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| Tuesday September 25 2018 |
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By Frances Gibb and Jonathan Ames
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Good morning.
Reforming antiquated divorce laws is just the start in a campaign to make marriage more attractive, a former family law judge argued at The Times-Marriage Foundation panel session last night.
But if just the word “marriage” sends you scrambling for a mind-altering substance, check out the change of heart a former Labour lord chancellor has had on the “war on drugs”.
And we also report on the polar opposites of the legal profession – a call by Labour’s current shadow lord chancellor for beefed up budgets for state funded advice, and the latest league table detailing the world’s richest law firms.
Loaded or broke, there’s something for everyone in this morning’s must-read of all things legal, including news, comment and gossip.
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Today
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TIME TO DITCH FAULT-BASED DIVORCE, SAYS MINISTER
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Private probation companies ‘fail to supervise’
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Blue Bag diary: Lawyers on board for Monaco
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The Churn: SFO man Milford heads to Kingsley Napley
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Comment: Robots aren’t taking over legal practice yet
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| Tweet us @timeslaw with your views. |
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Story of the Day
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Time has come to ditch fault-based divorce, says minister
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The government believes that "the time to act has now come" to ditch the requirement for married couples to resort to blame if they want a relatively quick divorce, a minster said last night. Lucy Frazer, QC (pictured centre), a junior justice minister, said that the current regime where the state requires one spouse to be blamed for the breakdown of a marriage "fails the children of that marriage".
Ms Frazer highlighted the Ministry of Justice's forthcoming consultation on divorce law reform at a debate held last night by The Times and the Marriage Foundation. She described the current fault-based system as "dishonest" as it often forced spouses to invent poor behaviour or allegations of adultery to obtain a faster divorce.
Also at the debate, it was revealed that marriage rates have halved in 50 years, with a former High Court judge saying it is now an institution only for the rich. Sir Paul Coleridge, now chairman of the Marriage Foundation, said that marriage must be made modern and relevant to combat the “scourge of family breakdown”.
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Read the full story
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Scalp of the week
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Sir David Green, QC: a triumph or a trophy hire for Slaughter and May?
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The former director of the Serious Fraud Office brings global contacts and experience -- but restrictions on his post as senior consultant may hold him back, writes Linda Tsang
When Sir David Green, QC, announced in April that he was leaving the director's role at the Serious Fraud Office, senior headhunters scrambled to contact him, but none succeeded. Perhaps Sir David's post-university experience at Defence Intelligence – a secret squirrel branch of the Ministry of Defence – ensured that his tracks were covered.
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Read the full story
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News round-up
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Private probation companies ‘fail to supervise’ abusers
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Victims of abuse are at risk of further attack because private probation firms are failing to supervise offenders properly, a watchdog warns today. In more than seven out of ten cases examined, probation staff did not do enough to protect victims and children from their abusers.
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Read the full story
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Restore legal aid for initial advice, says shadow justice secretary
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Legal aid funding should be restored for all initial advice, Labour’s shadow justice secretary said yesterday as he described recent cuts to the system as a “false economy”. Many ordinary people have been “priced out of our justice system” by restrictions on funding and eligibility imposed by successive governments, Richard Burgon (pictured) told fringe meetings at Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool.
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Read the full story
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Former lord chancellor calls for legalisation of drugs
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The war on drugs has been a tragic disaster that has harmed the poorest parts of Britain, a former lord chancellor said yesterday in a call for legal regulation of currently banned substances. Lord Falconer of Thoroton (pictured), Labour’s justice secretary and lord chancellor from 2003 to 2007, wrote in a blog that he regretted supporting legal crackdowns on drugs while in government.
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Read the full story
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Kirkland & Ellis confirmed as world’s richest law firm
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Kirkland & Ellis has been confirmed as the richest law firm in the world, with the Chicago practice overtaking its Los Angeles rival, Latham & Watkins, figures from the US showed yesterday. Kirkland’s most recent annual revenue figure was $3.165 billion (£2.41 billion), moving it up to top place on the American Lawyer magazine’s revenue league table for this year.
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Read the full story
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In Brief
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- Government admits 'no deal' could mean exit from patent court – Law Gazette
- PwC goes for slice of global immigration law cake in deal with US firm Fragomen – The Lawyer
- Brussels takes Poland to ECJ over law reforms – Financial Times
- Trump court nominee Kavanaugh faces fresh sex claims – The Times
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Comment
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Robots aren’t taking over legal practice yet
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Significant obstacles still lie on the road to smart contracts, writes Charles Kerrigan
Proponents of artificial intelligence argue that it is only a matter of time before its application in the legal profession widens beyond procedural or mundane tasks such as document analysis. But the biggest barrier to adopting AI and deep learning is access to large scale, good quality data. For legal theory and practice this remains the most significant obstacle to the robots.
