David’s Stand

Gosh, I must turn on the news….David Davis is forcing a by-election to stand on a single issue – liberty. What an odd turn of affairsIt comes to something when the Tories are defending civil liberties…see here.

Further Responses to LSC Briefings

Further to previous posts, the Association of Lawyers for Children have also responded to the private briefings given to the press last week as can be seen here. I also understand that the LSC has agreed that going forward there will be a cooperative way of working with lawyers and that the statistics upon which [...]

blustery days

Since my last post regarding the proposed cuts in family legal aid and the press coverage of it, it appears that matters have moved on. The CEO of the LSC has acknowledged that the figure of £140,000 quoted in the press (and arising from LSC private press briefings) as representing average earnings of family legal aid barristers [...]

Mills McCartney Award Announced – and Judgment published in full

Well, we all knew there would be some kind of appeal – and apparently it is by way of Heather Mills McCartney appealing the decision to make the full judgment public, due to be heard tomorrow. In the meantime here is a link to the summary of the judgment published today. . In short, Heather [...]

Flying Carpets and Turkish Delight

I am flabbergasted at this story. In summary a well respected High Court Judge in the Family Division has been roundly condemned by the Court of Appeal for making a string of remarks which were pointedly referring to the ethnic origin of one of the parties, namely a wealthy Sheikh. Mr Justice Singer has publicly [...]

religious discrimination claim by hairdresser

A muslim hairdresser is suing a salon who refused her employment on the basis of her refusal to uncover her head. See the story in the Standard here. Not wishing to be flippant about discrimination - but frankly, the barnets of most hairdressers I have ever seen are the primary source of my complete distrust of the whole [...]

Bloggers stripped of anonymity

Be warned all you bloggers. Don’t be too rude or they will getcha…See Guardian article: Warning to abusive bloggers as judge tells site to reveal names. How embarrassing to be publicly named as a Sheffield Wednesday fan…;-)

open justice

The Guardian reports that a newspaper is appealing a decision to allow the identity of a man convicted of child pornography offences to remain anonymous in order to protect his daughters from possible bullying. The Court of Appeal will consider this matter, unusually with a five Judge panel – no doubt because of the public interest in the [...]

Bruce Hyman

This story has generated a lot of interest, so its only right that I should note that Bruce Hyman was sentenced to 12 months in prison yesterday for perverting the course of justice. As I understand it (from a few hastily snatched snippets from the papers whilst being crushed on the central line!) Mr Hyman [...]

‘Unjust Adoption Rise’

Read this article the other day on the BBC website. It includes:‘Critics of “forced adoptions” say social workers are rushing cases to hit the government’s adoption targets.’ [who are the critics?] ‘Campaigners, including Justice for Families, also claim the secrecy of the family courts is stopping parents properly challenging adoptions.’ [Justice for Famillies and who else?] [...]