The Law Business: 17th to 23rd June

Welcome to the year's 24th edition of the weekly 'Law Business' column brought to you by the SundayLawReview team.  

The long protracted affair over Abu Qatada seems to be finally heading to a close with the King of Jordan formally endorsing a treaty, which has now been formally approved by the UK parliament. The treaty guarantees a fair trial in Jordan for the radical cleric.

 The most senior judge in the country, Lord Neuburger has warned that Legal Aid cuts may not lead to significant savings as the cost of unrepresented litigants and long hearings would offset any of the proposed savings. His stark warning lays out a grim vision of a two tier justice system, barristers and solicitors serving two groups of clients, one rich, corporate and perfectly capable of affording the litigation costs and the other group, consisting of the poor and disenfranchised, which in time may lead to UK courts being reserved for just the most influential. The comments by the senior judge were in response to proposals from the Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling, to introduce price-competitive tendering in contracts to represent defendants during criminal trials, restrict legal aid and make it harder to bring judicial review challenges.

 The real cost of these cuts are probably yet to be felt as protest continued outside the parliament on a regular basis throughout June. Lord Neuberger's version of what is to come is perhaps a sad grim, yet inevitable reality. 

This week, a convicted robber from Southend, Ricky Kerry leapt from the dock and fled a court as a judge was about to send him to jail. Sadly the security guards never caught up with with the swift 19 year old. This column hopes that the authorities would catch up with him soon. Alas the fate of Legal Aid is sealed, no catching up or repealing of Mr Grayling's reforms.

The purpose of this column is to take a serious look at what happened in the business of law within UK as reported by online legal publications throughout last week.


TheLawMap interview with CPS Lawyer & Novelist Mark Holmes on writing, law & Pro Bono.    


The most interesting articles on developments, compliance, business of law within UK or as well as international developments of interest to UK law firms and legal practioners: 
 

Interesting articles on the study of law, legal training, pupillage, associates, legal academia & law students: 



Articles of the week:

The UK and international articles of the week are pieces selected by @TheLawMap tweeting team based on recommendations from friends and followers of LawNewsIndex.com daily law news blog.

  • Legal Aid cuts - what has changed? | Laura Gray - The BBC
  • In Muhammad Ali’s Voice From the Past, a Stand for the Ages | William C Rhoden - The New York Times 
  • Why NSA surveillance is a threat to British doctors and lawyers | Ross Anderson - The Guardian
  • Domestic violence or lover's tiff: when the ugly side of passion rears its head | Allison Pearson - The Telegraph 
  • Civil liberties: surveillance and the state | Editorial - The Guardian   
  • Justice is the new front in war on global poverty | FT.com 

Lawyers, Law Firms, Chambers & ABS in the news this week: 

Friday 21th June
Thursday 20th June
Wednesday 19th June
Tuesday 18th June

Monday 17th June

 

We would like to thank all the publications cited in this week's column. Please notify via @TheLawMap Twitter handle of any errors or omissions.

 

TheLawMap Publications at a glance: 
LawNewsIndex.com - Daily Law News Archive
SundayLawReview.com - Weekly Law Business News Blog
Saturday Law Interview - Weekly interview with a legal mind on Law, Life & Society
Wig - Daily Newspaper Focusing on Law & Society
MetaLawIndex - Informal Blog chronicling life behind the scene at LawNewsIndex & Twitter

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