Blog
News, analysis, comment and updates from ICLR's case law and UK legislation platform
The ICLR team is currently in Boston, Mass. attending the annual conference of the International Bar Association. This is one of our favourite legal events, and we make sure to attend each year to show from our stand in the exhibition hall the superior features of ICLR Online, as well as samples of our print… Continue reading
The recent decision by a Crown Court judge requiring a Muslim woman defendant to remove her niqaab (face-covering veil) when giving evidence in her own defence, but permitting her to keep it on during the rest of the trial, has prompted a good deal of comment in the social media. The reasons given by His… Continue reading
In his latest posting, His Honour Judge Pennyweather ruminates on the mysterious allure of anonymous tweeting for members of the judiciary. Sponsored post from the BabyBarista blog.… Continue reading
A Muslim woman appearing as a defendant in the Crown Court could be required to remove her niqaab when giving evidence, though she was free to wear it during other parts of the trial. To limit the restriction on her religious freedom, she would be permitted to give evidence from behind a screen, shielding her… Continue reading
UpTights was a bundle of energy at chambers tea yesterday. “I had the most terrible experience on my way to court,” she said. “What? Your witch’s broomstick came unstuck?” said OldSmoothie. “I was dashing for the start of a trial over the road when a seagull landed one on me from a great height. Not… Continue reading
Like legal regulation, civil litigation is peppered with acronyms and abbreviations, which it can sometimes be hard to keep up with.To make life easier, they have all been set out in a glossary, below, to which we will link in future postings where relevant. ADR Alternative Dispute Resolution CFA Conditional Fee Agreement DBA Damages Based Agreement… Continue reading
This year has seen the government mount a two-pronged attack aimed at reducing the cost of legal aid, by introducing measures to reduce spending on both criminal and civil legal aid. Last week, following a heated summer of discontent from the legal profession, its proposals in relation to criminal legal aid, based on the introduction of… Continue reading
At the end of last month the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates got the go-ahead from Legal Standards Board, the über-regulator of law professions. In a series of posts we’ve looked at what this means for barristers and other professional advocates. In this third post we look at some of the main criticisms levelled at… Continue reading
Last week we reported that the Legal Services Board had finally given the green light to the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA), and looked at the background to this scheme, proposed by the Joint Advocacy Group, to ensure that advocates from different sectors of the legal profession (whether barristers, solicitors or legal executives) conform… Continue reading
Legal professionals are subject to no fewer than SEVEN professional regulators, whose names and functions are often referred to in a bewildering Scrabble tray of acronyms and abbreviations. Apart from (1) the BSB which deals with barristers, (2) the SRA which deals with solicitors, and (3) the IPS which deals with legal executives and paralegals,… Continue reading
