aid (this despite his brother and parents being Conservative Party politicians). Brooke sat on the Bach Commission, headed by Labour peer Lord Bach, which lambasted the cuts for leaving “huge numbers of people” unable to afford private legal advice but also ineligible for legal aid. The commission recommended the codification of the right to justice into statute, and the inception of a Justice Commission to keep tabs on the protection of this legal right.
Brooke — who was the judge in charge of the modernisation of the courts from 2001 to 2004 — had a penchant not just for blogging but for tweeting, too. In his later years, he entertained his close-to 10,000 followers with his justice musings. It was also there that he revealed he was due to undergo cardiac surgery on Monday (yesterday):
He later thanked those that had wished him well:
Very sadly, his son, tweeting as @moonbroth, announced today that Brooke had not survived. The post read:
Social media has been set alight this afternoon by tributes to Brooke. To give you just a flavour of these, lawyer and writer David Allen Green described Brooke as a “legal hero”, while barrister Harriet Johnson said Brooke “was the very best that law and humanity had to offer”. PJ Kirby QC thanked Brooke for his Twitter contributions, which he said “were full of intelligence, wisdom and justice”. Charity the Legal Action Group thinks Brooke is an “access to justice hero”, while pro bono organisation LawWorks said:
Other kind words included:
The post Tributes pour in for blogging and tweeting ex-Court of Appeal judge, who has sadly died appeared first on Legal Cheek. from https://www.legalcheek.com/2018/01/tributes-pour-in-for-blogging-ex-court-of-appeal-judge-who-has-sadly-died-aged-81/
"The Fast and the Furious" franchise has notably driven hoards of people to the theaters (as one of the most successful movie franchises in history), but it may also be leading people to drive faster than they normally would, according to a new study published in The New York Times on Tuesday. The Times study, led by Anupam B. Jena, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, found that "rates of extreme speeding" increased in a sample county following the releases of three "Fast and Furious" movies. The study examined 192,892 speeding tickets recorded in Montgomery County, Maryland, between 2012 and 2017. It found that, in the three weekends after the release of a "Fast and Furious" movie, compared to the three weekends before, ticketed speeds increased almost 20 percent, "to an average of 19 miles per hour over the speed limit, from 16 miles per hour." "Extreme speeding" also increased drastically in the same manner, according to the study, as "the percentage of drivers charged with driving more than 40 miles per hour above the speed limit nearly doubled." The study found extreme speeders were often also concentrated within two miles from movie theaters, which they say suggests speeding "induced by moviegoing." Though the scope of the study is limited, the article makes for an entertaining read on the possible effects of a franchise that remains relevant on a large scale. "The Fate of the Furious," the eighth and latest movie in the series, earned over $1.2 billion worldwide after its release last summer. The release of the ninth film in the series has been delayed a year to April 2020. SEE ALSO: 'Fast and Furious' movie delayed until 2020 - Business Insider Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Here's what losing weight does to your body and brain from http://www.businessinsider.com/fast-and-furious-movies-may-cause-an-increase-in-speeding-study-2018-1 • Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered at least 11 princes — along with numerous ministers — to be arrested in November. • Billionaire Alwaleed bin Talal, the richest man in the Middle East, according to Forbes, was among them. • The prisoners are currently being held in the five-star Ritz-Carlton Riyadh in Saudi Arabia's capital city. • Prince Alwaleed was released from custody Saturday, and told Reuters that he hasn't been charged with a crime following his months-long detention.
Billionaire Alwaleed bin Talal was freed Saturday, NPR reported. He'd been a prisoner in the five-star Ritz-Carlton Riyadh since November 4, 2017, when Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman consolidated power by having 11 princes and numerous government ministers seized. These captives received better accommodations than a standard prison cell. The royal and non-royal prisoners were reportedly confined to the luxury hotel in the nation's capital. Prince Alwaleed even saw his fortune increase by $1 billion in the wake of his release, CNN reported. Forbes now puts his net worth at $18.3 billion. The billionaire gave Reuters an interview in the suite where he'd been held for months. He said he was upset about the rumors that he was held in a standard jail and tortured. He said his arrest resulted through a "misunderstanding," and added that he spent his captivity watching the news, taking walks, swimming, and exercising. "It's no problem at all," he said. "Everything's fine." Here's a look at the luxury hotel before it was converted into an makeshift prison months ago: SEE ALSO: Saudi Arabia had a crazy weekend that upended the Middle Eastern kingdom The hotel first opened in 2011 and was the first ever Ritz-Carlton in Saudi Arabia.Source: Five Star Alliance It boasts 493 guest rooms, including 49 two-bedroom royal suites and 50 one-bedroom executive suites.Source: Five Star Alliance Amenities include a male-only spa, 62,000 square feet of event space, and a bowling alley.Source: The Ritz-Carlton Riyadh, The Ritz-Carlton Riyadh, The Ritz-Carlton Riyadh See the rest of the story at Business Insider from http://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-arabia-princes-ritz-carlton-prisoners-2017-11 |
AuthorHi I am Alana Smith 35 years old living in New York. I am working as an assistant in local law office. I like to share legal news with people to educate them. Archives
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