The Sunday Law Review: 11th to 17th January

Welcome to this weekly column dedicated  to looking at what happened in the business of law, legislative changes, activity in law firms and lawyers in the news within UK as reported by legal publications throughout the previous week. 

As the very first review of 2015 it would be customary to wish our readers a very happy new year. The tragedy in Paris and what is seen as a defining moment for freespeech has made it a particularly dim start to 2015. I would like to pay tribute to the victims of Charlie Hebdo attacks. If only our ideological battles could be fought through arguments in courts of justice following due legal process rather than resorting to bullet ridden violence. 

As it was almost inevitable, David Cameron announced plans for a "comprehensive piece of legislation" to monitor internet communications following the event. On the other side of the Atlantic, Barak Obama stressed the need for a consumer data privacy legislation for corporations, although this would not include government agencies.

In this week, following a decision by Judge Joanna Greenberg QC, who gave a non-custodial sentence to a teacher convicted on two counts of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust, there has been much criticism of the verdict across the political divide as well as the mainstream press. At first, the Attorney General's Office (AGO) said that it would consider whether to refer the sentence to the Court of Appeal after receiving 20 complaints. However, it was deemed that the sentence of a religious studies teacher convicted of having sex with a student will not be reviewed because his crimes are not included in the “unduly lenient” sentence scheme. 

The legal profession had the best ever showing in the gay-friendly employer rankings. The 2015 top 100 gay-friendly employers list features ten law firms with three firms in the top ten.   
  
Requests for inclusion within the 'Lawyers, Law Firms, Chambers & ABS in the news this week' section below by law firms and legal professionals should be emailed to features@sundaylawreview.com.




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 practitioners: 
 

Interviews, features on lawyers and obituaries: 


  • Saturday Law Interview: Bevan Brittan Commercial Dispute Resolution Partner Iain Miller talks about his involvement with the SRA LSB QASA and discusses the future of the law firm http://t.co/hwewyX7hIU
  • In-house Interview: Cancer Research Technology’s Andrew Waldron - A Profile | The Lawyer http://t.co/VAuUOwdze2 
  • Jon Baughman dies - chair of Pepper Hamilton in turmoiled times | The Global Legal Post https://t.co/FhZREaE8c3

 Interesting articles involving the study of law and legal cases, legal training, pupillage, associates, legal academia, publications on law and law students: 



Recommended Articles of this 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.


Lawyers, Law Firms, Chambers & ABS in the news this week: 
 
Friday 16th January
Thursday 15th January
Wednesday 14th January
Tuesday 13th January
Monday 12th January

 

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 'unrelated to Law' Blog chronicling thoughts behind the scene at LawNewsIndex & Twitter

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