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Read the full story
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Tweet of the day
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| @pedanteric5 @AngelaRayner @Twitter I don’t want Twitter knowing who I am. If they did, I would not be anonymous. It’s moot, as the idea is so impracticable as to be fantasy, but if it did ever come to fruition I’d simply delete my account. |
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@BarristerSecret
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Comment
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Firms can't afford to ignore their bottom line
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A focused approach to cash flow is as important as marketing and business development, writes Kathryn Thomson
Despite reports of record-breaking revenue rises at the UK's 50 largest law firms, a recent analysis shows that ballooning staff costs have caused profit margins to shrink at legal practices. More worrying, the research from Smith & Williamson, an accountancy firm, shows they wait an average of 122 days between billing and payment, restricting cash flow and weakening their financial muscle.
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Read the full story
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Blue Bag
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Lawyers on board for Monaco
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Some law firms have a finely tuned sense of what is newsworthy. But few could rival Bargate Murray, a London outfit that must be the only law firm in the world to describe itself as a “luxury asset and superyacht law firm".
Mind you, with a catch-line like that, it should come as no surprise that the firm sent an excited note to reporters yesterday announcing that later this week its partners will undertake the onerous task of attending the Monaco Yacht Show.
No soft gigs doing police station interviews at 3am for this crowd – Bargate Murray tackles the really tough jobs. But, then, someone’s got to do it.
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A barrister’s passport to Totnes
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While political commentators continue to debate whether Labour backs a second referendum on Brexit or just wants to appear that it might, one barrister ploughs on with his own mission to restructure the UK in the light of its departure from the EU.
Jonathan Cooper, a human rights lawyer at Doughty Street Chambers in London, has announced the granting of the 1,000th passport for the “city state of Tones”.
In July, Cooper and several like-minded “remainers” claimed that the Devon market town was so irked by the Brexit referendum result that it had declared itself to be independent and keen to remain part of the EU. Whether officials in the town hall or Brussels agree has never been made entirely clear.
The barrister maintains such technicalities are irrelevant, arguing that citizenship of the city state of Totnes is “a state of mind”.
“The Totnes passport has become a symbol of protest against Brexit” says Cooper. “Every day we get requests for passports. These come from all over the world. Brexit is despised by so many and the strength of feeling against Brexit should not be ignored.”
For the record, the 1,000th passport went to Naomi Cunningham, a local shopkeeper in Totnes. Cooper has confirmed that the Totnes passports are available in any colour, provided it is burgundy.
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The Churn
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SFO man Milford heads to Kingsley Napley
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Alun Milford is to leave his senior post at the Serious Fraud Office for one of London’s most prominent white-collar crime law firms, as the clear-out of the old guard at the agency continues.
Mr Milford spent six years as general counsel at the SFO before announcing yesterday that he was joining Kingsley Napley as a partner from January next year.
Mr Milford spent a total of 26 years as a government prosecutor, having done stints at the Crown Prosecution Service and the attorney-general’s office before joining the fraud-fighters in 2012. He started his career with the City law firm McKenna & Co where he practised between 1988 and 1992.
Mr Milford’s move comes after serving as acting director at the SFO when Sir David Green, QC, stood down. Mr Milford was seen as a possible candidate to succeed Sir David, but eventually the role went to Lisa Osofsky, a dual UK-US citizen and former FBI lawyer.
Sir David has since joined Slaughter and May, the City of London law firm.
Louise Hodges, the head of Kingsley Napley’s criminal litigation team, said that Mr Milford “brings with him a unique perspective and experience”.
Also at Slaughter and May, Nigel Boardman, one of the firm’s leading corporate partners, is to retire after 35 years at the firm, it was reported yesterday. According to the website Legal Week, Mr Boardman will retire from the partnership at the end of the firm’s financial year, although he retains a consultancy role with the practice.
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Closing Statement
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Brett Kavanaugh wasn’t a patch on Henry Fielding
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With the teenage sex life of Brett Kavanaugh (pictured), Donald Trump’s nominee for the US Supreme Court nominee, falling in the spotlight, he might have done better to have been born three centuries earlier and before the War of Revolution.
There was no public inquiry before Eton-educated Henry Fielding became chief magistrate at London’s Bow Street. And that was despite the fact that in November 1725, Fielding, also author of Tom Jones, had attempted to abduct his rich and attractive cousin, 15-year-old Sarah Andrews, on her way to church in Lyme Regis.
It was a bit like Don Giovanni and Leporello. Fielding and his servant, Joseph Lewis, were fought off by a rival suitor’s family. After posting a defiant note in the town saying the other men were cowards, Fielding, less than heroically, fled Devon for London, leaving poor — or since abduction was still a hanging matter, perhaps fortunate — Lewis to be bound over to the keep the peace.
James Morton is a former criminal law solicitor and now author
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