Weekly Notes

This week’s roundup of legal news and commentary includes smoke’n’mirrors, smoke without fire (or the absence thereof), smoke in plain packaging, and a trade mark relating in a roundabout way to smoke on the water. Plus a veritable Queen’s peach of a legislative programme and other offerings from the fruitbowl of news. Best enjoyed with… Continue reading

This week’s scenic tour of legal news and comment includes human rights legislation, the employment law of footwear, protection of intellectual property and a plea for students to slough off their intellectual bubblewrap. Human Rights HL report coldwaters Bill of Rights proposal Repealing the Human Rights Act 1998 would, said the House of Lords EU… Continue reading

This week’s roundup of legal news and commentary includes press freedom (or lack of it), probation services, undercover anonymity, copyright infringement, and pupillage. Enjoy! Human Rights World Press Freedom Day On 3 May each year we celebrate World Press Freedom Day, which was first proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1993, following a recommendation… Continue reading

This week’s dance round the legal maypole includes news and commentary about the historic fresh inquest verdicts from Hillsborough, a Home Secretarial salvo against Strasbourg, three tiers of judicial recruitment, and problems with fair trials.   Inquests Hillsborough verdicts A second set of inquests into the deaths of 96 football fans killed at the Hillsborough… Continue reading

This week’s collection of legal news and comment includes another court fees hike, the fate of the privacy injunction, a ban on making art in an art gallery, the mingling of caffeine and the printed word, and some other rather asinine stuff to divert you from your timesheets and deadlines. Privacy “The Law is an Ass”:… Continue reading

This week’s selection of legal news and events includes fact-checking the EU before the referendum, a new European data protection regime, a copyright claim that’s music to the lawyer’s ears, and the poison of a “millstone” name. European Union Facts amid the fog of lies, damned lies and bogus statistics Thanks to a generous public,… Continue reading

This week’s roundup of legal news and comment includes an embarrassing Panamanian data leak, guidance on intellectual property, some views on judicial diversity and a collection of good and bad developments overseas. And after last week’s folly, it’s all perfectly serious. Panama: a question of trust(s) Here’s how it began (according to Süddeutsche Zeitung):  Over… Continue reading

This week’s roundup of legal news and comment concentrates on what’s been happening in the international sphere, from terrorism in Brussels to war crimes in Bosnia, and the targeting of journalists and lawyers elsewhere. But we start with some items from the domestic front. Policing Private hearings of public inquiry The so-called “Spycops” inquiry chaired… Continue reading

This week’s budget deficit of legal news and commentary includes a weary resignation and some other stuff. Keep reading. It’s good. Budget IDS gives Osbo the PIP As others have no doubt pointed out, the Chancellor, George Osborne, often gives the impression of a blindfolded man attempting to pin the tail of projected growth onto… Continue reading

This week’s selection of legal news and comment includes recent lectures by genuinely top judges Lord Thomas and Lord Neuberger, a review by the NAO of confiscation orders, and reports of some recent legal events.   Lectures Three recent lectures on topics of law, the courts and liberty. Bailii Lecture “Developing commercial law through the… Continue reading